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The Long Bike Ride

16/2/2021

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It’s a sunny Sunday in August 1979, my family and I are living in Mount. I had resigned from my job as PE and Games teacher at a school in Halifax, and taken up an appointment as an Assistant Manager at a Sports and Leisure Centre near Wallasey, on the Wirral. We had one car, having no need for two, as my wife had stopped working to bring up our family, a boy nearly six and a daughter of three.

My new job meant working shifts and I’d come home for the weekend. My next shift started at 4.30pm on the Sunday in question. I decided that my wife needed the car more than I, with a young family, and so I decided to cycle to Wallasey.

I set off in high spirits on that lovely day and was soon off the Pennines and on the A580 East Lancs. Road, pedalling into a prevailing West wind. Travelling that road in a car seems quite flat and easy, but on a bike cycling into the wind, I felt every rise in the road and wished I’d bought a bike with more gears.  Mine had five gears and with every little hill, I wished I’d bought one with ten gears; after all, five gears had been ample in the hills of Yorkshire! I pedalled on getting more and more tired, the total journey was 90–100 miles. After 70 miles I felt I’d hit the wall, a bit like the 20-mile mark in a marathon when you have another six to go. As I checked my watch I got more and more worried; would I make it in time?

Then I saw the tall buildings of Liverpool on the skyline and it spurred me on, a bit like the light at the end of the tunnel.  I kept checking my watch; would I make it in time? Would there be a ferry on time to “Cross the Mersey!”  I was in luck, the ferry was there and with a sense of relief I boarded it, made it to my temporary flat in Wallasey, got cleaned up and changed, and then cycled the last five miles to work on time! 

​A journey of highs and lows, of hope and expectation, and some depression - a bit like life itself.
By Ieuan Jones
 

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    Bicycle Stories from across the Circuit

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    Previous Bike Stories

    Introduction - Bicycle Stories From Across The Circuit

    David Joyce - Tandem Trekkers And Much More

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    Peter Beetlestone - ​Mad Cycling Memories & ​Joe's Cycles

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    Ieuan Jones - ​The Long Bike Ride
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    Linda Osgood - ​You Can Always Get Back On Your Bike

    Amy - ​Cycling To Success

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    Gillian Holmes - ​​A Good Samaritan

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    Linda Bettany - ​Can You Ride A Tandem?

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    Lizanne Searson - ​Cycling The Circuit

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    Barry Lee - Misadventures

    Christine Haigh - ​Change Begins With A Bicycle (Or Tandem)

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    Rosemary Marchington - ​Cycling In The Blood

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    Harry - E-Bikes!

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    Brian Hibbert - ​Bicycle Encounters

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