I hadn't been on a bike since I was a kid. But approaching fifty, I was getting noticeably fatter despite having changed nothing about my lifestyle. I wasn't overweight, but I knew I was unfit. I quickly rejected all other forms of exercise, in favour of cycling. What did I have to lose, I thought?
I had plenty of reservations, and some new ones as I cycled. I also found many unexpected benefits. I've tried to encapsulate them above.
Around the same time I also decided to finally get rid of my car. I was sick of being stuck in a doom loop of needing to drive to work, and needing to work to drive. And while not related as far as I knew, I was kind of aware that driving everywhere wasn't good for my health. That led to even bigger revelations.
So here's what I learned. Hopefully it persuades one of you to get on a bike. And if not, it informs others here what the real barriers to cycling are.
For a start, you don't need to be fit. As long as you can fit on a bike and peddle, you soon start to see the benefit. Within weeks, you'll be amazed you were ever even puffing/burning on short rides and little hills that at first seemed like they might kill you. However, I have found that bike fitness doesn't last. You need to ride at least a couple of times a week. Not a lot, but just to keep the wheels turning, so to speak. Oh, and that bruising on your posterior? That goes after a week or two. Fight through it.
I abhor the lycra clad cycling set. I ride alone or with family, if they are willing. There was not one single fibre of my being that wanted to be identified as a cyclist. But there is salvation. Stretch jeans. With these wonder garments, I can ride somewhere, enter a pub, and everyone thinks I'm normal.
I never wanted to ride on roads, and was glad to realise you don't really need to. Hence I made the decision to not wear a helmet, or anything bright or lycra, and indeed any item of clothing or baggage that screams cyclist. You don't need wraparound mudguards with complex and frankly geeky wire supports, a basic clip on set from Halfords does the job, and looks cool. You don't need thick clothing or coats. It doesn't rain nearly as much in this country as people think it does. Wind chill on your knuckles is about as bad as it gets. A thin pair of gloves is fine, and fits in your pockets
I basically potter along on a basic mountain bike, looking for all the world like just a fat lad on a bike. Which amuses, since with the exception of the speedsters with rippling calves and clip in peddles, who you rarely see if you're not on the roads, my route knowledge, fitness and indeed top speed, if required, is vastly superior to those in lycra and bikes whose price/spec is so far beyond their evident need, it makes me weep for humanity. Thanks to a built up bike fitness, I only get sweaty if I choose to, or there is a particularly steep hill.
Thanks to bike fitness, I could scarcely believe how far I was able to comfortably ride after only a few months of gradually extending my range. Probably far beyond what you're imagining. It's been incredible for leisure, meaning I now don't think twice about biking to places where I would have otherwise spent maybe an hour each way, changing buses and trains.
Exercise is now fun, and an integral part of leisure. You wouldn't believe how interesting and calming that cycling is. I didn't. I've explored places I'd never even thought of going, even though many were in easy driving distance. I discovered most by chance. Places previously viewed as a rare day out, are now common to the point of tedious. You're going to the beach again? It's miles away. Damn right I am. Doing the whole flipping coast. Legend.
On occasion, I am out and about with children. You might think they're fragile nervous things. Not a bit of it. They love bikes. The freedom and speed. And they can ride well at a surprisingly young age. It makes no sense to look at them. It must be something relating to power to weight ratio. Not going on the roads, and with hamlets and reflectors, they're perfectly safe.
I know for a fact that me cycling has meant they go to more places and have seen and done more fun things, than the current alternative of having to figure out how to get there by public transport. In theory, the car offered freedom. In reality, when I had one, my first thought on hearing their request to go somewhere, was finding an excuse not to. Don't know why, probably parking or distraction or car seats, but it's the complete opposite with bikes. They love it, and so do I.
Even mundane activites likes doing a decent supermarket shop, became surprisingly possible with the bike. With a mere rucksack, I can do that almost as quickly as I could with the car, never mind walking or taking the bus. It means I stay fit and am even less inclined to eat junk food or takeout.
Popping out for any reason, I now consider the bike first. Walking anywhere for any reason now feels like a slow and painful torture. Going for a walk, as as activity, now sounds faintly ridiculous. My world feels so much bigger, even when compared to when I had a car.
