Why do we cycle?
There are many reasons that we give:
Fitness, save the planet, save money, competitive sport, get to work while beating the traffic.
I have cycled for all the above reasons, but I think there is a more fundamental motive:
Freedom and Joy!
This all began for me in England in the 60s, when I was 8 going on 9 and had just got my first bike for Christmas, a red Raleigh with white mudguards and 24 inch wheels.
I spent a few weeks learning to ride up and down the driveway, knowing that soon I would be allowed to cycle in our street with all the other kids. That little Raleigh was the doorway to a freedom that I still can feel!
As I grew into my early teens I got bigger bikes equipped with mysterious Sturmey Archer hub gears and Dynahub lights. Then I started fixing and building them.
I cycled to school in hilly High Wycombe and around the countryside near where lived, then as a 13 year old learned to brave heavy traffic in our small town. I rode my BSA in wood trails years before mountain biking was even a thing!
Later here in NZ In my early 20s I started riding road bikes with drop handle bars and derailleur gears (all a newish concept then) I owned an obscure 10 speed bike called a Crystal Pacer, which Google tells me was Japanese, possibly made in the 70s by Giant. This bike had suicide brake levers and came with Suntour gears.
At the same time, I had discovered Richard's Bike Book, which then became my bike Bible for the next 15 or 20 years as I slowly became a bike nerd. Richard's Bike book fanned that old flame of Joy as I looked at all the engravings of early cyclists, the technical diagrams and writing by someone who clearly loved cycling and fixing them.
Thanks to Richard I had my first go at overhauling the Suntour derailleur gears on my 10 speed; actually it wasn’t too different to my day job as a Telephone Technician working on electro-mechanical exchange equipment, but still a little tricky
Over the next few years I slowly lost interest in my road bike, partly because I was becoming aware of these new fangled Mountain Bikes that had knobbly tyres, go-anywhere indexed 21 speed gears and insane cantilever brakes that would supposedly stop on a sixpence!
On impulse I bought my first mountain bike, and then another, and another and so on, for a few years keeping up with all the technology; disk brakes, air shocks and stiff aluminium frames
Owning mountain bikes gave me wings. I learnt the mechanical stuff properly, started commuting everyday, rode the trails and did a few serious competitive rides like the Kona Colville Connection, a 72km mountain bike event in the northern Coromandel Ranges.
Funny thing was the competitiveness took the fun out of it. We were so busy training and improving our times that we forgot to look around at the beautiful scenery around us and just enjoy the ride...
Things came to a head for me when just after my 50th Birthday I was run over by a car that broke my tibia and put me out of action for 6 or so months.
When I recovered, I carried on riding, but it was different. I started to make cycling fun again, threw away my lycra and as I had done when I was a teenager, tried riding in civvies. I bought an upright road bike similar in style to the British road bikes I’d ridden as a kid, but with a lighter frame and far superior technology. I ride this bike all over Auckland now and spend less time on the tracks!
I rediscovered Brooks leather saddles!
I found that having a decent folding bike in the car boot was just as fun and meant you could go anywhere on a whim. I love zipping around town on my quirky Giant Halfway and when I worked at my office job could have it folded by the time I was out of the lift.
In recent years, I’ve also done the Otago Rail Trail, organised a pioneer bike ride in Northland and been involved with a cycle trail development that has become a long term dream.
I’ve also finally got my bike mechanic and wheel builders tickets and most Thursdays and Fridays you’ll see me down at the EcoMatters Bike Hub in New Lynn, where we upcycle bikes and I enjoy helping people get riding.
In my spare time I have been tarting up a British 1964 Moulton 16" wheel bike that is a symbol of the swinging sixties I grew up in…I love this old bike! I also have a Humber and Hercules both from the 1950s as side projects; beautiful bikes with pulleys, levers and stylish design.
These British bikes are also rather heavy!
I think cycling is a wonderous disease that you almost have to catch. Its not really about being competitive, but about joy and freedom.
When you hop on that bike and start pedalling, you don’t always know where you will end up; as I used to say to my kids “The Bike knows where to go, trust it!”
