My Bicycle Ride

I bought a pump, stamped 'government property', whatever that means, yesterday, for the sum of £1/0/0, and pumped up the tyres on my 1992 Marin Eldridge Grade, and today I've been out on it. I haven't ridden a bicycle since 1970 or 71 at the latest but was delighted to find that one really does not forget how to do it. This afternoon I rode round the block a few times but this evening I rode to the White Church at Fairhaven, along the prom at Lytham, and back, perhaps four miles all told. Going out I had to stop two or three times to catch my breath and rest my legs but I made the return ride in one leg, and I must have been going at a lick because I was catching and overtaking people who'd cycled past me while I was stopped.

I felt the difference the various gears made and decided that the front tyre needed more air and generally got the feel of the thing, and I've torn the bottom of one leg of my trousers, and acquired some subtle oily highlights on the same, which confirms that I should have bought the bicycle clips I saw for sale in Brooks of Fleetwood, and my leg buckled when I stepped off the bike at the back gate, but I'm strangely energised. The funny thing is that before the ride I had intended buying more alcohol but now I don't fancy it. I'd never thought of cycling as a recreational drug.