My Bikes (Euan)

by Euan McPhee Written by

euan2solo150Thought I’d start my story by recounting the bikes I have had. My first bike was an unnamed, slightly battered, hand repainted machine with no gears. I think I was nine at the time and very proud of my new independent means of transport. Having recently seen a certain film at that time, I repainted the bike yellow and black with the name Genevieve on the crossbar. I used to cycle from home in Boreham Wood to Dunstable along the A5 on sunny summer Saturdays to play on the Downs.
My biggest expedition on this bike was from home to the North Downs near Reigate one Easter weekend with my elder brother. We cycled all the way down the Edgware Road, round Marble Arch, over the Thames at Battersea – through all the traffic that I would never let any child loose among today!! It was a sweltering day and I was dying from heat stroke, not helped by my bike’s lack of gears while my brother’s had a Sturmey Archer three-speed gear! That night we camped on the North Downs – it snowed 6 inches, our tent leaked and we got wet and cold; but at least it kept the milk fresh. Ahh, childhood holidays! I still wonder how I survived that 35 mile cycle ride – and that it hasn’t put me off punishing my body in a similar way ever since!
More about my next bike in the next post.
Euan

4 thoughts on “My Bikes (Euan)”

  1. A Sturmey Archer? Bloomin’ LUXURY! When I were a lad, all I had was a wooden bike with square wheels and had to get meself to school in hand-cuffs, blindfolded and with both legs broken. Now, that’s what I call punishing me body……

    1. Silly Billy! It was my brother who had the Sturmey Archer gear – I had no gears! Maybe I would have done better on a wooden bike…?!

      1. I well remember my first bike with gears – a SA three speed inherited from an uncle. I couldn’t understand why when I changed up gear it got harder to pedal – I thought the whole point of gears was that putting it in a higher gear meant it would go faster with no extra effort ‘cos that’s how the car seemed to work when my dad was driving!

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