And then the real bonus. With bike fitness and route knowledge, I started to realise how many commutes I could forgoe the bus/train. Its pretty insane, an hour bike ride gets you pretty far. Particularly when you can cycle around a city or along a river, rather than following the hub/spoke mandate of road networks, and the necessary change of bus/train.
I'm speaking remember as someone who is bike fit, but not road bike fit. If I tried to commute at road speeds, I would die of either a heart attack or being run over. I choose life. But I also like money. There's nothing like knowing that on any given day, 100% of your wage is pure profit. No petrol, no bus/train fare. Makes the sunny days nicer and the bleak days more bearable. The door to door convenience is amazing.
And now I have tasted freedom and constant motion door to door, there's seemingly nothing more bleak than waiting in a bus or train station in any weather, with all the other miserable downtrodden masses and stressed out commuters. I've even found cycling in frosty conditions strangely envigorating, so I do it both for commuting and leisure.
I'd forgotten everything I ever knew as a child about how to maintain and fix bikes. But it really isn't hard. A proper tyre with the thick rubber puncture guard is a wise investment. I rarely get a punctures now, it wasn't like it was a common occurance before. But when I did, it's easily fixed, even when you're out and about. You can either try and repair the hole, or change the tube. The latter is easier, out and about. All you need is a spare tube, a spanner, two tyre levers (plastic thingies), and the know how. Oh, and a pump. All of that fits in my pockets, quite easily.
You're not likely to encounter any other issues that are beyond your means, if you can operate basic hand tools. And to be honest, issues are so rare, and Halfords are so nice, being an utterly clueless owner of a bike, is a far better and cheaper experience than being clueless about cars.
With only a little knowledge, and without any wish to become a bike nerd, I found it easy to even strip off the parts I knew I wouldn't need, and downgrade the brakes to a design I was more comfortable adjusting/maintaining/fixing. Not that you need to do any of that at all. Honestly, I did it simply because the ones I like, look cooler. Once you are bike fit, you only need five gears, so that usually means you can remove a whole bunch of stuff, saving weight.
On even the most basic bike, once you know the fundamentals of what makes the wheels go round, stop and change gears, there's very little that even needs adjusting, and it's easy to do if you do. Some bikes are complicated, but the cheap ones really aren't. Cable/pad brakes, chain and five speed gear. Two wheels, one seat.
I didn't want a bike that cost a lot, mainly because I knew I'd be wanting wanting park it up. But you can pick up decent bikes second hand very cheaply. While you never want your bike stolen, I have found that when the thief realizes the bike lock costs about the same as the bike, they're going to move on. As a result, I happily keep mine in the shed, which is hardly a secure vault. And make no mistake, my bike is cool. Just not worth stealing. Or more likely, the risk of being caught stealing it.
Obviously I don't cycle everywhere. Distance is still the limiter. As is being with people who don't want to cycle. But probably could. And I'm not a fool, I don't completely ignore the weather. I'm not one of those people. But it's fair to say, even with those limitations, I am cycle.
I would gladly extend my range, if buses could be combined with bikes. I love buses. I do not see them as the competion to bikes. The competition is the urban and rural realm itself. I can probably only do what I do because I am blessed to live in an area with numerous bridelways, river paths and disused railways, ironically. Modern cycle lanes offer little, except where they're upgrading those traditional lines of non-car/bus communication. There's a reason for that.
I occasionally use the train with my bike, but honestly, it's rare that a bike-train combination (without a bus) is necessary for commuting, and it doesn't really offer that much in terms of leisure. What it does offer, I could easily get from buying an estate car or van conversion.
I ride the rail with a bike more as a curiosity, an experience in of itself, than as a means to an end. I did it the other day. You should do it once in a while as a cyclist, of only to remind yourself of the epic distances you're covering on the bike, without even thinking about it. Even at 75mph, the train seems to take an age to cover what I can ride in an hour along the parallel cycle path.
So a railway that cared about leisure travellers, would be nice. Because I can get a car. Easily. I just don't want one. But I love cycling, and evidently so much, I'd be lying if I hadn't considered the seemingly insane step of buying one purely to convey my bike and thus extend my range. But I am not, never have been and never will be, one of the lycra set. So no bike rack, or amusing window stickers.
