“I Want To Ride My Bicycle”

It all started, when during the Olympic games after watching Victoria Pendleton strut her stuff in the Velodrome, my hubby made a comment, “It wouldn’t surprise me if you didn’t start cycling next!’

This was due to my new-found joy of running. He was clearly presuming I would be wanting to vary my workouts with a bike ride now and then.  At the time I just thought, ‘dont be stupid, I haven’t ridden a bike for years!’  It did, however, trigger an emotion that made me reach for my laptop and start googling bikes!

Well the last bike I had, was given to me by my parents on my 11th birthday.  My Mom, Dad and big brother, gave me my present’s before school. I was 11 years old.  I sported a Lady Di haircut and apart from having some nice friends, I was pretty uncool! I remember coming home from school and heading straight for the kitchen where my cup of tea and biscuit were waiting. My Dad asked me to go into the shed to fetch something for him.  I can’t remember what he said he wanted me to get, but I do remember wondering why I had to go and get it instead of my big bro, when it was my birthday? Oh well, off I went without too much fuss.  I opened the shed door and there she was…

… a beautiful lemon ‘sit up and beg’ shopper bike! She was beautiful and she was just what I had dreamed I would get for my birthday. (I’m sure I remembered being just a bit disappointed earlier when my birthday bicycle hadn’t materialised!)  This was the last bike I had.  It was the last bike I rode and the last bike I thought I would ever want!

During my Google search, I came across Agyness Deyn, (she’s a seriously cool Model for those of you that are wondering who the hell she is!) riding an ‘Electra’ dutch style shopper bike through the streets of London, Paris & New York! I was instantly in love! (Not with Agyness obviously!) A single speed, black dutch shopper bike, just perfect! Hmmm, not that sure about the single speed though, given that we live on the top of a great big hill! Well, single speed, or 7 speeds, This is the bike that I want. The style of this bike is just perfect for me. The chain has a guard and it has a step over frame so you can even wear a dress whilst out riding! This is brilliant, given that I am not really a ‘jeans’ girl.

During my ‘deciding on a bike’ process, I decided to buy my hubby a ‘Old School BMX‘ for his 40th birthday. Our friends stored the bike for me until the morning of his birthday. I figured that this was a pretty good time to see if I could actually still ride a bike, without the need for stabilisers!  So, at 6.45am on 27th September, I walked up the road to my best mates house to get the 27 year old bike that I hoped my hubby would be thrilled with.  I walked a little way down the drive with the bike first then I swung my leg over, gave myself a little push and started peddling! Whoop Whoop! I was riding a bike after all these years!  I stuck my legs out to the side and freewheeled down the last bit of road before reaching my house with a huge grin on my face!

My conclusion is this…

… I don’t need a mountain bike with 100 gears as I don’t intend to go riding in any mountains or muddy trails. Im not quite sporty enough for a full on road bike, although fixie’s with aerospoke composite wheels are super cool! So, this, the Dutch shopper bike, is the bike that I am going to buy.  I would now love my much older half to build me a cool pink, white & chrome BMX, to satisfy the girl in me, but there is no getting away from my perfect bike. The dutch style shopper bike is the bike that was made for me and I will be saving my pennies up to buy one!

Anybody want to know what to buy me for Christmas?????