I learnt to ride on my dad’s old bike, it had 28inch wheels, I remember going out with him holding my saddle. I got my balance and realized he wasn’t holding me up as he was many yards behind, I fell off, much like our relationship with God.
 
Cyclists Touring Club (CTC), a friend of mine was a member, held a rally every year, I think in August, at the Knavesmire Racecourse in York. Three of us went at the ages of 14 and 15yrs. The first year we went there and back in a day. The second year we stayed over on Saturday night in a tent. We took turns carrying the tent on our backs, as saddlebags were full of other things, don’t remember what, but food would be there somewhere.

When I left school at 15yrs I worked for Huddersfield Co-op butchers. The first shop I worked at was down Princess St. It was known as Central, as it was the main Co-op in the town. There were 40 butchers’ shops belonging to the Co-op in the Borough of Huddersfield. I worked at nearly half of them over the years, many of them as holiday relief manager.

I was not allowed to ride my bike in the town centre at that time as it was too busy. So, what was one of the first jobs I had? Delivering meat on a butcher’s bike with a basket in front, in the town centre and elsewhere. The first problem I had - I expected the basket to turn with the front wheel, but it didn’t. So, guess what? I fell off, but remounted and carried on regardless.

I can remember riding along Bradford Rd to a house somewhere in Lightridge Rd, Fixby, where I sometimes met a lad from another Co-op shop. He really struggled to ride a bike, but he said it kept him going as he had MS (I think). I believe he died in his early 30s and I’ve never forgotten him. He was a big Town fan and I blame him for sparking my interest in them.

I also delivered to a big house in Kingsmill Lane to a man named Mr Brown, who told me he had been a friend of Paul Robeson, the singer. There was an elderly couple who lived next door to the Ship Inn at the bottom of Ramsden St, I had to go through the pub yard to their back door. They used to sit one on each side of the fireplace in the kitchen and although the fire was lit they were wrapped in blankets. Still we chatted a little while as I did with a lot of my customers. The odour there was not very pleasant and I was pleased to get outside and into some fresh air.

From Newsome, I remember delivering to an elderly couple in Lawton St, they were extremely proud of some decorating they had done and invited me in to look at their handiwork. Of course, I praised their efforts despite the fact that the wallpaper came onto the skirting boards and cut at all sorts of angles.

In about 1960 I was at the Marsh shop; the one place I remember delivering to there was Croft Manse on of course Croft Lane, the home of Mr and Mrs Mason. I remember leaving the order on the front porch. They were the parents of James Mason, the actor, whom I served in the shop one day on one of his rare visits home.

These bikes were not easy to ride. I don’t remember having a puncture or a breakdown on any of those robust machines and you could have ridden into battle on them.

I think the bike at Newsome must have been particularly hard to ride as occasionally I went to work on my own bike. Till one day I set off on a bright sunny morning to be at the shop for 7:30am, but as the day went on, the weather deteriorated rapidly and at home time, 6pm, it was very wet and very windy. The capes we wore on bikes then weren’t good for riding into the wind. I usually got home about 6:45 by bus, but it was 7:15 and I still had 2 miles to go when I saw my father had come looking for me in his van. My prayers answered!

Whilst this might be more about people than bikes, life is about people of all characters, but to meet these people in their homes wouldn’t have happened without a bike.
 
Brian Hibbert, Outlane

Being born and brought up in the flatlands of South Lincolnshire, cycling was in my blood – my mum and all my grandparents never learnt to drive and travelled everywhere local by bike.  As soon as I could walk, I had a child seat between the seat and handlebars of my mum’s bike and this was how I got to playschool and then school. (she must’ve been very good at balancing or I sat very still).

I always had second-hand bikes as my dad worked with someone whose daughter was several years older than me – every time she got a new bike, so did I!  This was until the Christmas when I was 11 and a brand-new Rayleigh shopper appeared next to the Christmas tree – so shiny, with a basket at the front and a bag on the back and 3 Sturmey archer gears to help in those headwinds.

I went everywhere on it – no one in our small town really walked anywhere, everyone rode bikes.  I thought nothing of riding 5 miles to meet friends and then spending the day riding through the Fenland countryside.  My friend and I even cycled to school (10 miles) to collect our O’level results, instead of waiting a day for the post.  The furthest I remember cycling in 1 day was 32 miles for a church sponsored cycle ride, alongside a bike built for 8 people!

