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Are YOU new (or returning) to cycling?

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Started 12 years ago by chdot
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chdot
Admin

There's a lively discussion on the thread 'To get more people cycling - ignore the ones that already do'....

If YOU have started (or returned to) cycling in the last couple of years (approx) perhaps you could write something here about why, what put you off previously, what encouraged you to keep going, any 'barriers' you had to overcome - no bike, comments from 'friends'/not friends/'society' etc. etc.

We've had similar threads before (CCE has already attracted/encouraged 'new' people who happen to ride bikes), but there must be even more stories now that people might like to share.

Posted 12 years ago #
steveo
Member

I've written this in a fairly similar thread from last year but I'll post it again.

When you boil away all the reasons people give for not wanting to cycle what you have at the bottom is a little salt of truth, its a simple 3 chain molecule named "can't be arsed" and that was my underlying reasoning for about 8 years (I call this my dark time).

My old mountain bike was usually in my spare room but i'd convinced my self it needed too much work and i had neither the time nor the money to do it or i'd think i was too unfit or there wasn't a shower at the office. One day i did try to take the bike and i was too unfit i pushed too hard and ended up walking part of it (from Drum Brae to Gorgie downhill and hardly a marathon) but that put the idea right back out the window. After i couldn't get in to my kilt for a wedding a few years later i started using that "broken" bike on the turbo for 20/30 mins a few days a week before work a few months later work brought in the cycle scheme and at the same time LRT put there prices up twice in a couple of months i figured that was the way the wind was blowing and got a decent bike from the cycle scheme and with in few months it was habit to take the bike instead of the bus.

Just recently i "fixed" that old mountain bike by indexing the gears and setting the brakes up again, that's all it needed. A few weeks on the turbo brought my fitness up to a point where i was comfortable on the road and LRT haven't put there fares up again, though my current work does have showers. Moral of the story there was nothing insurmountable in my excuse bag but having thought it through the reason was i couldn't be bothered the car/bus was easier. I doubt i'm that abnormal tbh and doubt that my experience is unique.

http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=877#post-7819

Posted 12 years ago #
Instography
Member

I only started cycling again about five weeks ago after having done nothing for about two years and not having cycled properly (which would have involved cycling 30 miles to and from work most days and a 50-60 mile run at the weekend) for about four years.

Why get back to cycling? I've cycled in the past and enjoyed it. I let it go and now I'm 47, fat and at reasonable risk of popping an artery. Also spending £40 a week on bus and train fares. The bus service where I live is terrible and means my partner was bundling two kids into the car to pick me up from the station at night.

What put me off? Originally, I used to cycle 15 miles each way from home to work and stopped in the winter of 2008 when it was cold and miserable and I was almost run off the road twice in the same week. I just never got started the following spring. And the longer you've stopped the harder it is to start again. The more excuses you make for yourself. My mate, who used to gee me up and get me out stopped asking when I kept having a reason not to.

Barriers - I have cycled a lot in the past so roads, traffic, safety etc weren't an issue for me. I ride quite fast, confidently and cars can just go screw themselves. The main barrier was simply one of distance and fitness - I work in Edinburgh but live 15 miles away – and the will to get on with it. I tried cycling to Inverkeithing and catching the train but it was useless as form of exercise - 3 miles just isn't enough - and left me lugging a bike on and off the train at both ends (and paying for the train). The fitness barrier meant that going from nothing to 15 miles was a bit of a leap.

What got me going again? It was always at the back of my mind. The key to it was getting a small car (ironic?) and when I'd had that for a couple of weeks, driving to the station, I realised that I could drive to Ingliston Park and Ride and cycle seven miles from there on a pretty flat route, with a mix of paths and greenways. I do that every day I can, with occasional rides from home. If I can keep it up over the winter I'll be in good shape to keep it going and switch so that the park and ride element becomes less frequent and cycling the whole way becomes the norm.

I've made a few adjustments like making my lunch the night before, organising my work clothes for the morning just to make sure I can still get out of the door by 6.30am but nothing dramatic. I had good bikes already and cycling gear and it's a great opportunity to buy new gear ;-)

Posted 12 years ago #
Stepdoh
Member

I must pass you at some point Instography as I ride out to Ingliston every morning and see the same folk every day :).

Me wanted to cycle but thought it was too far (work wanted someone with a car) > Bought car > Seethed for three years in traffic > Crashed car into back of landrover > Got Bike.