I had plenty of reservations, and some new ones as I cycled. I also found many unexpected benefits. I've tried to encapsulate them above.
Around the same time I also decided to finally get rid of my car. I was sick of being stuck in a doom loop of needing to drive to work, and needing to work to drive. And while not related as far as I knew, I was kind of aware that driving everywhere wasn't good for my health. That led to even bigger revelations.
So here's what I learned. Hopefully it persuades one of you to get on a bike. And if not, it informs others here what the real barriers to cycling are.
For a start, you don't need to be fit. As long as you can fit on a bike and peddle, you soon start to see the benefit. Within weeks, you'll be amazed you were ever even puffing/burning on short rides and little hills that at first seemed like they might kill you. However, I have found that bike fitness doesn't last. You need to ride at least a couple of times a week. Not a lot, but just to keep the wheels turning, so to speak. Oh, and that bruising on your posterior? That goes after a week or two. Fight through it.
I abhor the lycra clad cycling set. I ride alone or with family, if they are willing. There was not one single fibre of my being that wanted to be identified as a cyclist. But there is salvation. Stretch jeans. With these wonder garments, I can ride somewhere, enter a pub, and everyone thinks I'm normal.
I never wanted to ride on roads, and was glad to realise you don't really need to. Hence I made the decision to not wear a helmet, or anything bright or lycra, and indeed any item of clothing or baggage that screams cyclist. You don't need wraparound mudguards with complex and frankly geeky wire supports, a basic clip on set from Halfords does the job, and looks cool. You don't need thick clothing or coats. It doesn't rain nearly as much in this country as people think it does. Wind chill on your knuckles is about as bad as it gets. A thin pair of gloves is fine, and fits in your pockets
I basically potter along on a basic mountain bike, looking for all the world like just a fat lad on a bike. Which amuses, since with the exception of the speedsters with rippling calves and clip in peddles, who you rarely see if you're not on the roads, my route knowledge, fitness and indeed top speed, if required, is vastly superior to those in lycra and bikes whose price/spec is so far beyond their evident need, it makes me weep for humanity. Thanks to a built up bike fitness, I only get sweaty if I choose to, or there is a particularly steep hill.
Thanks to bike fitness, I could scarcely believe how far I was able to comfortably ride after only a few months of gradually extending my range. Probably far beyond what you're imagining. It's been incredible for leisure, meaning I now don't think twice about biking to places where I would have otherwise spent maybe an hour each way, changing buses and trains.
Exercise is now fun, and an integral part of leisure. You wouldn't believe how interesting and calming that cycling is. I didn't. I've explored places I'd never even thought of going, even though many were in easy driving distance. I discovered most by chance. Places previously viewed as a rare day out, are now common to the point of tedious. You're going to the beach again? It's miles away. Damn right I am. Doing the whole flipping coast. Legend.
On occasion, I am out and about with children. You might think they're fragile nervous things. Not a bit of it. They love bikes. The freedom and speed. And they can ride well at a surprisingly young age. It makes no sense to look at them. It must be something relating to power to weight ratio. Not going on the roads, and with hamlets and reflectors, they're perfectly safe.
I know for a fact that me cycling has meant they go to more places and have seen and done more fun things, than the current alternative of having to figure out how to get there by public transport. In theory, the car offered freedom. In reality, when I had one, my first thought on hearing their request to go somewhere, was finding an excuse not to. Don't know why, probably parking or distraction or car seats, but it's the complete opposite with bikes. They love it, and so do I.
Even mundane activites likes doing a decent supermarket shop, became surprisingly possible with the bike. With a mere rucksack, I can do that almost as quickly as I could with the car, never mind walking or taking the bus. It means I stay fit and am even less inclined to eat junk food or takeout.
Popping out for any reason, I now consider the bike first. Walking anywhere for any reason now feels like a slow and painful torture. Going for a walk, as as activity, now sounds faintly ridiculous. My world feels so much bigger, even when compared to when I had a car.
