Not the best picture, but that's probably just as well, as some of the stitching is a little wonkier than I'd like.
Cycling has been a bit of a major theme for me this year. For the first time in over twenty years, I became a bike owner once more. I can't say I was hugely keen, to begin with. It's not that I don't like exercise: I love to run (only middle distance, mind you). And it's not like I didn't spend hours in the saddle as a kid: I cycled for miles at weekends and in the school holidays. It's just that most of those hours were spent on quiet country lanes, and Sheffield is definitely not quiet. The reason for my cycling rebirth is married to me. My cyclist husband turned forty recently, and to celebrate this, he requested that we go cycling together for a few days while my parents took care of the children. In spite of my fears about us leaving the children orphaned as a result of our being squished to a pulp under the wheels of a bus, I agreed, and in January, I started to get some miles in.
I started off riding on cycle tracks in the Peak District: so far, so good. But if I was going to cycle from place to place over the course of several days with my hubby, I was going to have to venture onto the road. Oh, goodness me. While there are many things I love about Sheffield, it seems that if you're going to cycle in this fair city (or many other cities, I should think), it helps if you're just a wee bit nuts, or maybe into extreme sports. Honestly, I'd rather have gone base jumping. First, there's the traffic: there's an awful lot of it, and it doesn't always behave as it should around those without an engine (frankly, a lot of cyclists behave badly too). Then there's the road surface. To be fair, the council has recently embarked on an extensive road repair scheme, but Sheffield isn't known as the Hole-y City for nothing. It's not just the state of the surfaces though, it's all the debris you come across. There's a stretch of road near my house - a busy hill - and I don't think I've ever cycled down it without keeping my eyes glued to the road surface, watching out for the half bricks, bits of someone's rockery and lumps of discarded lorry which threaten to be my undoing.
There are cycle paths in Sheffield, but my experience of some of these has been marked by frustration and confusion as I try to figure out where they're taking me, or why they've suddenly disappeared. Also, many of the cycle lanes are also bus and taxi lanes, which I find pretty unnerving. There are often cars parked in them, too, which means venturing out into the flow of traffic to get around them. Sheffield City Council does offer cycle coaching to build confidence and skills (see below) but what would really help to encourage more people like me onto two wheels would be improvements to the city's transport infrastructure that mean I don't feel like I'm risking life and limb just trying to get around.
So, after 6 months back on a bike, I've gained confidence, my backside has moved further away from the ground, muscles that weren't getting so much of a workout are now better developed, and I have a cyclist's tan where my (padded) shorts finish. And I haven't fallen off. Yet. Will I keep cycling? Well, I think so. I'd love to be more certain, but if Sheffield wants to promote itself as a cycle-friendly city, and get more of us regularly out there on our bikes, it's going to have to work a bit harder.
Useful cycletastic contacts:
Training: www.pedalready.co.uk
Campaigning on behalf of cyclists in Sheffield and lots of useful cycling info: www.cyclesheffield.org.uk
Breeze Network: aims to get more women enjoying cycling: www.goskyride.com/breeze
Sheffield Friday Night Bike Ride (takes place monthly): www.sfnr.org.uk
Find information about Sheffield's Critical Mass rides (these take place monthly) on Facebook and Twitter.
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