Reasons why I still cycle

Why on earth do I love to go cycling? I mean, lets face it, it would be easier to quit, wouldn't it? The odds are stacked, the world has changed, I've put in enough pedal revolutions.... Yes it would be easy. And there's probably a lot of people that would rather I went away, took up hill-walking or watched Coronation street. 

There are 1059 wheel bearings that would be relieved. Some are crushed, rusted old things after horrible winters, others mere victims of my ViseGrip. They lie in the dust of the shed now, corpses... killed by my ignorance. Add egg-shaped wheels, buckled rims that move like drunken fools, or chains that have been worn to the texture of tinfoil by my inability to care for a bicycle. The shed is a graveyard to beaten bikes. My old friend Adrian used to be wide-eyed when I'd wheel my racer into his workshop. Odd-sized bearings, overtightened nuts and perished cables were the starter for him, the main course was often catastrophic. 🤦‍♂️ Yes, even my bikes would thank me now if I left them in the shed to chat with the split tyres, bent chainrings and pieces of lurid bar tape with the oily smell of GT80 and WD40 for company. 

 

As regards people, sure it is impossible not to annoy someone on life's journey. Apparently I don't mind falling out with people. I'd imagine there's a queue wishing that I'd go away. That's why I post cycling pics on social media and keep showing up. Why I un-retire a lot. Those I call friends now, after almost 35 years in cycling, are awesome. They understand our fragile place in the world. I have friends still with me from the start. And yet some of the best chats and biggest smiles I've had in cycling are in the last few years. 21 year-olds spur me on with their enthusiasm; 75 year-olds share nuggets of wisdom I'd never have bothered with way back when. 

I have calmed over the years and know I belong. But cycling hasn't always been a welcoming experience. Now newbies to the sport laugh at the old rules. Back in the day you had to do something like an apprenticeship to be accepted. You shouldn't have to do an apprenticeship to earn respect. I am an oldie but I've always liked a healthy helping of disregard for old rules, usually made up by old fools. We all have a bad side to us and as long as everyone realises that then we can get along. Doesn't matter if its the GAA or soccer or chess.

 And lets not forget life on the road. When I cycled in the '80s fluoro, hi-viz colours were a fashion statement, not a lifeline. Drivers actually respected us; There's a thought! I now have my lights charged and quiet roads planned for my Sunday spin. I'll still encounter countless head cases trying to remind me who is boss even though the fight isn't quite equal. I may be a tad overweight but I'm not a car. So hang on a minute! If I haven't as many friends (and no spare parts) willing to keep me going, let alone safe roads, then why cycle? I suppose I could just scroll Instagram and stare at the impossibly beautiful, unlikely, fit, happy, lucky, wrinkle-free and colourful people. I could Netflix myself into a ball or drink wine until I'd forgotten where I'd come from or where I was supposed to be headed. But that isn't real. Real is real. Ups and downs and the in-betweens. I have a love of the outdoors and the people I find in it. I have a love for the road and what it teaches me. I have a love for nature and my place in it, as I have a love of those that have joined me along the way. If you shared that with me over the last 35 years then thank you. Life throws us all curve balls but the one thing that has kept me together is that road. My counsellor, my coach, my friend of 35 wholesome years. I'm not about to give up on it any time soon.