Posted 12 years ago #
Instography
Member

I'm the fat bloke on a blue Cannondale (mostly) with no helmet and a red face. Usually leave the P&R at 7am. Usually back around 5.45pm. Gimme a wave.

Posted 12 years ago #
Stepdoh
Member

hmm, don't know if our timings cross. I work at the other end of the highland centre and are usually there by 9.

Usually standard black bike-ninja but with red arm warmers and red bike and blue helmet (must do something about the helmet) In the minority going the other way :)

Go the whole way from princes street or roseburn down the greenways to maybury, then the wiggly path lark over the bridge and past RBS.

Oh, and there's an empty child seat on the back a few days a week.

Posted 12 years ago #
scotti
Member

I’m fairly recent returnee to cycling in the last few years, but there were a number of factors involved in my decision. I cycled to work for a year as a 17 year old, then discovered motorbikes and beer. Cars and kids followed later.
Health and fitness got me started cycling again after 20 odd years away. I stopped a 40 a day habit, started swimming at lunchtime and a bit of cycling followed gradually building things up.
What convinced me to get a bit of exercise? Colleagues in the workplace that cycled and went swimming, and an employer that contributes towards the cost of my Edinburgh Leisure membership. We also have showers and reasonably secure cycle parking.
My commute is from Queensferry to Musselburgh and it’s 16 miles by bike or 25 miles by car. I’d like to say I manage both ways, but getting up the hill from Cramond to Dalmeny gets the better of me and I get the train home.
You know what the really annoying thing about this is? It takes longer to get home by train than it did to cycle in. From the time I leave work to go for the train to getting through the door at home it takes an hour and 30 minutes (peak time trains are slow), it takes me on average an hour and 15 minutes to cycle in. The car takes 50 minutes each way normally and £60ish a week just for petrol.
I’d love to be able to commute both ways by bike on the days that I don’t need the car, but it’s too easy to just lift the car keys when it’s wet or windy. I’m working on that.
I don’t fear the traffic, I just take the space I need. I do get hacked off by impatient drivers and cyclists who think the rules don’t apply to them. I’m no angel either, but I know my faults and I’m working on them.

Posted 12 years ago #
DaveC
Member

I cycled to and from Uni in the 90's and then to work in the early 2000's as I lived in Leith and worked in town. I sometimes walked as my partner worked near me and we would work similar hours. Then I moved to work in Cambridge and drove 30miles each way (reason too long to explain). I moved back to Edinburgh in Oct 2010 and usually take the train but at christmas a local friend asked me if I wanted to cycle on a SUnday with him. I then bought the borrowed bike and started to cycle in with my friend who also worked in Edinburgh. I occationally cycle but mostly take the train in and home but we have a regular weekly ride on an evening and Sunday's still.

Posted 12 years ago #
Instography
Member

*Stepdoh
Empty child seat you say... did you have it covered with a clear / translucent plastic bag yesterday? If so, we passed on the path, you heading towards the RBS bridge, me heading to the P&R. We said hello.

Posted 12 years ago #
Stepdoh
Member

Yup, that's me! Hello!

Posted 12 years ago #
recombodna
Member

I've been back to cycling regularly for the last 5 years or so. I'm a self employed kitchen fitter and drummer so I can't commute by bike. In the early 90's I was a bicycle courier in edinburgh for about 3 years and then again from 98 til 2000. Cycling 9 hour a day 5 days a week in all weathers scotland could throw at me eventually I broke. Got a Job with a rope access company learned to drive and got a company van. Bike (what was left of it after couriering) was chucked in a skip.

Then about 5 years ago I remembered that the reason I became a bike courier in the first place was because I loved cycling so I got myself a bike....then another bike....then another....N+1 and all that.

Posted 12 years ago #
crowriver
Member

I started cycling more 'seriously' two years ago. I had cycled from age 13 to 27 pretty regularly (except bizarrely while at university in the late 1980s, as I had assumed it was too difficult to take my bike with me on the train each term). I stopped for a few years while working in London in the mid-1990s: the traffic there just terrified me. It was pre-congestion charge, and pre-broadband so lots of motorbike couriers were ranked at each junction jostling for position before racing off at the green light: not nice for cycling! When I came back to Edinburgh in the late 1990s I bought a mountain bike, put slicks on it and cycled to work for the next five years. The only off-putting thing was my bikes kept getting stolen.

