As a kid, I have spent many summers on cycling holidays with my parents and sister. This has primarily been on tandems, but also on my single person bike, which I still cycle on today. So in my adult life I can not say the experience of cycling has been new to me.
However the world of adult cycling has been a completely different experience. It has been a frustrating learning curve that doesn’t seem to go anywhere. It reflects the added challenges and responsibilities that adult life brings as well as the increased independence. People learn new things everyday and make mini achievements all the time but I feel these never get appreciated unless they are reflected upon. So I am writing this to show myself how far I have come in my cycling journey – even thought I still feel like a complete beginner, and to share all the silly cycling problems I’ve had and all the great things cycling has brought me.
Stage One
When I first had my bike in Leeds, my Dad showed me how to change inner tubes and fix punctures. I got a cycling helmet. I rarely used my bike, and when I did this was only to cycle from Woodhouse to Hyde Park. I was too scared to cycle at traffic lights or on the road bits that were a little bit busy. All my punctures were at the valve, so could not fix these, and it took me about an hour to change inner tubes. Even so, this experience helped me prepare for stage 2.
Stage 2
After I finished my degree, I moved to Brighton, where my girlfriend at the time was studying. I didn’t like the prospect of going from being at university (which was fun and gave me a sense of purpose) to having a rubbishy job in the same city I’d studied at. I wanted to move forward with my life. I wanted to be with this woman, and felt like a change. So moving cities felt like a good idea, even though I knew I would miss my friends and all the great things that were happening in Leeds.
I still didn’t cycle a lot and as Brighton felt like a small city, I lived in the centre there were not many places to cycle to. However, the cycling that I did do, were on longer routes. I went to Asda, which was on a quiet path along the sea front (but it was hard to carry shopping back), and to Falmer (where the University of Sussex is based). The route to Falmer has a cycle path, but the road to get there is very busy, so it was scary when having to overtake cars parked in the cycle path. I think Brighton and Hove council in general have made an effort to accommodate for cyclists.
When in Brighton, as part of the moving forward with my life, I started learning how to drive. This helped my cycling confidence and safety immensely. Learning to drive really, really, really helps. It taught me the rules of the road better. I saw cyclists from a driver’s point of view and realised that it wasn’t difficult not to crash into bikers and thus I did not need to be so scared cycling as long as I was careful. I learnt what to do at traffic lights (especially when turning right) and at roundabouts in a car and applied the same thing to being on a bike and generally learnt more about “hazard awareness and anticipation”.
After being in Brighton for six months, my girlfriend and I split up. Moving to a new city was a lot harder than I thought it would be. Especially in a recession. I couldn’t find a job related to my degree and I found it hard to make friends. The first people I worked for in the newsagents were horrible and always putting me down. My second job as a carer to this guy was OK, but the hours were
unsociable. He was lovely however. I will always be grateful how much better he made my time in the city and how nice he was to me.
This is going a bit off course, but the point I am trying to make is that Brighton was a bit rubbish. In the end I managed to move back to Leeds. I got my old job back, moved 100m from my old house, and it was as if nothing had changed. It felt as if nothing had moved forward since my student days and so to change things for the better, I started cycling to work.
Stage 3
So I started the cycle from Woodhouse to Roundhay. I would never have had the confidence to do this if it were not for the experience of cycling the route from Brighton to Falmer.
The first step in this process was to look on an A to Z of Leeds and try and find a route that was quiet and direct. I got some lights and a high vis jacket and then tried out the route at the weekend to see if I could do it and if the route was OK. Despite leaving the house on a very sunny day in March and cycling back in hail, the route was fine. I then learnt never to cycle anywhere without a waterproof. Sunglasses also proved handy to stop the sun’s glare and bits of dirt flying into my eyes.
I then began cycling to work each morning. It took the same amount of time as getting the bus, as most buses in Leeds go through the city centre instead of across the city. It also saved me a bit of money as a week pass cost £17 as my work was not in the Green Zone. I didn’t cycle to work every day, but on those that did, I would leave the house at 7am in order to avoid the rush hour traffic. This feels much safer and makes the ride far more enjoyable, but nevertheless getting up is a lot of effort.