When I moved to West Yorkshire for University, my bike stayed at home and I travelled everywhere by public transport.  It was only when the boys were little, and we got into bike riding that Andrew bought me a Carrera Subway 2 with 27 gears and disc brakes – what a difference!  We’ve done a few longer rides (putting the bikes in the car and driving to different starting points), including the ‘Solar System’ ride from Selby to York and along the Longdendale and Sett Valley Trails in Derbyshire. However, it’s how I usually get to work and back and was very useful for delivering teaching resources to children and even Church worship resources during Lockdown.

As I’m getting older, I am considering an E-bike, so that I can extend my range and not feel that my legs are going to drop off on my way back up the hill to Golcar.  I love the fresh air and feeling of the wind (behind me when going downhill) and the fact that you can still say ‘hello’ to passers-by when on a bike.

I’m proud that both our sons are cyclists and love to celebrate bike-riding milestones with the children that I teach.

In days of climate trouble, if we can each do a little to reduce emissions, then together we can achieve so much to care for God’s amazing world.

Rosemary Marchington
Gledholt Methodist Church

My earliest memory is of riding my small green bike, following Jake on his big blue bike around the flat part of Beaumont Park, near the fountain – a great place for learning.

My current bike is a Bergamont E-bike which I acquired last October, through the Syngenta ‘Cycle to work’ scheme. It enables me to cycle the 6 miles to work, get around the extensive Syngenta site all day and then get back up the hill to Golcar at the end of the day.  It means that I don’t have to be reliant on public transport or parental taxis!

I started cycling to school in Year 8 and when I needed a physical focus for Silver Duke of Edinburgh award, it was a convenient choice.  I also started exploring the local area on my bike at the weekends.  When I transferred to Gold award, it seemed a natural choice.  I’ve been encouraged by my leaders to vary routes to work as well as leisure cycling with family and friends – a group of friends and I managed to get to Holme Village before I got my e-bike.  I’m now using Strava to record journeys.

I’ve logged my 1101 cycle miles (done since October on my e-bike) on the Change Begins with a Bicycle webpage and will be telling my Cub scout troop about the project during one of their activity sessions.  I’ll also be joining in with Gledholt’s fundraiser later in the summer.

Where next?  I would like to do a ride to see family near Buxton – 36 miles but includes 3120ft of climbing, or 42 miles and 2329ft.
​
Harry

Over fifty years ago when Dave and I became engaged we decided to buy a tandem. I had never owned a bike, and we thought that now we would be able to set off on adventures together, Dave doing the steering and me stoking from the back. Dave was an extremely keen racing cyclist and spent most weekends racing, so this was a way I could share cycling with him. Eventually, Katy joined our family and we acquired a seat for her at the back of the tandem where she squealed with delight and waved and shouted whenever she met people.

Several years later we decided to sell our small house in Netherthong, partly because we needed more room as there was another baby on the way. A young couple came to look round the house, but decided that it wasn’t for them. However, they had seen our tandem in the hallway and asked if that was for sale. We realised it would be difficult with two little ones on the tandem, so reluctantly we sold it to them.

I missed the tandem as our three girls grew older and we were all wanting to go on cycling trips together. Then a friend kindly let me have a heavy, three gear “Sit up and beg” bike with a basket on the front that she was replacing for a more modern version. My bike is still going strong having been carefully looked after by the cyclist in our family. It has travelled with us and our caravan around the U.K. and many European countries, causing much amusement amongst our girls and later with our grandchildren. As you can imagine the basket has always been invaluable.
 
Christine Haigh - Scholes

I come from a very keen cycling family.  This stems from my father, who for most of his working life travelled many miles from home to his workplace in Manchester to do the evening shift.   He could not afford a car until he was in his 50s and so bicycles were essential to his life.   And that also applied to his three sons.   We even had a shed erected in the back garden for the sole purpose of storing our four bicycles.   My mum did not participate.

He was fond of telling stories about his cycling experiences.   One that sticks in my mind (because he told it so often) is about a holiday which he took in Ireland in 1938.  The main highlight was that he went with his best friend, Wilf, on a tandem and spent a fortnight travelling around lovely countryside in the south.  I can’t remember all the details, but one of the incidents that occurred to them was that they were cycling past a van when a long ladder fell off on top of them and they were thrown to the ground.  The other was when he was cycling home in the early hours of the morning going past Strangeways prison in Manchester. All of a sudden, some police men appeared and arrested him because presumably they thought he had escaped from the prison!

​I have had a road bike set up on a Turbo trainer for use as in indoor static bike for a number of years, but have not really had enough enthusiasm to use it regularly for some time.

