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Bike Holiday in Cambridge and London - Conclusion, No Magic Mantras



 
 
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  #1  
Old April 19th 04, 03:59 PM
Elisa Francesca Roselli
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Default Bike Holiday in Cambridge and London - Conclusion, No Magic Mantras

Well, I'm back now from my bicycle-directed exploration of London and
Cambridge in the UK. My purpose on this trip was to view some bikes that
are unavailable in France where I live and to try out some lessons
offered by the Cambridgeshire County Council to adult beginner cyclists.

I was hoping that actually taking lessons from an expert would help me
unblock some of the basic problems that persist after I have been
cycling for over a year. I still have trouble starting my heavy Dutch
bike, still cannot turn my head to look behind me or take my hands off
the bars to signal. I cannot stand on pedals and still flub many but
the loosest turns.

I was in search of "magic mantras", little shifts in consciousness that
can suddenly make a previously inaccessible movement clear. For example,
learning to balance involves looking out into the far horizon, while
coasting required the magic mantra of shifting weight from the upper to
the lower part of the body. Although I often lack the nerve to apply it,
I know the mantra for starting is "renounce the left foot and think of
yourself as standing on your right foot". I was hoping an expert could
give me things to visualize, or sentences to say in my head, to achieve
the remaining goals.

Arriving at Cambridge Station by train was a delight when the first
thing I saw, on stepping out, was a vast churning ocean of parked cycles
stretching as far as the eye could see. Every kind of cycle, every color
and age and condition - I have never seen so many at once. Spooky,
because I have stood countless times at that taxi rank since I first
went up in 1975, yet this is the first time I _saw_ them. Were they not
there before or is this a case of experience changing perception?

The first thing I did on settling in was to visit a shop called
University Cycles, on Victoria Road. I have no relation to Colin the
owner and no vested interest in his shop, but I was so kindly and
generously received that I willingly sing his praises here. The shop
stocked many of the models that I had been interested in during my
search for a definitive bike in November, for example, it was the first
time I could see a Giant Energy 7 in the flesh. There was an exceptional
range of products, unlike here in Ile de France where I only ever see
road and mountain bikes for males. How I wished this could be my LBS!
Colin used to do rentals but had so many cycles stolen that he gave it
up. Nevertheless he actually _lent_ me a cycle for my week of training.
I was embarrassed because I was fully prepared to pay for it, but when I
went to the place, City Cycle Hire, where I had rented a bike the
previous August I found it closed.

So I found myself with Storm, a 56 cm framed Dutch-style bike with a
3-speed hub. She was a much better quality vehicle than the rented one
of last summer, with a handling similar to Behemoth, my home bike. But
her steering was much more reliable and there was not the problem of the
pedal crank being too high in relation to the seat. I had hitherto
assumed that Behemoth, with her 50 cm frame, is too large for me. Storm
raised the question whether Behemoth may not be too _small_, hence the
problem of proportion. On the other hand, I found the very swept-back
handlebars on Storm painful to use, with my hands bent way back like
dolphin flippers. And the seat! I know the deeply personal mystery of
bike seats is as subtle as the chemistry between lovers, and there is no
way of making one seat to suit all. But a morning on Storm left me with
open, running _blisters_ on the softest parts of my anatomy, and the
agony just increased from there.

The name Storm was not merely suggested by the Sturmey Archer hub. I was
fully expecting to put up with some rain in Cambridge, but not the
sweeping walls of hail and wind that greeted my first lesson. I rode
down Sidgewick avenue in weather that I would not dream of cycling in at
home. I must have been mad.

