'Tis a Gift to be Simple.

I've just started serious cycling again. I suppose most of you reading this know I've done an event recently involving 100 miles cycle around Norfolk for charity. If not, then you know now! All sorts of bicycles passed me: mountain bikes with knobbly tyres whirred, state-of-the-art carbon fibre frames rumbled, aluminium racers whistled by, oh, and occasionally I passed other bikes. I had a great time, I completed the course with no discomfort, no pains, no blisters but a huge sense of achievement.

This was the first "big" cycling I'd done and I was really fired up all through my training month. I'd read all I could get hold of through the 'net and books, but the best advice was from an American book:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Complete-Book-Long-Distance-Cycling/dp/1579541992/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1316369417&sr=8-2

This more or less said the bike you're comfortable with and have ridden should be fine. It was. It advised against specialised, usually very expensive, in the way of wheels, tyres, gearing, pedals etc.
I liked this philosophy and so did my my wife and my bank manager. My own bike was a ten year old steel frame tourer which fits me perfectly and has seen me commuting in London, Birmingham and finally Norfolk. Its simplicity has always appealed to me.

Me and my Bob Jackson Tourer (camouflage to deter thieves!)

 But I've also recently come across groups of cyclists all over the world who were trying to simplify their cycling even more. Fixies are stripped down bikes with an aesthetic all of their own. Most people adapt their own or buy a cheap secondhand frame, but you can buy quite expensive ones ready made. These cycles effectively have one gear, one brake, a frame and two wheels. Do you remember your first ever bike? It was probably like this but with a free wheel so you could rest on the pedals.

I loved the idea of this but wasn't sure how I'd get on with riding one as it's pretty hilly around Norfolk despite what Noel Coward wrote. 

Don't you just love ebay? I found a cheap bike with a huge frame ( my inside leg is 35"!) which was fairly close and won the auction. It was sold by a lovely retired USAF officer and it was shipped over from the States in the eighties. It was extremely crudely made but very comfortable and almost identical in size and geometry to my beloved Bob Jackson.

I stripped off the gears, got my LBS (Local Bike Shop, a great American abbreviation) to fit a gear and locking ring to the rear wheel, heeded advice to keep both brakes and tried it out. A time of bleeding shins, strained thighs and lots of giggling ensued as I got to grips with pedals my legs had to revolve with. After about a week or so of commuting I got the hang of it. I got the hang of it so much that I could get up the hills I used to drop through all the gears for and manage to keep my legs revolving down really wooshy hills. And the giggling continued and still continues! I'm even considering cycling the 25 miles to Norwich on it next week.

It's now hanging in the garage having the paint job it deserves instead of the rather sober grey scheme it came with. As I paint it, I feel the sort of pleasure I felt with my first bike. The pleasure of a bit of machinery I can maintain myself, that was inexpensive, that was fun to ride and that was essentially an extension of me.

Finished!

Yes I did ride it from Norwich yesterday and had a wonderful time. I cramped up in the evening and feel quite achey today but I love the freedom and simplicity I have when riding it: 

YOU JUST PEDAL!

We live in an increasingly complicated world, how good it is to recapture some of the simplicity of a happy childhood! And also some of the silliness.