I was one of those kids that never had the chance to learn how to cycle. By the time I realised it would be a great activity to know, I was at the stage of intelligence where I need to visualise most things, and have them explained to me; i.e., why is this done this way, why can’t I do that? But where does this go?
So, after a few spaced out cycling rides in 2011 where I never really properly learnt the skill; I was just basically going as fast as I can and hoping for the best; I have decided I need to really take the plunge.
Luckily, Claire (of De.Tour) was there to help. From what I see, she’s a competent, comfortable cyclist that all the things she could do on her bikes; for a novice learner like myself, could only ever dream of doing them, in my dream, on my imaginary bicycle. Therefore, I figured she is a good reassuring force to be with.
Our first ride started off from where her amazing yellow Tokyo Bike is, in Whitechapel, and I refused to cycle on the road, mostly because I basically didn’t know how to cycle yet. So we made the 15-20 minutes want to Victoria park and began our long intertwined cycling journey (a tad dramatic there, but hey).
There were children running around, children on bikes also learning how to ride, ducks, geese, twigs, many things that obstructed my very wide cycling paths. I kept making funny noises, randomly losing control on my bike and shouting ’Too narrow’ whenever we came across any gates, slightly smaller pavements and bollards. And I think the highlight of that day, was when I had an itchy nose and I took my hand off the handle bar to scratch it (yes, scratch, not picking, Claire), I suddenly lose balance and hit the curb. Nothing was hurt, luckily.
Then a man saw the whole thing and told me ‘Don’t drink and ride.’ I might be said something along the line ‘I am learning’ back at him, or I might have just laughed nervously while I tried to cycle off, with my feet frantically looking for the pedals.
My second cycle ride involved us finally cycling from point to point, from Whitechapel, through to a little local park where I learn to go in a circle (where Claire made sure to point out that I was slowly closing the gap between the bike and the centre and I was cycling a much smaller circle), actually cycling on real roads and mastering going through narrow paths, and me learning to shout ‘Too close’ when my bike got ridiculously close to Claire’s and not knowing what to do apart from crashing into her and ultimately me falling off my bike. There were passerby this time too. Charming.
Third ride was quite an adventurous one, where Claire bravely took me from Whitechapel, to Tower Bridge (yes, I crossed Tower Bridge on my third lesson), to the back to London bridge, Waterloo, to a roundabout at Lambeth Bridge, into Hyde Park and all the way up to Regent’s Park with bits on the narrow canal too. 13 miles done in a pace that’s slower than running, but I was very pleased.
Then there were two rides on the Boris Bikes, where I confidently suggested I can ride along side my friends and their bikes, and started to use cycling as mean of transportation. I even managed to park my bike into the docks while cycling it. I think I am doing something right. That, and Claire is doing something very very right.
On my birthday we also did a cycling ride. This is the first time I experienced feeling uneasy on the bike because the saddle was set up the way it should, but too high for me. Which up to this point it has always been at its lowest position as I feel very very uncomfortable and insecure if my feet doesn’t properly touch the ground when they are off the pedals. I crashed into a stationary pedestrian. Which my excuse for that was she was in my way (and she was standing with her bike in the wrong lane also) but it led to her father being very french and mean to me. And then Claire presented me with my birthday present which is my first ever cycling helmet. Now I am calling myself a cyclist.
Now this is the part I have been eagerly waiting to get to.
My Seventh Cycle Ride (Yes it requires as many capital letters as possible) was my first ever long distance cycle ride, covering 57 miles, from London, to Brighton.
I had the pleasure to share this milestone in my cycling journey with Claire, Magda (Bae), Murdo, Bradders, Naomi, and Rixt.
Here are some jumbled thoughts that I can recall from that journey.
- Still in London.
- It’s been an hour, still in London.
- Oh, this looks more like the country side, next stop Brighton.
- Nope, not yet.
- Hills. Is this the Beacon?
- Where is this Fanny’s Farm?
- We are not even half way yet?!?!
- Very white.
- M25!
- Next stop Brighton.
- Nope, not yet.
- Hills. Is this the Beacon?
- More hills. This got to be the Beacon.
- Why did Claire say this was easy and flat?
- I hate you Claire. (Actually said, at the top of Turner’s Hill)
- My ****** hurts.
