One Less Car – Adventure Cyclist

Most people when asked what their favourite ever present was as a child would say, ‘my mega drive!’ well that’s what I would say at least, however in a very close second and a first for most the response would be ‘my first bike.’ You can see the nostalgic wave of excitement in people’s eyes as they relive the moment they first lay eyes on that bike propped up by the side of the house with a big bow on the frame. The bike is not simply just a material possession it represents much more than that, it represents freedom and adventure. It is the first chance you get to truly explore, learning how far you can push the ‘stay on our road’ command from your nervous mother as she watches you wobbling up and down the road. This soon develops into ‘stay in our block’ this is when you get to push the boundaries, once out of eye sight you test what you can get away with and how far you can go and still safely navigate your way home. This inner desire to explore never leaves us, some people drown it out over time with the stresses of modern life but it still resides somewhere. Achievement and success are easily measurable on a bike, be that the thrill of first learning to ride, the nerves of that first big jump or simply reaching a destination by your own power alone. These easy to set goals make the bike a very inviting prospect for happiness, after all achieving a goal you set yourself can be exponentially rewarding.

When I get to a new city I like to spend most the time walking around and exploring, I’ll generally have a list of sites or perhaps events I would like to see and attend but the walk between you get to see so much more; in Rome, it seems every corner you walk around is one of the most stunning pieces of architecture you’ve lay your eyes on or even just a fascinating miniature sculpture built into the wall. If you were to get a taxi to the top 10 things to do list, you would miss so much of what the city has to offer. I was travelling the cities in great deal I was still just simply jumping on a train to see the next city, not taking into consideration everything I was missing in between. It took me a while to realise this but once I figured this out and began travelling by bike it opened a whole new world of exploration to me. I learnt that Cities are not always the best representation of a country; the real culture is best experienced at the towns between; city life is busy and tourism is the norm. I’ve had some great encounters on the road less travelled, even if its been a simple gesture of being bought a coffee and shown photos of the days they used to cycle, or even changing my plans completely after meeting a particularly interesting character to join him at a nearby cycle rally.

Armed a new-found knowledge and desire to explore, I have decided to leave what has now become a mundane job and travel the world by bike, sharing my experiences, lessons learnt and thoughts along the way. Will it be financially rewarding? who knows, does it matter too much? Not really. I can always come back to what I’m doing but will always be better off for having ‘done it.’

Yours in fitness

One Less Car

‘Equality over appetite’