Why I Love Bikes
I can still remember my first bike. It was a red “girls” bike with a matching red and white seat. I called it Thunder, pretending it was a horse, and rode it around and around our yard in circles.
The love of biking has never left me. I remember all the different bikes I have owned. After “Thunder” there was a silver LeMans 5-speed, my first bike with gears and handbrakes, that I could ride further, to visit friends. And then when I was about 12, I got my first 10-speed, that I think my dad salvaged from somewhere, painting the frame in a metallic blue spray paint. We put comfy beige foam handlebar covers on it, but the gears always skipped.
I rode all year long. Biking was my ticket to freedom and independence. In the winter at Pt. Holmes, I remember riding to my friend’s house in gusts of wind so strong I had to actually lean sideways to stay straight, and I would be drenched upon arrival. I could have probably gotten a ride with my parents but that would have meant not being able to come and go as I please.
In my early teens, my dad bought me a 12-speed yellow and black Nishiki road bike. At the time he was part of the CV Cycle Club, obsessed about road racing and encouraged me to ride as well. This bike was by far the nicest thing I had ever owned. I rode it all through the Comox Valley; past the fields in Dove Creek, the forests of Merville, the beaches of Kitty Coleman and Little River, with my yellow sports walkman, listening to U2 or the Psychedelic Furs. The fresh air and exercise along with the accompanying sense of adventure, made me happy. On my bike, I felt totally myself without the usual stress of being a teenager. No matter how difficult things got, I had my bike, which seemed to help solve any problem. I’m not sure my parents were aware of what they had provided me, but I am grateful, nonetheless.
Women and bikes have had a faithful relationship going back to the 1890s. When the first bikes arrived, women embraced them. It gave many for the first time, a means to leave the home domain and venture into the world, and provided the benefits of movement and exercise. To bike comfortably, women began to shed the restrictive clothing of the Victorian era to don bloomers which were like the first pants for women. Bike riding helped fire up the suffragette movement, as women discovered their freedom and new capabilities outside the home. Women even started racing bikes. There was a woman known as, Annie Londonderry, who left her husband and three children to head out on a ride around the world in 1894. Biking for women was so impactful that certain quarters started seeing it as a threat, warning that it was a “corrupter of innocence” and that it would blur the boundaries between male and female characteristics.
Bike technology has improved dramatically since the first Penny Farthing bicycles were invented, drawing more and more individuals into the sport. My mountain bike now has front and rear shocks, a dropper seat post, disc brakes and 29” wheels (used to be 26”) making it smoother, easier and faster that earlier models. When I participated in a couple Island Cup Series mountain bike races in the mid-1990s, there were literally three women in the whole race amongst a hundred guys. Now in the past couple years, I have participated in the Dodge City Enduro in Cumberland, a race devoted to women’s downhill mountain biking where more than a hundred women hurl themselves expertly down steep trails. I am in awe at how many women have now embraced this more extreme sport and are so good at it!
Now there are endless options for cycling (including cycling clothing) to choose from, including an array of electric bikes. Biking safety has also improved with better helmets, rechargeable lights and more bike lanes. Now I am also contemplating a gravel bike which emulates the feel of the 1990’s mountain bike, where you can comfortably ride between trails and roads (but do I really need four bikes?). With new styles of bikes and gear, bike packing in remote areas is also becoming more popular. Bikes are also a symbol for environmental sustainability. However, you don’t need a fancy new bike to experience health benefits, be environmentally friendly or enjoy free travel – bikes are easy to find for sale as people upgrade, move or clean out their garage. You could also rent one of those blue electric bikes the city has acquired for $13 an hour.
I’m not sure if anything captures the freedom of being a kid again like being on a bike. As I feel the wind rush past my ears, smell the outside air and enjoy an unobstructed view of the scenery and open sky above – I watch my mood improve. Without going far, I can enjoy a feeling of adventure and perhaps even more outlooks on life.
Photo by: Sara Kempner
