How I Came To Enjoy CyclingAt the age of 5 had a little red trike complete with a "boot" that had a lid without a lock, I was about 18 before I realised that the trike was secondhand.The boot would rattle as I sped along making a tremendous din, and with two people standing in the boot ( leaning well forward) it would fly down the hills ( I knew nothing about mass and gravity at that time)
At about 10 I had a Moulton Super 4, red with a white saddle and rear bag,( Wonder if I can buy one 2nd hand now?)when it arrived home it had been supplied with two left hand pedals so I spent all weekend scooting up and down the garden path , eventually the pedal arrived and I learnt about Sturmey Archer gears, whilst being teased for having a "girls bike", a few years later I was knocked off my bike by my next door neightbour pulling away from the kerb , he knocked me off then ran over my foot. The bike was put away and not used again.
In 1989 I had a substantial bonus and decided to buy a bike, we were spending a lot of time camping, with lightweight campers and the only name I knew was Dawes Galaxy so I bought one , the only other piece of advice I had was from a friend in OgmoreValley Wheelers who just kept reiterating "make sure you buy one with mudguards" I use the bike for a few years , for not far 10 miles would be a long ride, then stored it.It was dragged out each year for our holiday in Euronat ( A 2 km sq Natursit site in France where almsot everyone cycles)
My wife got interested in mountain biking and after paying off her debts from a failed business venture ( 3 long years) treated herself to a Kona Lava Dome,and nagged me to buy a mountain bike, as our son grew older we started riding more him on his mountian bike me on the Dawes her on the Kona.
Last year went on holiday to the Netherlands , and although I had driven there often on business using the bike for day to day transport came as a relevation. Came home to redundancy, set up my own business , this time only 8 miles from home rather than the 35 miles I used to drive, started cycling to work as often as I can ( It takes me the same time to cylce now as it did to drive the 35 miles) found myself gettign fitter, faster, and lusting after new bikes, unicycle and recumbents. Going to France this year on holiday, near Mount Venoux, but 2 days late for the stage! :-(
Marc |