I hope you catch some of this disease!
Fitness, save the planet, save money, competitive sport, get to work while beating the traffic.
I have cycled for all the above reasons, but I think there is a more fundamental motive:
Freedom and Joy!
This all began for me in England in the 60s, when I was 8 going on 9 and had just got my first bike for Christmas, a red Raleigh with white mudguards and 24 inch wheels.
I spent a few weeks learning to ride up and down the driveway, knowing that soon I would be allowed to cycle in our street with all the other kids. That little Raleigh was the doorway to a freedom that I still can feel!
As I grew into my early teens I got bigger bikes equipped with mysterious Sturmey Archer hub gears and Dynahub lights. Then I started fixing and building them.
I cycled to school in hilly High Wycombe and around the countryside near where lived, then as a 13 year old learned to brave heavy traffic in our small town. I rode my BSA in wood trails years before mountain biking was even a thing!
Later here in NZ In my early 20s I started riding road bikes with drop handle bars and derailleur gears (all a newish concept then) I owned an obscure 10 speed bike called a Crystal Pacer, which Google tells me was Japanese, possibly made in the 70s by Giant. This bike had suicide brake levers and came with Suntour gears.
At the same time, I had discovered Richard's Bike Book, which then became my bike Bible for the next 15 or 20 years as I slowly became a bike nerd. Richard's Bike book fanned that old flame of Joy as I looked at all the engravings of early cyclists, the technical diagrams and writing by someone who clearly loved cycling and fixing them.
Thanks to Richard I had my first go at overhauling the Suntour derailleur gears on my 10 speed; actually it wasn’t too different to my day job as a Telephone Technician working on electro-mechanical exchange equipment, but still a little tricky
Over the next few years I slowly lost interest in my road bike, partly because I was becoming aware of these new fangled Mountain Bikes that had knobbly tyres, go-anywhere indexed 21 speed gears and insane cantilever brakes that would supposedly stop on a sixpence!
On impulse I bought my first mountain bike, and then another, and another and so on, for a few years keeping up with all the technology; disk brakes, air shocks and stiff aluminium frames
Owning mountain bikes gave me wings. I learnt the mechanical stuff properly, started commuting everyday, rode the trails and did a few serious competitive rides like the Kona Colville Connection, a 72km mountain bike event in the northern Coromandel Ranges.
Funny thing was the competitiveness took the fun out of it. We were so busy training and improving our times that we forgot to look around at the beautiful scenery around us and just enjoy the ride...
Things came to a head for me when just after my 50th Birthday I was run over by a car that broke my tibia and put me out of action for 6 or so months.
When I recovered, I carried on riding, but it was different. I started to make cycling fun again, threw away my lycra and as I had done when I was a teenager, tried riding in civvies. I bought an upright road bike similar in style to the British road bikes I’d ridden as a kid, but with a lighter frame and far superior technology. I ride this bike all over Auckland now and spend less time on the tracks!
I rediscovered Brooks leather saddles!
I found that having a decent folding bike in the car boot was just as fun and meant you could go anywhere on a whim. I love zipping around town on my quirky Giant Halfway and when I worked at my office job could have it folded by the time I was out of the lift.
In recent years, I’ve also done the Otago Rail Trail, organised a pioneer bike ride in Northland and been involved with a cycle trail development that has become a long term dream.
I’ve also finally got my bike mechanic and wheel builders tickets and most Thursdays and Fridays you’ll see me down at the EcoMatters Bike Hub in New Lynn, where we upcycle bikes and I enjoy helping people get riding.
In my spare time I have been tarting up a British 1964 Moulton 16" wheel bike that is a symbol of the swinging sixties I grew up in…I love this old bike! I also have a Humber and Hercules both from the 1950s as side projects; beautiful bikes with pulleys, levers and stylish design.
These British bikes are also rather heavy!
I think cycling is a wonderous disease that you almost have to catch. Its not really about being competitive, but about joy and freedom.
When you hop on that bike and start pedalling, you don’t always know where you will end up; as I used to say to my kids “The Bike knows where to go, trust it!”
I hope you catch some of this disease!