And then the real bonus. With bike fitness and route knowledge, I started to realise how many commutes I could forgoe the bus/train. Its pretty insane, an hour bike ride gets you pretty far. Particularly when you can cycle around a city or along a river, rather than following the hub/spoke mandate of road networks, and the necessary change of bus/train.
I'm speaking remember as someone who is bike fit, but not road bike fit. If I tried to commute at road speeds, I would die of either a heart attack or being run over. I choose life. But I also like money. There's nothing like knowing that on any given day, 100% of your wage is pure profit. No petrol, no bus/train fare. Makes the sunny days nicer and the bleak days more bearable. The door to door convenience is amazing.
And now I have tasted freedom and constant motion door to door, there's seemingly nothing more bleak than waiting in a bus or train station in any weather, with all the other miserable downtrodden masses and stressed out commuters. I've even found cycling in frosty conditions strangely envigorating, so I do it both for commuting and leisure.
I'd forgotten everything I ever knew as a child about how to maintain and fix bikes. But it really isn't hard. A proper tyre with the thick rubber puncture guard is a wise investment. I rarely get a punctures now, it wasn't like it was a common occurance before. But when I did, it's easily fixed, even when you're out and about. You can either try and repair the hole, or change the tube. The latter is easier, out and about. All you need is a spare tube, a spanner, two tyre levers (plastic thingies), and the know how. Oh, and a pump. All of that fits in my pockets, quite easily.
You're not likely to encounter any other issues that are beyond your means, if you can operate basic hand tools. And to be honest, issues are so rare, and Halfords are so nice, being an utterly clueless owner of a bike, is a far better and cheaper experience than being clueless about cars.
With only a little knowledge, and without any wish to become a bike nerd, I found it easy to even strip off the parts I knew I wouldn't need, and downgrade the brakes to a design I was more comfortable adjusting/maintaining/fixing. Not that you need to do any of that at all. Honestly, I did it simply because the ones I like, look cooler. Once you are bike fit, you only need five gears, so that usually means you can remove a whole bunch of stuff, saving weight.
On even the most basic bike, once you know the fundamentals of what makes the wheels go round, stop and change gears, there's very little that even needs adjusting, and it's easy to do if you do. Some bikes are complicated, but the cheap ones really aren't. Cable/pad brakes, chain and five speed gear. Two wheels, one seat.
I didn't want a bike that cost a lot, mainly because I knew I'd be wanting wanting park it up. But you can pick up decent bikes second hand very cheaply. While you never want your bike stolen, I have found that when the thief realizes the bike lock costs about the same as the bike, they're going to move on. As a result, I happily keep mine in the shed, which is hardly a secure vault. And make no mistake, my bike is cool. Just not worth stealing. Or more likely, the risk of being caught stealing it.
Obviously I don't cycle everywhere. Distance is still the limiter. As is being with people who don't want to cycle. But probably could. And I'm not a fool, I don't completely ignore the weather. I'm not one of those people. But it's fair to say, even with those limitations, I am cycle.
I would gladly extend my range, if buses could be combined with bikes. I love buses. I do not see them as the competion to bikes. The competition is the urban and rural realm itself. I can probably only do what I do because I am blessed to live in an area with numerous bridelways, river paths and disused railways, ironically. Modern cycle lanes offer little, except where they're upgrading those traditional lines of non-car/bus communication. There's a reason for that.
I occasionally use the train with my bike, but honestly, it's rare that a bike-train combination (without a bus) is necessary for commuting, and it doesn't really offer that much in terms of leisure. What it does offer, I could easily get from buying an estate car or van conversion.
I ride the rail with a bike more as a curiosity, an experience in of itself, than as a means to an end. I did it the other day. You should do it once in a while as a cyclist, of only to remind yourself of the epic distances you're covering on the bike, without even thinking about it. Even at 75mph, the train seems to take an age to cover what I can ride in an hour along the parallel cycle path.
So a railway that cared about leisure travellers, would be nice. Because I can get a car. Easily. I just don't want one. But I love cycling, and evidently so much, I'd be lying if I hadn't considered the seemingly insane step of buying one purely to convey my bike and thus extend my range. But I am not, never have been and never will be, one of the lycra set. So no bike rack, or amusing window stickers.