I learnt that to turn right, cyclists need to get into the correct position early as cars don’t tend to let them through, and if there is not enough space for a car/lorry etc to pass you, cycle in the middle of your side of the road. Most drivers are fine, but some try and squeeze past when there is not enough space. This is not cool, and so I have decided to take the decision out of their hands. So if I don’t think there is enough space, I will cycle in the middle of the road so they can’t overtake.
It began to get darker and colder and the hassell of things like fixing punctures was taking its toll. It was still taking me ages to replace inner tubes. I could not work out why my tyres were not pumping up, but it was because you should not screw in the outer screw on the valve until the inner tube is completely pumped up.
So I stopped cycling to work and it is only now, about half a year later that I have started again.
Why I have started again stage 4?
I began cycling to work again at the beginning of January.
There are many reasons for this but they mainly stem from my frustration with First Buses.
On the plus side First has now extended the Green Zone, so I now live and almost work in it, and thus it now costs me £12 for a week pass instead of £18.50. Although this change works well for me, it was part of a move by First buses that made prices in general rise significantly. So before 9.30am it costs £4.30 and afterwards something like £3.40 for a day rider and £1.90 for a single journey into town. This makes it cheaper for 3 people to get a taxi instead. I feel this is unfair. As a private company (I think they are a private company) they can do what they like. For me, I have another method of getting to work – cycling. Having this option and using it makes me feel empowered about the transport options available to me. I sympathise with those who have no other option to travel places than to use, not only the bus, but to use a service that is only ran by one operator and thus be in a situation where they are able to do very little about things such as rises in fares, lateness or bad service.
So mainly the choice to cycle is about not liking First buses, not liking to wait around for them and take their slow route to work. But cycling is also great a number of different ways. It is good exercise, I can go places when I want and take the route I want, it is less dreary than sitting on a bus, and makes me know the city better.
However, there are also a lot of negatives, like having to get up early and planning the week’s journey’s in advance so I don’t end up spending more than I would on the bus and knowing what I am going to do with my bike if I go somewhere.
There are also the issues of punctures and fixing them. I have had so many problems with these, but I have now gone from it taking an hour to change an inner tube and pump it up, to being able to do so at the roadside. So here are my three, tips (sorry if they are patronising, they are based on what I have done wrong in the past).
1) Buy the correct inner tubes. I used to magically always get the right type but last month things went wrong. It says on the tyre of your bike what size inner tube you need. Mine are 700 x 35, however you also need to know what type of valve you need. If you have a small hole you need prester valves, if you have larger holes you need the scrangler valves. I bought the scrangeler valves but they did not fit through the hole in the wheel. Inner tubes come in bands, so mine say 700 x 28/38 and 35 is within this range and therefore I can use them. I bought ones that were 700 x 25/32 and was assured by two people that these would be ok as it was only a small difference. But it was not and I ended up with a wheel whereby some of it was really inflated (as it should be) and other parts of the wheel were really soft and therefore unrideable.
1) Getting punctures near the valve. I always get punctures on the inner tube where the valve is. I had been pondering this question and asked the man in the bike shop. He said make sure that the screw on the valve is screwed all the way down so that it does not move around so much, and also that hole in the wheel where the valve goes through may have a sharp bit on it that may be puncturing it. To get round this problem he said I could sand down the metal. But I think I will just cover it in electrical wiring tape
2) Always carry a spare inner tube, prongs and pump with you. If you get a puncture on the way to somewhere it is no fun pushing your bike all the way there. I had been carrying round with me a bicycle pump, 3 prongs and a spare inner tube, for a month thinking to myself, this is a bit too prepared, as never before have a got a puncture on the way to somewhere. However on my way home, cycling down a massive hill I got one. Having the right equipment meant I could just change the inner tube at the roadside and continue my journey home. It was frustrating, but I was very proud of myself that a job that used to take me ages I was now able to do on the way home.
Resources
If you having problems fixing your bike, there is a group in that will help you fix it:
See http://pedallers-arms.org/
