Obsession.... by Cycling Kind.

This cycling thing can rapidly become an obsession.

Not content to have bedroom walls adorned with maps of England, spending increasing amounts of time racking up the miles on my commute, I am now debating a move into cycling as a career.

Before you panic, I won't be painting myself with lycra and mounting one of those sleek-as-fish, high gear single speeds you see Chris Hoy knocking about on. I am talking about becoming a bicycle messenger.

The job in its purest form entails picking up packages, mostly from corporate clients, then racing across town to deliver the packages to other corporate clients. The pay is based on the amount of jobs done, cash in hand at the end of the week, and taxes being your own responsibility. Effectively you are a self employed bike racer/delivery boy, but with a boss to manage your day. It is for me and for now at least, quite appealing.

If you follow the link there you will find out that as a job it is not too well paid. Nor does it come off as particularly safe. Many people have had to take time out due to injury, sometimes sport related, sometimes due to road accidents. Some few have even died thanks to collisions.

So I have this love-hate relationship with the idea. The lifestyle appeals, the risks make me nervous. But then I ride the streets of Manchester every day. I am surely open to the same risks already?

Not so. I see couriers around Manchester. They are easy to spot. They ride single speeds, wear pretty casual clothes and ride faster than the wind. They also run red lights. This is something that I principally will not do with one or two exceptions where I deem it absolutely risk free (tram crossings where there are no trams!). But 99% of the time I wait at reds. Running them is both illegal and dangerous. Within the cycling community the jury is out. To run or not to run, that is the question! But the money-per-job pay lends itself to stopping as little as possible. Not to mention racing between the lights can be tiring. Pros and cons, pros and cons. Ho hum.

To apply all this to cycle touring I have found that half the battle is in my own head. My body may be physically and technically able to do a task, but the decision to do it or not is what can make me come unstuck. When I did the Coast to Coast last summer, it was one decision which got me over a mountain rather than take a train home.

But then I have also discovered on my jaunts that an idea about what lies on the road ahead is very rarely accurate. There is only so much preparation one can do. At some point you have to accept that moving forwards is simply a leap of faith. So maybe I should just apply and see what happens. After all every time I have chosen a road to ride, I always end up somewhere fantastic.

It is strange how cycling and the lessons learned are increasingly shaping my view on the world. Parallels can be drawn, metaphors can be made. Thus the obsession continues...


Note: It was alarmingly hard to find an article in favour of stopping at red lights. Despite the opinions of several cycling magazines being shared by myself, public opinion on the net seems to be increasingly in favour of running red lights. Food for thought.