Overall, despite the charm and patience of my instructor, I do not think
the lessons were very productive. The first of the four was spent just
learning to stop and start, and it took most of my first day to get up
to the same level that I had with Behemoth at home. Another lesson,
spent on turns, had the effect of undoing all the reflexes I had
tenuously started to build up for Paris traffic, since UK traffic is all
the other way. Not only this did not make me safe for British roads, but
it shook all my confidence for French roads on return. For most of my
Cambridge transport, Storm changed into High Spec Shopping Trolley, as
her main function was to wheel around loads of groceries over transits
where I was too scared to ride. We only got round to something I had
specifically requested to study - the standing scooter start - on the
last day, and I was so sore and tired that we had to finish early. I
returned the bike and slept for the rest of that afternoon.

I was not able to try any of the bikes I had come to try. Although I did
find a Dahon Speed TR in Cambridge, it was raining so outrageously that
I gave up on the project. In London over the Easter weekend, I walked
many blocks to a shop called Bikefix to test a Giant Halfway Multispeed.
Although I was impressed with its lightness and elegance, as soon as I
got it out onto the sidewalk I found I was too panicky to start it, so I
have no idea if it rides as well as I have been told. On Sunday I was
supposed to trek out to Dulwich to test a Giant Revive semi-recumbent.
But in view of my inability to start an unfamiliar bike the day before,
I did not think it worth such a hoick only to find that I would not be
able to start the Revive either, so this project too was given up.

On returning to France, I found myself so disaccustomed to Behemoth that
once again, I couldn't start her. It took me a week of courtyard
practice just to recover the feeble level I had before I left, and I
find myself making excuses _not_ to cycle when I get up in the morning.
The lovely spring weather and flowering trees make me anguished, not
rearing for the road.

My conclusions from this trip:

There are no magic mantras, just practice, practice, practice.

Behemoth has her defects, but I do not, fundamentally, need another
bike.

And: there is a vitally significant difference between an interest and
an obsession. I am obsessed with bicycles. They devour me, drive me to
far places to look at them, touch them, price them, speculate on their
qualities. I can think of nothing else. Yet at the same time they bore
me ****less, and when I reach my destination I wonder what I am doing
there. I so wish the OCD would leave me a breather. I used to read,
cook, go to movies, exhibitions - but under this hungry plague of cycles
there is only a scorched wasteland.

I suspect the only way to control the OCD is with a degree of mastery -
Obsession is for things that flee. During my decades of writer's block I
compulsively collected pens and stationary. Before I managed a job with
a decent wage I was gaga over money and clothes. If only I could
actually _ride_ a futzing bike, I might even recover a social and
cultural life.

So my voyage was not wasted. At least now, I know these things.

EFR
Ile de France


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  #2  
Old April 20th 04, 04:48 PM
James Thomson
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Default Bike Holiday in Cambridge and London - Conclusion, No Magic Mantras

"Elisa Francesca Roselli" wrote:

On Sunday I was supposed to trek out to Dulwich to test a Giant
Revive semi-recumbent. But in view of my inability to start an
unfamiliar bike the day before, I did not think it worth such a
hoick only to find that I would not be able to start the Revive
either, so this project too was given up.


If, despite your closing comments, you still feel like testing a Revive,
Hollandbikes at 68, bd Diderot in the 12e have one in their window:

http://www.hollandbikes.com/concess.html

Bd Diderot is busy, but there's a broad, empty pavement outside the shop.

James Thomson


  #3  
Old April 21st 04, 08:31 AM
Elisa Francesca Roselli
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Default Bike Holiday in Cambridge and London - Conclusion, No Magic Mantras

Thank you very much for the tip! I will put a look-in if I get the chance.

EFR
Ile de France

James Thomson wrote:

"Elisa Francesca Roselli" wrote:

On Sunday I was supposed to trek out to Dulwich to test a Giant
Revive semi-recumbent. But in view of my inability to start an
unfamiliar bike the day before, I did not think it worth such a
hoick only to find that I would not be able to start the Revive
either, so this project too was given up.


If, despite your closing comments, you still feel like testing a Revive,
Hollandbikes at 68, bd Diderot in the 12e have one in their window:

http://www.hollandbikes.com/concess.html

Bd Diderot is busy, but there's a broad, empty pavement outside the shop.

James Thomson


 




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