Our July winner is Sarah from Australia. We didn't know it at the time we chose the photo, but now we know she runs the amazing blog Vélo-à-Porter. It's full of great tips on how to dress elegantly for everyday biking. You can get to know her a little bit better through the Q+A below, along with links to some of her favorite posts. Thanks, Sarah!
Australian and southeast Asia visitors, check out our Australian partner site: pocampo.com.au!
Each month we will be choosing our favorite Po Campo fan photo to display on the blog. We see all of your beautiful pictures on Instagram, but if there are photos you’ve taken with your Po Campo bag that you haven’t posted online, feel free to send them our way! You can email your fan photos to photos@pocampo.com or tag your photos with #pocampo for a chance to win a FREE PO CAMPO BAG.
Sarah with her Loop Pannier in Coral Bike Ride
1. Tell us a bit about your hometown. Where do you insist on taking out of town guests?
We take them to Watson's Bay [in Sydney, Australia] for the view and a great seafood lunch. If they cycle, we go to Bondi for a day at the beach which is a great ride via Centennial Park and Queens Park. We like to have lunch at Brown Sugar or Pompei's for fantastic Italian. Then dinner at China Lane, super food and super sexy!
2. Where is your favorite place to take your Po Campo?
I take my Loop Pannier to work every day. I'm able to take my entire office with me as I'm a writer. It's my favourite bag for my favourite place to write, the State Library of New South Wales.
3.
A favorite tip (or two) about how you incorporate mindfulness and healthy habits into your daily life?
We don't own a car. Instead, we bicycle everywhere, to shop, to work, to violin lessons, to sport, to school. As a result, the car is not our fallback option, it's the bicycle. Also, bicycling is a form of meditation. I am very present while negotiating the traffic and regulating my breathing. It's a form of mindfulness to focus on one thing only.
4.
A suggestion for women who are interested in biking but have safety concerns?
Take it step by step. Take some courses on bicycling. The first to refresh your skills and a second on bicycling to develop your confidence. Read my blog: veloaporter.com
5.
Secrets for managing helmet hair?
Don't worry about it too much. You are not your hair. I style it in the morning and then finger comb after taking off my helmet. But more importantly, I ride an e-bike in the summer and an urban bike in the winter. I sweat less in the summer with the e-bike and less in the winter because of the colder temperature.
6.
If you could have dinner with anyone (living or dead) who would it be, and why?
Elgar. He was a bicyclist and composer. How did he manage to think of composition ideas while bicycling and most importantly, remember them? Did he bring along pencil and paper?
7. If you could be amazing at playing any one instrument, which would you pick?
I would take piano lessons again. With infinite time and ability to practice (an impossibility with kids, husband, household to run, work), I would expand my repertoire and try to avoid the tendonitis which ended my classical piano studies and competition in high school.
8.
If you could wake up fluent in any language, which would it be?
So difficult to choose! Mandarin would be my next language. I grew up with Korean and English and studied French in high school and university. We have a French nanny for my kids which is wonderful as it means I have the opportunity to speak French again. But being in Australia with China as such an important neighbour, it would be fun and a great challenge.
9.
What song do you always sing when you sing karaoke?
Cheek to Cheek by Irving Berlin.