The Circuit Project came just as I was thinking I ought to get a bit fitter for the Spring, and so I decided to have a go at adding some miles to the Circuit Cycle Challenge. The trouble is that cycling and getting nowhere is just a bit boring. I have tried listening to music/radio and watching TV on the computer while pedalling, but end up either missing bits of the programme or not pedalling fast enough!  I mentioned this to Richard one day and he suggested what I needed was a video clip of a journey to watch as I pedalled. He suggested one of those relaxing, calming boat trips along a canal or maybe the documentary on The Ghan – that one is a 3-hour programme filmed on the train journey that takes 3 days to cross Australia, from Adelaide in the south to Darwin in the north. However, my go-to piece of video is from much closer to home – I found the tour round the churches in the Huddersfield Circuit on the Circuit website! It lasts just under 20 mins and it is ideal!

I can hop on my bike and set off around the Circuit. I know when I reach Netherton I’m about half way. I can blithely pedal from Linthwaite up, via Wellhouse, to Golcar (couldn’t do that on a proper bike!). I don’t have to stop to put on waterproofs when the rain starts in earnest at Golcar, and as long as I don’t lean into the corners at Maythorne on the way to Gatehead, or at Holthead going from Meltham to Marsden, it is all very safe!  Currently I cover about 4 miles in the 20 minutes of the video, but hope to improve with time – as I pedal faster I will cover more ground so the ‘Circuit’ will get longer!

So, thank you to whoever did the dash cam footage and put it on the website – most days around 8 am I am there following you around the Circuit!  
 
Lizanne Searson – Meltham Methodist Church

Soon after I left college, I was taken on as a Girl Friday by a local bike company, Thompson’s Bike Company, which was based at Viaduct Mills, Saville street, in Milnsbridge.  The owners were a couple called Andy and Maggie, and she was about to have twins, hence the need for my role!

Maggie had been a world cycling champion and Andy specialised in tailor-made frames, with attention to detail, as we’re all a different size and shape.  My job was varied, I would pay the bills, run errands, do wages, and measure the cyclists.   Some people cycled all the way from Sheffield and back in a day just for a fitting!!  I was exhausted just thinking about it. 

Whilst I’d learnt to ride a bike as a young girl, I was no enthusiast and really had no understanding of the sport.  But this was a steep learning curve.  One aspect of my job was to drive either the commissaire’s (judge) car behind the lead pack, or drive the maintenance vehicle behind the local races.  Or I might be asked to ‘feed’ the cyclists on a non-stop race and would have to run alongside a cyclist passing a drink or some food and then watch where they threw away the containers so I could pick up after them.

Prior to a race, I’d walk into the prepping ‘shed’ and be hit by a smell of a strong menthol gel that they’d put on their shaved legs!!!   YES, shaved Legs, I couldn’t believe it, all these grown men shaving their legs just so that they could be more aerodynamic… It was so serious!!
On another occasion, there was a big cycle event being held at York race course over the weekend.  All the bike suppliers had stalls at this event and there were a few competitions being held.  Most of the accommodation was in tents in the middle of the course, which is what I was offered, being much younger I wasn’t fazed by this. 

Two weeks before we left, one of the lads was given the use of a tandem, he just had to find someone to go on the back….. yep, you’ve got it, he asked me ‘Can you ride a tandem?’ and always up for a challenge. I said yes!!  So, with only 2 weeks to go, we decided we should get some practice in, sadly this was only one trip around Farnley Moor and so we left.  I honestly can’t remember most of the trip, we did stop once for refreshments and I do recall taking my feet of the pedals at one point for a bit of a breather but what I still recall is how saddle-sore I was, and that night I was sleeping in a tent on a bit of foam.  The following day, I could barely sit down, and my ability to walk wasn’t too good either.  However, the highlight of the weekend was a Sunday morning service at the Cathedral, at the end of this, all the cyclists amassed outside on their bikes, unusual bikes went to the front, and there was a bike parade around York city, before we went back to the race course for the final afternoon.  I managed to persuade one of the other lads to go back on the tandem and I offered to drive his bike home. 
​
This one event has become a bit of a ‘USP’ (unique selling point) for me, as not many people can say they cycled to York on a tandem! 
 
Linda Bettany, Golcar Providence Church

David and I were born and brought up in Derby. When we got married in 1959 we lived in Mickleover. We both had bicycles and it was easy to cycle to where our parents lived in Littleover and Sunnyhill, and from all three locations it was only a mile or so before we were on country lanes. We didn’t have a car.
 
