Talking of taking cycling seriously, the hours are ticking away towards the Ride London - Surrey 100 following last year's Olympic road race route, which Liz and I have a coveted place on. Only 11 days to go, and wondering if our confidence is due to utter naivete or the cockiness that's the preserve of the experienced cyclist? Only time will tell. It will be a change from the Manchester 100 which we've done for the last few years; a welcome change?
Rob at BikeRight! did the Liverpool - Chester - Liverpool (through the Mersey tunnel) on 7th July, and now intends to sign up for the Manchester to Blackpool night ride in September. Personally a night ride seems a bit pointless to me, as you can't see anything. I'd rather be tucked up in bed, apart from the sunset - which I 'm prepared to admit has the chance of providing a substantial Wow! factor.
Another Rob from Newcastle described his 24-hour charity cycle ride last year. "We started off watched by office workers eating lunch. At 5pm I imagined them going home while we continued cycling. As it got dark I thought why can't I go to bed like they are? During the next morning, having stayed awake ALL NIGHT while those lucky people were sleeping peacefully, my thoughts drifted to them again: they were looking forward to another lunch and we were STILL CYCLING!"
So, taking cycling seriously can take many forms, from loving the sport, to leisure rides with a purpose, to providing facilities for many more people to adopt the cycling habit - involving individuals, organisations and public authorities. All have a stake in cycling, and all need to invest in it too to saturate our culture with cycling.
The last word goes to Mark, one of our new instructors. "I was cycling to a school in Crosby, and I passed a little girl I recognised out cycling behind her Dad, so I introduced myself to him. 'Since you taught her to ride on the road last month, she's had me on my bike constantly' he said. That's why I love this job" said Mark.
