At the age of four I had a truly life changing experience. While going to the local video shop in Bingham with my farther, I decided I didn't want to watch Disney’s Robin Hood any more. I know, I know, I was living in Nottingham but, it just wasn't doing it for me. There was an urge for something more real, something gritty, something I could aspire to. It was in this trip to the video shop that my farther rented BMX bandits, and It was here that my obsession with bikes started.
From what I have been told, in the time we lived in Bingham I watched that film over 100 times, and it was only because we moved to Hull that I stopped. And this was due to the local Ritz video store not stocking it. I soon nagged enough to get my very own BMX. A beautiful red Raleigh, and it wasn't long before ramps were constructed in the street. Made of saucepans and discarded planks wood. It wasn't long after these ramps were built I soon realised I wasn’t very good on my BMX, and I still have the scars to remind me.
In the early 90's my red Raleigh soon got replaced by a Universal mountain bike. And this was my main mode of transport right up until I could drive at the age of 18. Hours were spent with my brother, and mate Simon, riding around East Yorkshire, trawling hedges for discarded porn mags, riding to friends houses in order to drink cider in the garden or even going to a nearby village with the hope of bumping into a girl.
After we all learned to drive that was it, the bike was put in the shed and rusted away. I left for university and eventually moved to Leeds. And it is here in 9 years later that I have now rediscovered cycling, but this time though the cycle to work scheme and now I have a road bike.
This blog is how I have rediscovered my love for cycling. My experiences within the big city of Leeds and how it reminds me of my youth. I know at the beginning of this post I said that discovering cycling was life changing. But from my brief description of my cycling history you may be thinking “well there is nothing life changing about any of that”. I know I didn't go on to become famous or even compete at a local level. But discovering a mode of transport in the villages of East Yorkshire before we could drive was truly “life changing”. With no public transport, and the average distance between villages about 4-5 miles, it enable use to move and be independent. But more on this in future posts.
For now this concludes my introduction. I intend to ramble and go off on tangents, but I hope you all enjoy it. Keep checking back for my various posts. Hope you all enjoy.
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