One Saturday in the early 60’s we were on one of our days out, taking a packed lunch with us. All went well until we were on our way back, somewhere near Willington Power Station.   David has always suffered with migraines and one developed. He tried to carry on, but it wasn’t safe for him to continue cycling, he had to lie down on the grass verge. Obviously, there were not as many cars on the roads in those days, but when a police car drew up I thought ‘great we are sorted’. After having ascertained there hadn’t been an accident, they left us! Not having any way of getting in touch with my parents, I didn’t know what to do, but then another vehicle drew up and the driver asked how he could help. He took David to my parent’s house and brought my Father back to me to ride David’s bicycle approximately 4 miles home.  A truly Good Samaritan!
 
Gillian Holmes                (Lindley)

Hello, my name is Amy and I go to Linthwaite Methodist Church. I have been cycling for most of my life but competitively for 3 years. I am a member of Holmfirth Cycling Club and just before lockdown was asked to join East Bradford Race Team.

The training I have done includes cyclocross, road, outdoor track and indoor track at Manchester Velodrome. At the moment I am doing most of my training online via Zoom and using generic cycling programmes. I also like to go out and cycle in the local area.

I have raced cyclocross, circuit races, hill climbs and time trails and indoor and outdoor track. I have been quite successful in my category and have been placed on the podium which means I have received prize money which helps to fund my cycling. Just before lockdown I got awarded most improved female and youth female hill climb champion.

During lockdown I have competed in some online Zwift races and in the last couple of days I have joined the online Zwift race team Manchester Cycling Academy. This means I can race against other colleges and universities.

I love cycling because it keeps me fit and active. I enjoy meeting new people who share the same interests as I do and I like the challenge of competing against other people as this helps me to improve.

In order to develop my cycling, I am considering attending Manchester Cycling Academy when I leave high school this year. I will also to continue to cycle for fun and competitively when it is safe to.
​
Amy 

​10½yrs old…. just passed my 11+…. achieved a place at grammar school BUT it’s over a mile from home so I need to learn to ride a bike!
 
My parents refused to buy me one until I could ride, so I had to learn on the fairy cycle which the girl who lived over the road had.  She was a few years younger than me… but really!  I never was tall, but even my knees came up to the handlebars!  After much struggling I managed, and come my 11th birthday, I got my brand-new bike in royal blue and yellow with straight handlebars. Off I went to school in September with my satchel on my back as proud as punch.  No helmets in those days, just the wind in your hair, dynamo lights and a 3 speed Sturmey Archer gear system if you were lucky.
 
All went well until one rainy evening in late November when I was on my way home from school.  Harlow, where I grew up, was criss-crossed with cycle paths which was brilliant for keeping cyclists off the roads, however I think it tended to make us all a bit complacent. This misty night I’d had choir practice, so it was a bit later than usual and I was on my own. I saw ahead a group of boys from the secondary modern school coming towards me, one on a bike and the others on foot.  They were messing about and the boy on the bike was swerving all over the track.  I rang my bell and shouted, but the cyclist was still heading straight for me on my side of the track. At the last minute I swerved to try and avoid a collision, but so did he and we smashed head-on into each other.
 
Both our bikes were severely damaged and unrideable, and I was bleeding profusely from a gash on my hand, the scar from this you can still see today! My parents were furious; apparently it was all my fault as I was on the wrong side of the track! 
 
Over the Christmas holidays they got my bike repaired, but I had to pay for it with my Christmas money instead of presents. When I got it back, I saw they’d replaced the front forks with silver ones instead of painting them blue, and my bike was never the same again.  Nevertheless, I used it for all my high school years until I went to college and by the time I left home, my parents had disposed of it.
 
I briefly had one again in Leeds when my second child was at infants’ school, but I couldn’t ride with him on the back, so I spent more time pushing it home with him sat on it!
 
Living at Hard End, Marsden, as I do now, makes it silly to even think of having a bike as I have only to walk up Mount Rd, so I never even thought about cycling.  However, about 9 years ago when my granddaughter needed to do her Cycling Proficiency test for Cubs, I bought her a course in Bradford so that she could pass her test.  On the last day, her instructor asked me if I could ride.  I wasn’t sure after almost forty years whether I still could, but they sorted me out with a bike and while the test was on, I attempted to get around the park on a bike.  After a few false starts I managed, although I got a bit stuck with the gears – there seemed to be an awful lot more than the three which I’d had on my own bike.
 
It did go to prove that you never forget how to ride, but I’m afraid I’ve no intention of cycling outside as I hated the helmet and frankly, I feel much safer and warmer in my car.
I’ll stick to my exercise bike when I can’t go for a jog and BONUS, I can watch TV at the same time too!
 
Linda Osgood
United Church Marsden