When our first child arrived in 2005, I think we both just assumed cycling was impractical with small children. As we don't own a car that meant lots of walking, buses, trains and the odd taxi. Four years later our bikes, by now 8 years old but still in good condition (having not been used much in recent years) were sitting neglected in the stairwell. Inevitably perhaps, both were stolen. I claimed on the insurance and two brand new bikes arrived: this was the catalyst I needed. It seemed such a waste not to make use of them. After some research, I realised cycling with kids was very possible. A child seat was purchased, and I started taking my son out on trips. We haven't looked back since.

As a family we use our bikes a lot for everyday transport, commuting, ferrying kids and shopping. We started cycle camping last year and are getting more ambitious. We rarely get on a bus or in a taxi these days, but still like trains as you can take your bike with you. We manage perfectly well without a car too.

Posted 12 years ago #
Uberuce
Member

What put me off for years was the belief that Edinburgh cycling was too dangerous and too difficult.

I found it a little too hairy back in the late 90's when I was a student because drivers were so unaware of cyclists. The difficulty part was because I was a competitive powerlifter and you just can't fit a cyclist and a 1-rep squatter on the same pair of legs.

A decade passed, my knees gave up because of the aforementioned powerlifting, or more accurately because I pushed myself too hard for too long. Getting strong by means of a progressive squat/bench/deadlift workout with the other heavy compound lifts chin/dip/clean is something I cannot recommend highly enough. Do it lightly for six months, then hammer yourself for a year and you are set for life - even if you never touch a weight again, you will never be a weakling. Don't do it for ten years.

So, I get X-rayed and dignosed with arthritis at age 33, needed something to keep in shape and a friend suggested cycling, since she goes everywhere on her powder-blue Pashley Poppy and assured me it was fine riding in town these days. Seen a girl in a pink helmet, blue Pashley, Morningside/Bruntsfield? That's her.

I get my sister's old racer down from its hook* and find it's still running okay, and give it a go. This is May of this year.

To my surprise I've found that cycling cuts my travel time per day from 1hr 45min to 55min, and that drivers are now very aware and generally considerate. With the exception of low/mid range BMW/Merc/Audi owners and those black-caged meter-incensed murderers the name of whose trade I shall not utter here.

I cannot believe I ever tolerated waiting at bus stops. The few times I've had to get one since May, I've stood and twitched on the pavement thinking about the rapidly increasing percentage of the journey I'd have completed if I'd been on the bike.

The big test is going to be winter. I'm pretty coldproof as long as I'm mobile - typically it's got to be sub-zero before I can wear more than a T-shirt if I'm walking uphill, so that's a plus. It's the rain that's going to break me, if anything does.

*The previous owner of my flat was a cyclist who'd built a rack for six bikes in what I use as a study. Thusly, my Dad's bike is hanging a few feet beside me. I wonder if I'm going to move the computer desk so I can hang n+1's from the other hooks....

Posted 12 years ago #
Its_Me_Knees
Member

Having played footy (badly, and mostly 5-a-side) for 20-odd years, I found my age was starting to tell. Most annoyingly, my knee aches weren't subsiding between matches. A change in job meant I was less able to play regularly, and my weight went up as a result, leading to more knee issues. After ten years trying (and failing) to find a practical alternate source of good and enjoyable excercise, my job changed again and I found myself with a do-able potential cycling commute (7 miles one way). I blew the cobwebs off my old budget MTB and took it round the block several times to see if I could even get close to the necessary distance. Long story short: almost a year on and with a new, proper commuter type bike in the stable, I am doing the run to work two or three times a week, plus a run out somewhere most weekends.

Honest pros and cons:

Pros:
- Feeling fitter than any time in the last ten years. Not much weight lost per se, but re-distributed somewhat.
- Saving money on commuter costs.
- Much less frustration than the car commute, especially when the schools are back.
- Knees aren't perfect, but have improved greatly and are much less prone to random 'twinges'.

Cons:
- Work doesn't have a shower, so I have to do a rather laborious flannel wash in the restricted environs of the disabled toilet.
- Having found my optimum route, it's getting a little boring.
- Over the spring and summer, I've eaten/inhaled my own weight in winged bugs. I swear some of them were in flagrante delicto... euurgh...
- Tree routes on cycle paths, insane yappy kamikaze dogs and oblivious, earphone-wearing, pedestrians are almost as annoying as aggressive BMW drivers.
- Laundry has increased to a point where it rivals my footy days.

On balance: well worth the effort. If I have to transport laptops, etc., to/from work or if the weather looks seriously dodgy I'll admit to using the car for the commute. I'd like to use the bike more, and I think I will find the winter challenging, so we'll see where I go from here. For a first 'season' of cycling I'm well pleased.

