Uk.rec.cycling/Richard Bates

How I Came To Enjoy Cycling, by Richard Bates

Hmmm ... how did it start? If I remember correctly back to when I was less than six, I had a yellow bike. I cannot remember the make or model, but it was definitely yellow. No gears, and I seem to remember that it was a fixed wheel rather then a freewheel. I say this because it only had one brake on the front: An arrangment of rods that pushed a big plate of metal on to the top of the solid tyre. I suppose technically, it wasn't a bicycle because it had stabilisers. On this machine I used to pedal anticlockwise around the cul-de-sac in which I then lived: around the pavement, past the lamp post, down the drop kerb, across the road, up the drop kerb, round the pavement etc. Fixed wheel, anticlockwise ... possibly destined to become a track racer later in life?

Well my track career was spoiled when I grew too big for that bike, and I took over my sister's Raliegh Sunbeam. This one was red. At some point I must have learned to cycle without stabilisers as I am sure this bike didn't have them. This one had two brakes and was a freewheel. My track circuit became slightly modified to include an "up and down the drive into and out of the garage" bit. I think this bike also had mudguards, and was also equipped with a saddlebag.

My friend around the corner rode a tricycle which I was very jealous of. I loved the fact that it had a boot to stash junk in (shaped similar to the front of a VW Beetle).

Then at age 6, I moved to Birmingham and lost the use of the trike. From now until I was about 10, I don't remember cycling at all. I think I still had the Raliegh Sunbeam, but I don't remember actually cycling.

But then something very exciting happened at school. We were given the chance to undertake the ROSPA cycling proficiency course. Wow! It was like doing a driving test, and was a stressful thing for some people! For this I was allowed to use my sister's bike, as she never used it, and the Sunbeam was given away. I was now the owner of a Moulton Super IV: my first bike with gears. I was so proud to have a bike with gears

... until I took it to school for the first lesson that is. "Ha Ha Richard's riding a girls bike" was a common comment. This really upset me. It was true that my bike looked just like the bikes that the girls were riding: step through frame and small wheels. All the boys rode 5 speed racers, BMX's or Grifters. The big boys in the secondary school next door all had Choppers. And there was me with a girls bike.

"It isn't a girls bike: It's a unisex bike" my dad told me. And that was enough to satisfy me, particularly as the very people who were laughing at me didn't know what "unisex" meant.

The test was to be taken very seriously. I even went out the night before to practice under the supervision of my parents. It seemed that my classmates were doing the same too, and it became an evening of wishing each other "good luck" even though we would be seeing each other the following morning ... with 7 whole hours to wait until the test.

I went on to pass the test and got my triangular badge and certificate which I kept for years.

I was now allowed by my parents to cycle on the road on my own. I lived on quite a steep road. It isn't steep now, but it was then! I couldn't cycle up it even in the first of my three gears, so I became limited to going around the block in a clockwise direction, doing only right hand turns. I didn't mind: afterall, turning right was more dangerous! I couldn't turn left and ride around the "other block" because I wasn't allowed on the main roads.

I left junior school and moved on to grammar school. The boy who sat behind me was a keen cyclist, and used to ride with another boy in the class at weekends. They used to cycle to places that I had never heard of. They had proper bikes:10 speed racers with thin wheels. They had lights on their bikes too. Jealousy started creeping up on me but I stuck with my Moulton for a couple of years.

In junior school I had begun learning to play the trumpet, and my weekends were occupied by orchestra rehearsals, so there was no time for cycling, and my interest graually dwindled.

Then in about my 3rd year (when I was 13), Birmingham council built a BMX track at one of the parks. My friend who lived close to it asked me to come a play on it with him. BMXing on a Moulton! He had a BMX, a 24" wheeled 5 speed racer, and had just bought a new 27" 10 speed racer, which was far too big for him or me. I bought the 5 speed from him for UKP30.

Derailleur gears were a completely new concept to me. I loved them, being able to see what was happening, instead of the complete mystery of Sturmey Archer gears.

But again, my cycling passion dulled down.

At 18 years old I went to Leeds University. In my second year there, I lived sufficiently far from campus to justify using a bike for transport. I borrowed my house mates blue 10 speed racer. The following year I bought a second hand 10 speed racer and used that for travelling the few miles on. It was a Tensor Lazercustom with cheap dynamo lights that blew out as soon as I bombed down Brudenell Road, "safety" brake levers, and nasty dirty horrible spongy things on the handlebars. They soon got cut off, and pride set in. It was second hand but I still wanted it to look good. The twin brake levers were replaced with standard non-aero drop levers, some posh handlebar tape was put on, the useless dynamo was removed, and the tacky vinyl stickers were pulled off.

One day as I returned to my bike after a day of lectures, somebody had wedged a leaftlet under my brake lever, advertising the Leeds University Alternative Cycling Club. This was a group of people who were not interested in racing, not interested in mountain biking, and simply rode to pretty places around the Yorkshire Dales and had a couple of beers en-route. This appealed to me, so I turned up to the meeting point next weekend and had an excellent time.

The first trip was to Ilkley via Otley, with the return trip climbing up Otley Chevin: The steepest hill I had ever ridden (and walked) up.

And from then, I was hooked! Richard Bates