The ebike commute challenge: could I do daycare drop-off and get to work faster than driving?

Guardian Australia picture editor Carly Earl trials an ebike for her weekday commute in Sydney to a CBD office via her children’s daycare. Photograph: Blake Sharp-Wiggins/The Guardian

I’m not sure why I chose the middle of winter to set myself a seemingly impossible challenge: ditching the car to cycle from my home in Sydney’s inner west to the office 8km away, while dropping two young children at daycare en route.

But as I strutted through the office doors after arriving at work on time, my feat felt so incredible, I half expected my colleagues to break into applause.