Posted 12 years ago #
Tulyar
Member

For our Fife based friends, remember that the Stagecoach Express service uses coaches with underfloor lockers and provided you board at a sensible place (like the P&R or coach station) it is easy to take a bike with you on the coach - handy for those miserable nights slogging out into the dark and wet wind. Kids in Banchory arrange by text to board the coach and go in to use the BMX park in Aberdeen - often up to 10 bikes on the coach. I used to see the guy from Fordell (David?) who rode a 3-speed in a kilt, and used the Dunfermeline to Glasgow service with the bike.

First are also proposing to carry single cycles after 7 pm on low floor bus operated routes, again a useful potential for those nights when you can't face the ride home, but a little more limited.

Citylink also carry bikes, but officially you have to pack them flat or fold them and wrap them up (in a bag or wrap over sheet), and National Express likewise. Hendersons are generally (but not officially) OK and that is handy for the Hamilton-Strathaven service.

Mix and match is handy for some of the longer commutes, especially where you use unlit and busy/fast roads.

Posted 12 years ago #
Uberuce
Member

- Much less frustration than the car commute, especially when the schools are back.

That reminds me - all the being-late frustration that used to go into raised blood pressure and scalding misanthropy now goes into my quads and comes out as a new Fastest Time.

Posted 12 years ago #
DaveC
Member

[Not mine but that of a young lady (moved to Edininburgh from London last week)]

We were overtaken on the canal by a manic young lady in tracksuit and shulder bag on a black 'racer' as we approached the Aqueduct lastnight. As she approached the aqueduct she fell off. I slowed as I approached her and she was walking over the start of the bridge and asked if she was ok.
'Oh yes' she replied surprised,
'I was given the bike by a freind last week and haven't mastered getting my cycle shoes off the (spd) peddles yet'.
So it appears she can't get her shoes off so just falls over to get her fet off, not the brightest idea when approaching the aqueduct along the canal. I mentioned the silly chap who ended up in the drink, relayed on here, who then climbed out on the opposite side.... She then commented that it was kind of me to ask how she was, as she'd moved up from London at the start of the week, and down there no one would bat an eyelid at her falling off in public....
'I like to think we're a little more caring up here', I replied.

Posted 12 years ago #
SRD
Moderator

davec - I now have this hilarious image of this woman cycling around Edinburgh and falling off every time she wants to stop !

Posted 12 years ago #
Greenroofer
Member

I wonder if she was the woman I saw about 0735 on Wednesday morning who had apparently just been fished out of the canal mid-way along the aqueduct.

People falling into water is funny (if it's not you), but actually it would be a pretty miserable experience on an autumn morning on your way to work. Not only your cycling kit, but your work clothes in the panniers, your phone, laptop (possibly), packed lunch and money would be soaked and possibly ruined.

Posted 12 years ago #
Nelly
Member

Chap that used to work with us, fancied himself as a bit of a speed demon, desperately pushing to overtake someone just before the Longstone viaduct, overcooked it and shot straight into the water !

Apparently the fella he overtook found it rather amusing.

Posted 12 years ago #
gembo
Member

Nelly - did he then swim to the opposite side, sit a while and realise he was going to have to get back in and swim back? If so same incident I observed but was not part of, except asking the barge to go back to help get the bike out. If not it looks like a number of similar incidents

I often get off and push across, e.g. if windy or skinny tyres on. As Greenroofer says, falling in is only funny if happening to someone else.

If you do end up in the canal try also to keep your head up - it is shallow on the near side, you do not want to swallow the water. Think about this first then about bike/possessions.

Posted 12 years ago #
Nelly
Member

Gembo, could be - As I understand it, he thought it was amusing at first, then realised he was about to lose an expensive bike, and had to delve down and retrieve it.

Posted 12 years ago #
gembo
Member

Good point about what happens to the bike. Sinks into mud, I was rushing home to make tea so don't know if barge helpd, they apparently had a magnet instead of a boat hook ???

The guy I saw going into the drink was not amused at any time [on the outside] he was like I would have been - pissed off. I maybe might have managed a smile on re-entry.

Posted 12 years ago #
chdot
Admin

"

"It's 20 months of adult commuto-cycling" All(?) entertainingly chronicled on CCE.

"

Thought it was time to revive this thread.

Posted 11 years ago #
Uberuce
Member

I can confirm that falling into the canal is still funny even if it's you.

