In rural Bedfordshire where I grew up, there was so little to entertain us that me and my friend attempted to tame and ride on the backs of cows (failed) and volunteered at the church for bell-ringing (Much scarier than the cows.)
Bikes opened up
a world of adventures for us, though we never gave much thought to how they worked till something broke or we had a puncture.
Early twenties and and living in London I borrowed a friends bike for a few weeks. I was immediately after a bike of my own. The traffic was dicey but there was no more efficient means of getting from A to B. I had a few scrapes but nothing would persuade me to ditch the bike. I became an activist, joining the Friday night ‘critical mass’ rides and helping to organise cycle campaigning in North London.
I didn’t own a car till I was thirty, and the future might be car free for us too, but there will always be bikes. I have owned a handful over the years, the smartest was a Marin Bear Valley mountain bike, bartered for some illustration work for Cycling Today magazine… tragically, it was stolen from Brighton train station. Right now I have a Treck, it’s a hybrid model that’s good for town and country and sauntered a 67 km trip on it earlier this month. I do eye up an elegant high-tech road bike but I don’t have storage space at home for more.
The national Cycle Network is a great resource for bike routes for commuting and leisure.
https://www.sustrans.org.uk/national-cycle-network
I’ve been a volunteer teaching cycle safety to schoolchildren, I still badger my MP about cycle provision, and believe that bikes really do make the world a better place.
This is where bikes have led me so far. Luckily for my generation, technology has leapt ahead and electric-assist means I will have the opportunity to ride into old age on two wheels.