Bikelijn
Bikelijn is known for it's love of stroopwafels, FriYAY Koffiekoekje rides and long adventures with guaranteed stitch-ups.
The name Bikelijn is linked to Carlijn, a Dutchie that moved from The Netherlands to Australia in 2014. She explains the pronunciation of her name as it being a combination of 'car' and 'line'. A friend once joked 'But you're not a car, you're a bike’. That was the moment the name Bikelijn was born.
Bicycle NSW
Carlijn her passion for cycling started when she got a job at Bicycle NSW in 2015. As an event manager there, she was responsible for organising and managing two major cycling events in the city: Spring Cycle and Gear Up Girl. Starting this job, she was using the bike as a mode of transport, didn't like riding more than 10km and Bikelijn was definitely not a thing yet. But during her time at Bicycle NSW, Carlijn became more and more passionate about advocating for cycling in NSW. Soon after starting the new job she purchased a road bike from her local bike shop ParkBikes, abandoned her running shoes and started to explore Greater Sydney by bike.
FriYAY Koffiekoekje
After getting that road bike, she encouraged a bunch of running friends to get together. The friends were either currently not running due to injury or had a dusty bike lying around in their garage. Encouraged by Carlijn, the group started to get together for a ride out to LaPa on Friday mornings. This soon became a weekly thing that slowly grew in numbers as the word spread and friends of friends joined.
Besides this regular FriYAY Koffiekoekje, the group started to plan other rides to explore the great views, roads and nature Greater Sydney has to offer. The Festive 500 has been the highlight at the end of each year with almost daily rides out to new places between Christmas and NYE.
Bikelijn ethos
Bikelijn has always encouraged new riders to join, as there aren’t many groups open to new and insecure bunch riders. The Friday ride tries to be as inclusive as it can be. It never being at a set pace but simply taking the ‘fastest way to coffee’. This meaning the shortest way and definitely not the fastest in speed.
Beers & Bikes
In line with her views that the bike is the best mode of transport, Carlijn likes to get her friends together for a ride between breweries every now. This is her way of showing friends that are hesitant about riding bikes, that taking quiet residential backstreets will get you from A to B faster than most motorised vehicles will. These rides between breweries, 'Beers & Bikes’, soon became something everyone loved to partake in. So far there have been 9 editions and 21 breweries have been visited.
Bikelijn in Melbourne
In 2019 Carlijn moved to Melbourne, leaving behind a strong Bikelijn community. A new city meant having to make new friends. From experience, she knows that for her, this means connecting with others by riding bicycles. Meeting some awesome new people from Melbourne and connecting them with more ex-Sydneysiders, there is now a small group that meets weekly on Wednesday for the Melbourne edition of a Koffiekoekje ride.
Cycle Speed Dating
While working at Bicycle NSW, Carlijn started a unique event called Cycle Speed Dating. Yes, you read that correctly. Meeting new people without the need to swipe left or right. The event takes away the awkward stares you get when sitting opposite each other at these types of dating events. Instead of sitting down in a bar, you will be casually riding next to your date during this event. In both 2018 and 2019 the event was part of the Sydney Rides Festival and it was a big hit.
Carlijn is looking at starting up this event in Melbourne, so keep an eye on our website and socials to stay up to date.
Bikelijn routes
Throughout the years, Carlijn has created and ridden many different routes in Australia. Her friends often come to her for advice on where to ride. Realising that this was something she could share with a wider audience, she started collecting these routes in one place.
Going away on a trip and having to do the legwork to try and find where to ride, is considered fun by Carlijn but this is definitely not shared by everyone. That is the reason that she has now put all her experience into a bicycle route map that you can find on this website. Head over to the routes tab to find your next adventure.
Make sure to check whether your favourite route is in there and if not, submit it via the form on this website as Bikelijn wants to grow this route map to provide safe and enjoyable options for riding to each and every one.