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from wage slave to cyclist

gordonscott Leave a comment

So there I was. My 66th birthday, my last day at work and looking forward to Monday when I can lie in bed all day and do nothing! I should have known better. I was awake at the usual time and feeling like I should get out on my bike. So at 6.30 am I set off on my bike along the canal. I went west, the opposite direction from my usual commute. After a couple of hours I ended up back home and it struck me that I was really going to enjoy this retirement lark.

The more I got out and about on my bike the better I wanted it to perform. I had started looking at up-grades over the time I was commuting. First I replaced the wheels, derailleur and brakes. Over the next couple of years I had changed almost all of the components. I was gradually rebuilding a bike which I thought would suit my purpose. It got to a point when my spare room had so many bits lying about I bought a second hand mountain bike frame from e-bay and transferred all the better parts onto it. That left me with almost a complete bike which I put together and sold to a neighbour. I gathered a collection of tools which enabled me to completely strip down and build up the bike several times. It was getting better but I doubt if I will ever be completely satisfied and have an end product.

My thoughts began to stray on to where I could cycle to. I started reading cycling blogs and web-sites. I began to develop ideas about going cycle touring. I hadn’t been camping for a couple of years but still had most of the gear. The thought of going camping on my bike started growing in my mind.

how it all started

gordonscott Leave a comment

In the winter of 2019/20 I was working in social care when Corona hit the country. My employers, being risk averse, decided to close our service down but, being in a supervisory role, I still had to go into our office every day to maintain a phone link for our service users and staff. This changed after a few weeks and we gradually increased the services we provided. I had recently gone through eye surgery therefore couldn’t drive so soon I was making a 10 mile bus journey twice daily.

This was a pain as I had to take two buses. One day I looked at my bike and thought that cycling would be a less time-consuming way to get to work as I was travelling for 2 hours, morning and evening to get to work and home, having to wear a mask, a limited service with no guarantee of the timings. I worked out that it was less distance and because it was along the canal the cycle was flat and therefore shouldn’t be too taxing.

So I started riding my bike to work. I had hardly been on the bike for years. The first day I arrived and my legs were so wobbly I thought I may need to leave my bike in the office and take the bus home. I had all sorts of thoughts going through my head. Was I too old at 64 to start commuting? Was it maybe a plan to just do one trip a day and do the reverse by bus?

Anyway, by the end of the day I felt better and cycled home. The next day I tried it again and it was easier. I was even starting to look forward to the journey and by the end of the week was committed to cycling every day.

By mid summer I was thinking of myself as a cyclist and even going out on my bike when I wasn’t working. I started buying cycling clothing and extras for the bike. Waterproofs followed and I was cycling in all weathers.

By March 2023 I had almost stopped driving altogether. I was a committed cyclist who was about to retire. So it was time to take my cycling to the next level and work out how I was going to continue when I was no longer commuting to work.