I could have bought a bike for the price of the glasses and phone I had* to replace, but I consider that idiot tax. Smelly, wet and cold as the canal is, it's not an HGV, so vastly preferable as a collision, therefore I declare the incident a much needed warning shot across the bows to stop me from my foolish blootered biking ways.

Ruggtomcat of this parish has previously done sterling service on one occasion in this regard. Surprisingly sensible, for a wandering minstrel type, is our RTC.

*I didn't technically need to replace my expensive rimless glasses, but they display my beautiful eyes so well that I couldn't do without them. Also, people had stopped mistaking me for SRD.

Do I get to collect Proud points for not being broken by winter rain? On Thursday I had folk in the office staring at my drenched self as I casually said 'Meh, if it's warm enough to rain, I'm too hot in waterproofs. Wish I'd changed into my shorts, though'

Posted 11 years ago #
chdot
Admin

"Do I get to collect Proud points for not being broken by winter rain?"

No

CCE star for perseverance

And another for entertainment value

Posted 11 years ago #
cb.pola
Member

My cycling conversion story.

I never liked cycling. I didn't get a bike when I was a kid (multiple reasons) and only barely managed to learn to ride a 2 wheeler by age 10. Since I was so much less competent that any of my friends, even riding a borrowed bike was no fun - they all left me behind.
Grew up (well, got older, anyroads).
Somewhen in the mid 1980's there was a bus strike in Edinburgh. At the time I was living in Morningside and working in Leith. Borrowed a bike to get to work. Man's road bike with drop handlebars - never been on one before. Fell off somewhere along Melville drive in the rush hour, bringing all traffic to a halt. Decided I REALLY didn't like cycling.
Grew older still. Got married. Husband decided to take up cycling to work as we were hard up (new baby, he had new job in Roslin, living on Causewayside). He became a proper cycling enthusiast. I was still totally uninterested.
Grew even older. Spent many years driving to/from work in various places, mostly in East Lothian. Got fed up with it.
Got a new job, much closer to home. Husband suggested again that I try a bike. I protested that arriving sweaty wasn't going to be a good start to my working day. He suggested an e-bike. Had no idea about them. He said, go for a test ride.
So...
Went for a test ride. Got on, with much trepidation. Set off round the block. Apparently, when I got back, I had a grin from ear to ear. "I want one" I said. So he bought me one.

To be honest, neither of us was sure whether I would actually stick to using it. I got it in July and started using it every day to pop up to the shops, or just to get some fresh air between the showers. When term restarted, I cycled in on my first morning commute very nervously. Colleagues were intrigued, some positively supportive. Next day the pupils were back. I was pleasantly surprised by the reactions - a few made cheeky comments of course, but a couple said "Cool bike, Miss" and asked about what it was like to ride.
Kept on cycling every day. Got some nice big panniers so carrying marking home wasn't a problem. And of course, stopping off on the way home at the local shops for fresh bread, milk, fruit, veg etc was easy-peasy on my bike - with the car it had never been possible as nowhere to park.
In fact the cycling was becoming such fun that I wanted to do more at the weekends, so bought a 2nd hand MTB which could go on the bike rack to take away with us for weekends in our campervan. During the late summer/autumn had several weekends up in the Trossachs and highlands, and managed several days out doing 20km or so on the MTB - yes, I know, small potatoes to those of you who rattle off 50 mile treks, but this is a middle-aged, formerly non-cycling old biddy, so I consider it a success story.
Since buying the e-bike in July, I've only used the car 4 times to get to work - either because I had to take in extra equipment, or because I had agreed to car-share with a colleague to go to a meeting after school on the other side of town.
I love my e-bike - for me it is the perfect commute machine - easy, speedy, and it gives me much more confidence, especially in traffic, because I know it has the acceleration to get me out of trouble if I need it, where I don't have the fitness (yet!?) to manage so well on a regular bike. And because I started to enjoy cycling on it, I've also developed a love of cycling on my MTB in the countryside.
Would I recommend it to others? - you bet!

Posted 11 years ago #
chdot
Admin

Welcome.

If it's taken an electric bike to make you into a 'regular' cyclist, that's a good advert for them.

If only a few more drivers would do the same!

Great that you actually like it enough to try other sorts of bicycles/riding.

Posted 11 years ago #
SRD
Moderator

That is such a great story - are you sure this isn't amazon reviews and yu're not a plant for an e-bike retailer? :)

Posted 11 years ago #
chdot
Admin

Now now SRD, such cynicism in one so young...

Posted 11 years ago #

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