3 Important Lessons I’ve Learnt From Taking Up Cycling.

Sure, I hate cyclists as much as the next person. And I get it — they can be slow, take up unnecessary space on the road and can cause traffic congestion. Oh, and let’s not forget about the Lycra. And like many of us, I too found myself cursing behind the wheel at their nuisance, thinking why couldn’t they use the bike path and get off the road?!

This is exactly why I decided to take up cycling as a hobby in December 2016. I figured the only way to develop a sense of empathy is by walking (or riding) in someone else’s shoes. Which is why this next part of the article I’d like to call…

If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em.

Unlike other sports I’d previously tried and tested, cycling was definitely something unique. My partner had been cycling for years before me and although I had sympathy towards him, and seen firsthand the number of incidents he’d been involved in, I had next to zero sympathy for other Joe Blows on the road.

So I was curious to see what all the fuss was about. With a great deal of help from him, I finally bought my first road bike, which by far exceeded the quality and performance of all previous bikes I had ridden as a child.

I soon came to realise a common truth about cycling: pedestrians are to cyclists, what cyclists are to cars; simply annoying. And so this outlines the hierarchy of basic human transportation.

It took some time before I had enough skills to ensure I wouldn’t look completely inadequate on a bike path, and even less inadequate walking into my local cafe… of course, in Lycra.

Three months into my cycling venture and I had started to comprehend the language a little better. ‘Bidons’ were your ‘water bottles’, ‘kit’ was known as your ‘cycling outfit’ and ‘Strava’ was essentially your progress bible. And as for a ‘KOM’ (or ‘QOM’)… well this was simply your bragging rights.

Lesson #1: The Car Always Wins.

It wasn’t long until I soon faced my first lesson which occurred when I verbally abused my first lucky driver. I’m not proud of it, but like the seemingly powerless cyclist I was, kitted up in my bright blue jersey, I felt I had no other choice but to tell this driver exactly why he had upset me.

Because when you think about it simply: wouldn’t you too be mad if someone unknowingly tried to kill you?

Stupidity’ was one of the first words that came to mind when this food truck driver decided to speed through the red traffic light towards my direction.

‘Self righteous’ was another characteristic which followed my train of thoughts as I slammed on my breaks to avoid my body being squeezed between the concrete curb and the cold metal of the truck carriage beside me.

And finally, ‘Scared’ was the last thought through my head. As I cycled up to his driver side window, tapped on the glass and began my verbal diarrhoea which slowly disintegrated all ability of comprehension this man once had, and turned the sleepy look on his face into a dumb-founded gaze.

Apologetic he was. Temporarily relieved I was.

And although for what I assume was his momentary lapse in judgement, I learnt one very important lesson that day: when the battle is between bike and car, the car will always win.

Solution? Give up cycling.
I can almost hear the cheer of countless people sitting in their cars right now.
But another weird thing about cycling is that once you start, you’ve not only invested a lot of money in the countless pairs of kit you now own, let alone your bike itself, so by the time you’ve gotten to this point, you know you’re too far in to stop.
Which brings me to lesson number two.

Lesson #2: The Human Race Can Be Horrible.

There’s no better way to put this, but people can truly be sh*t at times. I knew this back when I worked in hospitality, but it seems I’ve been reminded of this lesson many times throughout my life so far.

We all know someone who can be a sh*t person. That one guy from work? Your boss? Your colleague? Or maybe that family member who simply has no idea, an ex-partner or maybe even your friend’s friend. I promise you, there’s at least one person you know on this Earth who could be a better person in some way or another. And if you can’t think of someone, then maybe it’s you (however, as a side note, I think we should always aim to improve upon ourselves regardless).

We’re all guilty of something. Mine is that I feel I should always fight for what I believe is right. I guess you could say it’s a weird mixture of stubbornness and persistence. Which is part of the reason why I continue to cycle. Despite the risk of cars and pedestrians, and just generally inconsiderate people, I’ll continue to ride to make a point that we should all be able to coexist harmoniously.

So I feel it’s now necessary we welcome lesson number three.

Lesson #3: Pick Your Fights.

Definitely learnt this lesson the hard way. It might be the fact that my previous experience with boxing has given me a big head and confidence to confront situations, or it may be because I have ‘small dog syndrome’, or maybe I was simply short tempered this day, but on one particular day, I chose to fight when I should’ve let it go.

I was towards the end of my ride when I was cycling and needed to take the road (not the path) for a couple of minutes in order to make it home. 2-minutes from my home and a Toyota HiLux decided to come that little bit to close to me on the road.

At the traffic lights I yelled at him from a distance, flicking him the bird, and making sure his eyes met mine, and then continued to cycle home as he drove in the other direction.

I pulled up at my front door with my partner who also rode with me that day, and to my surprise, I turned around to see the same Toyota HiLux driving down my driveway and stopping momentarily, to which the driver then pointed at me so as if to say “I know where you live now, so watch out”.

I’ve since never seen that driver again and after he tried to intimidate me, nothing has come of it. I realised then and there that although we both did the wrong thing, I learnt a very important lesson. You never really know who is behind the wheel and on this occasion, I should’ve picked my fights and let this one go.

Final Thoughts…

If you’ve gotten this far in my writing, I’d like to thank you.

Thank you for taking the time to read my thoughts on this experience so far. Whether you’re a driver, cyclist, pedestrian or any of the above, I hope this has helped you in some way or another — even if it’s given you the slightest insight into the world of cycling or enticed you to take up the sport yourself.

If you leave with one thought from this article let it be this: we’re all just humans trying to get from A to B, so treat everyone like you would like to be treated.