Will Travel

Have car,  have bike, will travel.

As someone who had experienced cycling only ever as a form of transport prior to 2010, it was a novelty to think about moving the bike which was essentially transport in or on another form of transport.  Weird.  I was brought up in the 1970s in a family without a car, so the bike represented a new form of freedom.  I could travel spontaneously from home more than walking distance, and without having to stay on a bus route.  Also, this was a release from parental supervision as at that age a parent has to make a decision - go out with my just short of teenage child on a bike or perhaps stay at home and let her get on with it.  So, the bike was freedom but unlike other kids it was more about getting from A to B.  My experience even at that age was of cycling as something serious to be undertaken in the context of travel.  It certainly wasn't for fun, and not about excitement either, and my experimentation and therefore skills development was pretty retarded if the truth be told.

When I made the move to Manchester in 1998 I brought with me the bike I had bought for my paper round in 1983.  It was a ten speed men's peugeot road race bike with brake levers on the flats and the drops.  Most importantly it was red.  That was my first touch of the frivolous with regards to a bike.  It became apparent that the bike was not wholly satisfactory.  Not only was it pre-indexed gears, but actually when it really came down to it, it had been bought for me to grow into.  Bit unfortunate therefore that I stopped growing at 15 years old, and never actually got big enough for the bike to be a good fit.

Still taking the attitude that cycling was a matter for serious and earnest consideration only I looked at my next steed to make a commute to work possible.  Here with a little help from a friend I was kitted out with a Ridgeback commuter bike which looked a bit like this:

Having a bike that worked and fitted was a bit of a revolution to me.  I started to accessorise.  Things were purchased.  There was a back rack, then there were panniers, there was a rechargable light, then pedals with SPD one side and flat the other and new shoes ... and it went on.

Not realising this was a symptom of having caught the cycling bug, for no apparent reason after a couple of years of great fun (it worked on not too challenging off road paths too) I upgraded.  Or, with hindsight, perhaps one of the reasons was finding myself in competition with my mum (of all people) for the best commuter transport.  This was my next beastie, just take a look at this bad boy.

Then some friends introduced me to Llandegla and hire bikes, having persuaded me I'd be better on a hire bike than the slick road going tyres of the above road warrior.  That was towards the end of 2009.  A few off road experiments later on the Trek proved to me that this was in fact not working for me on the trails so, just in case I didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I would, the most basic mountain bike ever was on my January sales shopping list in 2010.


This little filly joined the stables:

She was the last year's model in one of the unwanted sizes (that would be small then), and a bargain.  We did miles and miles together, we did a skills course so I could at least bump up a kerb without disgracing myself.  I could almost wheelie on her, and I could most definitely go down flights of steps and scary drop offs.  I took my new darling to the physio with me for a bike fitting to try to minimise the damage possibilities of my middle aged legs with knees which go their own way, and sure enough accessories followed.  Speedplay frogs were added to the bike (these are pedals for the uninitiated), and together me and the Decathlon steed danced and played throughout 2010.

I'd finally learned that cycling was fun.