- Oh…….
- This is the Beacon.
- Can I run up the the hill with the bike instead of cycling up this road?
- I am going to die. (This is when I got off my bike and I ran/walked the rest of the way up while pushing my bike.)
- This is like perfect training for triathlon transitions.
- I want to cry (Which I didn’t, but I got very closed to, and then I blamed my swallowing hard and shallow breaths on the height of the hill, less oxygen up here.)
- Oh I am here.
- I want to cry.
- Downhill.
- This is how I die.
I progressively got better and faster as the bike ride went on and I became more and more comfortable on the two wheels. At one point I even offered to put my saddle up! (as mentioned before, it has always stayed very low).
This journey was quite an incredible one, so many feelings were felt. Up to this point, I had not really experienced defeat to this extreme (in regards with cycling up the Beacon) and I really had to stay emotional strong and not break down that way I might have if I honed in on the ‘Why can’t I cycle up the Beacon? Because I am crap at this’ feeling. I kept trying to tell myself ‘this is ok, come on, it will be ok’ and it was quite a new sensation for me. I wouldn’t say I had a big epiphany and learnt a whole lot about myself because I didn’t, but I now know how this vulnerability feels. Next time hopefully I will get better at dealing with this sensation.
Luckily this trip was done on the bike so my legs weren’t too damaged and I kept feeling like I haven’t really done anything that significant. Because I didn’t run it. So friends kept having to remind me that not many people would have cycled to Brighton, let alone someone who has only learned the skill 2 months ago. I guess.
Learning this skill has allowed me to take part in so many more activities without holding people back (unless we are talking about my speed, then yes it is probably still holding people back). For example when we went to Copenhagen the week after, it was only natural for us to rent bikes to sight see and travel within the city and I didn’t even think twice. No I lied. I did think twice once I heard THERE WAS NO BACK BRAKE AND YOU HAD TO PEDAL BACKWARDS TO BRAKE. However, I got used to that quite quickly and was able to manoeuvre my very lovely bike around the beautifully cyclist-friendly planned city.
I started to become more confident and after I returned from Copenhagen, I asked Dan to chaperone me, from Maida Vale back to Shepherd’s Bush, him on his very nice and fast carbon everything bike, and me on my boris bike. It was late at night so this was my first night time cycling and I enjoyed it very much. Especially because the roads were mostly empty and we were going through a lot of back streets that were really calming.
Then my 9th ride was this Sunday, instead of focusing on myself, Claire and I were cycling with others, some happy to cycle on the road but not at super sonic speed, and others who weren’t so confident on the road. My-ha, Vanessa, Dougie, Claire and I had so much fun, doing laps in Victoria Park (where I constantly pointed out where certain things happened) and me seeing myself having improved from my first ride ever. ALSO I STOOD UP ON MY BIKE. And Claire and I shared a very special moment, where I was trying to become better at cycling with one hand on my bike (I had to master this very quickly as my nose is always itchy) and she sneakily came up from behind and held my hand, we then cycled for about 10m before letting each other go).
Then going to London fields and doing laps there (also where I had my second ever cycle ride, and when I pointed out where I first learned to ring my bell and suddenly lost balance, Claire admitted she didn’t remember and we had a brief falling out moment). And then we cycled to Haggerston for food at Toconoco before going to Shoreditch for my Knitathlon.
It was a great sensation when I feel like I was always helping others on the bike, despite me not being very good on it yet. And I enjoyed it very much. I hope to do more rides like this with other nervous cyclists, and we help each other to become better and more confident.
And the most recent cycle ride, also my 10th cycle ride, I decided to commemorate this no other than to do a solo ride. It wasn’t long. It was only 1.5 miles, from Haggerston down Kingland’s Road to Shoreditch. The only difficult part was after the cross road onto Shoreditch High Street, I would have to signal right, cycle into the middle of the road and cut across oncoming traffic to go down right onto Bateman’s Row and then through to New Inn’s Yard to get to the docking station.
At the traffic light just before the cross road, I was waiting eagerly behind a bus, along with other cyclists and I could see and feel my leg shivering, and shaking, it was a great feeling. But also greater once I got to my destination in one piece.
Next stop, more cycle rides, where I would actually learn to lead and be more confident on the road.
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