The Cycling Column: Explore at a pace that brings comfort and fun

The New Year brings new hope and new possibilities. I am slowly making my way reluctantly to 50. My body can no longer recover like I was twenty, my hair is tinged with grey, the offspring are growing at a rapid rate and my body shape is emerging into middle age, I’ve even noticed some belly fat, god forbid, belly fat!

But something that remains constant is my love for life on two (self-propelled) wheels. Unfortunately the world has become so easy to explore, we travel far too quickly, the romanticism of travelling on foot or bicycle has long been forgotten, replaced by hi=speed/hi=octane metal alternatives.

The simple bike has provided me with the opportunity to explore at a pace which can only promote passion and most importantly fun. My family has learned to adopt a controlled patience as my life and home is consumed with all things cycling, and this will not change.

2020 will once again be dominated by the bike, my diary is already bursting with projects and trips, some familiar, some unknown. My main goal is to get as many people out on a bicycle, the facts are irrefutable, regular cyclists enjoy a fitness level equal to that of a person ten years younger, cycling at least twenty miles a week reduces the risk of heart disease to less than half that for non-cyclists who take no other exercise, If one third of all short car journeys were made by bike, national heart disease rates would fall by between 5 and 10 percent and during rush-hour, a bicycle is about twice as fast as a car – good if you hate traffic jams!

So why not join me, enjoy every minute. Life is a journey, it about experiences, sometimes good and sometimes bad, but we need to embrace everything that is thrown in our path because, ultimately, that’s what makes us who we are and how we live. This journey, in my opinion, is best experienced on the bicycle, I hope you’re convinced, if not, c’mon we can’t ignore the fact that cars kill and maim thousands of people every year – bicycles don’t.