Why bikes?

I talk about bikes a lot these days, possibly more than I do about gloves. Why this cosmic shift? You may ask if you are deeply bored. Well I think because bikes are connected to my father.

We didn't bond very well over many things. He was a horseman, a bike rider and in to the blues. While now I can talk to horses they will never be a passion for me. After an incident when I was nearly killed by one when I was about five I've never really clicked with them.

I can remember the incident quite clearly, and it was entirely my fault but it rather put me off them. It's not to say I think they are bad animals, and if I really think about it it's more that I just don't get on with the sort of people normally involved with them. I don't get on with horsey women.

So anyway, my fathers other key interests.

The Blues - Okay, and while it does bring back pleasant memories I don't think I could really spark off a proper obsession so I shall just leave it as something that will be always linked to my father working in his workshop.

Model train sets - My father used to build these every now and then, typically when he was stressed about something. They were quite impressive but again it was something that never really engaged me.

So given those two options it's not surprising I've got into bikes which is one of the things we used to do together when I was younger. The smell of two stroke petrol, super hot coffee and cold scrambled egg sandwiches will always remind me of when we went to a farm in the middle of no-where and would ride about.

More importantly, one of the last weekends I ever spent with my father was spent messing around with bikes - the bikes I've now inherited - and I got to see him ride the bike he made. For me it was a bit of a magical moment. When on the that bike he stopped being the rather elderly chap whose body had been messed up by cancer and the treatment to fight the cancer and suddenly he was the man I remembered. It was amazing to watch him swing his body about as he got the bike to hop up and down banks and over trees, it was almost like ballet.

So for me bikes aren't just a way of getting somewhere, they are a connection to something that is lost to me and when I'm riding one I feel just a little bit like my dad.