THE Pedal Power campaign centres on inspiration and sharing cycling stories to encourage others into the saddle.

Every so often we present a Pedal Power Ambassador, a cyclist whose life on two wheels proves that anyone can venture into cycling of some sort.

Our latest ambassador is Kingsmead man Mike Harper, who got in touch to share his story of how he discovered hybrid biking at the age of 40, and his life began anew.

 

Like many guys turning 40 it seemed the decline into old age was inevitable, writes Mike Harper.

With the teenage years a distant memory and the vitality of the middle years quickly fading, it was time to hang up that snow board, trade in tequila for Horlicks and settle into tweed slippers by the fireside – curly pipe, possibly a beard, terrier optional. Was a festering decline into obscurity all life had left to offer?

The inner 18-year-old rallied against the inevitable but my body had other ideas.

As my waistline ballooned like the national debt, I teetered on the brink for a moment; go quietly and accept my fate or rage against the dying of the light?

I chose the way of rage – albeit a quiet sort of suburbanly acceptable rage.

If I was to revolutionise my lifestyle, it was to be a velvet revolution, not violent regime change.

And so I found myself standing with a sense of trepidation at the doors of the least threatening looking bike shop in Northwich.

I pushed the door and dipped a toe into the confusing world of men shaving their legs, clipless pedals meaning pedals with clips and an array of jargon. Welcome to 21st century cycling.

“Can I help you?” – suddenly the shopkeeper appeared with ‘Mr Ben’ like stealth. The great white circled the floundering seal - there was no escape.

“What sort of cycling do you want to do?” he asked.

My psychosis had prepared me for every possible approach but this. I was dumfounded – how many sorts of cycling were there? A wheel at each end and pushing with my feet was all I’d had in mind.

The first rule of cycling quickly followed – you are either a road cyclist or a mountain biker. Nothing else. It’s black or white and I needed to choose.

But how could a novice like me possibly know that that first decision could affect the rest of your cycling life – the language you used, the clothes you wore and even bring out the inner effeminate side, where a middle aged man wearing lycra in broad daylight was an accepted part of dedication to the cause.

What I was to utter next however, made a hush descend over the shop.

“I’d like something lightweight for commuting, but I like to ride off the road whenever I can,” I said. “Nothing extreme you understand – just well made trails, canal towpaths and the like – there’s loads around Northwich.”

“You’ll be needing a hybrid then,” he said quietly, gently guiding me to the darker corners of the shop.

And so I discovered the no-man’s land of cycling.

Lightweight frame with road gearing like a road bike, but with flat handle bars and grippy tyres like a mountain bike.

Neither man nor beast – an abomination of a bicycle – unnatural in the views of either of the great cycling religions.

I was entering a world shunned by the majority – the world of the forsaken cyclist.

The local cycling club had two teams, but neither would entertain the ugly duckling.

I compounded the profanity by adding mudguards – as if adorning a cake of worms with whipped cream.

I realised my folly and that the length of the dirt streak up the mountain bikers back was in fact ‘the measure of the man’.

And so two years on and what of my recklessness? Well, a four-inch smaller waist for a start, and stodgy has slowly given way to ripped.

The energy of the long gone 30-something is back; I am hooked on cycling.

I have become multi-faith recently having since bought both a conformist road bike and a mountain bike. But I covet my first love, and on a crisp spring Sunday morning before the curtains of suburbia are twitching and with only the wildlife of Cheshire to bear witness, I indulge my guilty pleasure and fly down the highways and byways on my beloved hybrid.

Dr Beeching may have decimated our railways but his lesser known legacy is a great network of off road cycling trails across our green and pleasant land. And despite what they say, this is best enjoyed on the mighty hybrid bike.

So take the black and white attitude of road or mountain and conform if you must. But to future cyclists I say come out of the closet and demand a hybrid – have the confidence to be openly grey, and proud.

 

  • THE Pedal Power campaign has inspired Mike Harper and friend Antony McGarr to take on a 215 cycle challenge for charity.

The pair, both dads of two, will head off on hybrid bikes to tackle the Trans Pennine Trail from from Southport on the Irish Sea coast to Hornsea on the North Sea coast.

Their route will include 7,560 ft of ascent and 70 per cent off it is off road.

Mike, company director at Stirling Lloyd based in Knutsford, and Antony, a private dentist at The Dental Academy in Daresbury, will leave Southport on May 2 and aim to reach Hornsea on May 6.

Mike said: “Antony has only been cycling for about four months – I started cycling after I turned 40 but haven't cycled much in the last year after a big knee injury and reconstruction last year – not a cycling accident I hasten to add.

“So for a cycling novice and a cyclist returning to fitness it really is a big challenge.”

Mike, 45, and Antony, 41, hope to raise £2,000 for Cancer Research UK with the challenge.

To sponsor the duo visit justgiving.com/boysgonebiking.