“Riding a bike is everything to a cyclist. The friendship and camaraderie you have with other cyclists … to a cyclist, it was the be-all and end-all of your life.”
Tommy Godwin, double bronze medallist in the 1,000m time trial and team pursuit at the 1948 Olympic Games in London
There is something about this quote from Tommy Godwin that immediately struck a chord with me. On the surface, cycling is an extraordinarily simple activity. You get on a bicycle and turn the pedals. You can measure how far you travelled, how quickly you got there, how much climbing you did and, these days, almost everything your body was doing along the way. But none of those numbers really explains why so many of us keep riding.
When Cycling Becomes Part of Your Life
When I returned to cycling in 2007, my motivation was fairly straightforward. I had entered the London to Southend Bike Ride and needed to get myself fit enough to complete it. I couldn’t have known then quite where that decision would lead.
One event became regular Sunday rides. Twenty miles became thirty, forty and fifty. Eventually there were century rides, Audax events and long days exploring Essex and beyond. Somewhere along the way, cycling stopped being simply something I did for exercise and became part of my life.
I suspect that’s what Godwin was getting at. You don’t have to be an Olympic cyclist for riding a bicycle to become important to you.
Friendship and Camaraderie
Godwin specifically mentions friendship and camaraderie, and cycling has a peculiar ability to create both. Sometimes it’s the people you regularly ride with. Sometimes it’s a conversation with another cyclist at an Audax control, somebody you meet at a café, or a few words exchanged while riding alongside a stranger during an organised event. There’s an immediate piece of common ground.
We’ve all experienced the headwind that seems determined to follow us whichever direction we turn. We’ve all encountered the hill that looked perfectly innocent on the route profile. We’ve probably all stood beside the road wondering why the tyre we’ve just repaired is going flat again. And most cyclists understand the importance of a decent café stop.
These aren’t necessarily great friendships in the conventional sense. Sometimes you ride alongside somebody for ten miles, have a conversation and never see them again. But for that short stretch of road you’re sharing the same experience. There’s something rather special about that.
It’s Not Really About Speed
Perhaps the part of Godwin’s comment I like most is the idea that riding can become the “be-all and end-all”. I don’t interpret that literally. There are obviously things in life considerably more important than bicycles. But I understand the sentiment.
For me, the attraction of cycling has never really been about being fast. I enjoy challenging myself, riding further and occasionally seeing an improvement in the numbers, but I’m never going to be the fastest cyclist on the road. That doesn’t make the experience any less meaningful.
A good ride might be a hundred miles through the countryside, but it can just as easily be twenty miles on familiar roads when the weather is good and the legs are turning nicely. Sometimes the best part is discovering a lane I’ve never ridden before. Sometimes it’s reaching somewhere entirely under my own power. Sometimes it’s sitting outside a café halfway through a ride with a coffee, knowing there are another thirty miles before home.
And sometimes it’s simply the pleasure of riding a bike.
The Simple Pleasure of Riding
Godwin was talking about cycling in a very different era. He rode at the highest level of the sport, while I’m simply somebody who enjoys spending a day riding around the Essex countryside. Yet across those differences, I think I understand exactly what he meant.
Perhaps that’s one of the enduring attractions of cycling. The bicycles may change, the technology may change and the way we record our rides may change, but the basic experience remains remarkably simple. You turn the pedals and watch the world pass by.
Riding a bike isn’t everything in life. But when you’re a cyclist, it’s surprising how much of life can be found while riding one.