Every Cycology design starts with a story, and most of them start with mine. So let me introduce myself properly. My name is Sarina, I'm the artist behind Cycology, and here's how a kid on a hand-me-down bike ended up hand-painting jerseys for riders all over the world.
Growing up on two wheels
I grew up on the Central Coast of New South Wales, the eldest of four kids born to hard-working schoolteacher parents. There wasn't much money about. My mum taught art, craft, and ran the school library; my dad taught primary school and worked a second job on top of it. So our bikes came from council rubbish days, old single-speeds we'd patch up and ride everywhere. Some of my earliest, happiest memories are of pedalling to school and tearing around the local trails in our little "bikie gang" of kids, drunk on the freedom a bike gives you.
To keep us out of trouble, Mum filled our days with art projects, and we each learned to play at least three instruments. Looking back, that mix of making things and moving my body was setting the whole course of my life.
An athlete's heart
I loved to run. Trails, sand dunes, the length of the beach, I'd escape into a world of daydreams filled with salt breezes, sunshine, and the vivid colours and scents of the Aussie bush. Eventually Dad stopped trying to keep up and we joined a big running group, the Hash House Harriers.
It was stress fractures from too much teenage running that pushed me onto a bike. I bought my first brand-new 200-dollar "racing" bike, and that was it: a lifelong love affair with two wheels had begun. I swam, surfed, paddled wave skis, and generally threw myself at any sport going.
Exercise was in our blood for a deeper reason, too. My dad has lived with depression for as long as I can remember, and daily movement was how he coped. Sunshine, exercise, and good fresh food every single day were drummed into us early. Mum put a skull and crossbones on the sugar container and raised us on fresh veg, nuts, seeds, and rainwater. At 13, after my PE teacher told me the world's fastest runner ate a plant-based diet, I marched home and declared myself vegetarian. I went on to be school cross-country and athletics champion for years, and these days our whole family eats plant-based.
A life of adventure
What followed was the well-worn endurance path so many of us end up on: marathons, trail ultras (including a win at the 6 Foot Track Ultra Marathon), over a hundred triathlons, ocean swims, adventure races, endurance cross-country mountain biking on a single-speed hardtail, and always, always road cycling, with plenty of Gran Fondos and big endurance rides in the logbook.
But the real magic was never the results. It was riding and running with friends, sharing laughter and pain in equal measure, chasing wild adventures through bush and city, all-nighters that ended with a glorious sunrise. That's what makes you feel truly alive, and those are the friendships and memories you never forget.
From canvas to jersey
After 20 years as a commercial artist, I started painting and drawing about those adventures, trying to capture how they actually felt. That's still exactly how Cycology designs are born today.
Where most modern kit is designed on a screen, mine begins on paper and canvas, hand drawn and hand painted with pencil, paint, and oils. Once a piece is finished, it's photographed and digitised, and only then does it start to become a garment. That hand-made rawness is the whole point, it's the difference between wearing a template and wearing a piece of art. The inspiration comes from everywhere the sport takes me: the feeling at the top of a climb, a conversation on a group ride, a lyric, a line of poetry, the colours of the bush. I try to portray the happiness, humour, pain, and joy of it all, and the little mantras we live by.
The start of Cycology
My husband Michael and I started Cycology to share those thoughts and feelings, the ones cyclists, runners, and triathletes all recognise. We hoped the artwork would resonate, that people would see a kindred spirit in it and feel the magic our sports bring to every part of our lives.
We began with just 10 tee shirts, run out of our home here in Sydney, and honestly, we're still having fun. We eventually outgrew the house, and Michael now runs the business worldwide. Best of all, we hear from incredible customers on every continent who share their stories with us. Reading them is one of the great joys of what we do.
Why the art matters
Sometimes a message reminds us exactly why we do this. One customer, Caroline, wrote to us after being diagnosed with cancer, to say that through it all the bike had become her best therapist, with two dear friends who'd lovingly renamed themselves her "Guardian Bike Angels" riding alongside her. Stories like hers are humbling, and they capture the meaning of Cycology better than I ever could. This was never just about clothing. It's about wearing your passion, and carrying a little of that magic with you wherever you ride.
Thanks for reading a bit of my story. Now go make some of your own.
Want to wear the art? Explore the Cycology collection and find the design that speaks to you.