The Answer

I once went for an interview at an esteemed bike magazine and was asked what I thought the important trends and new, er… things, in cycling were. He put it better than me and I didn’t have a very good answer, which would explain why he’s the editor of a popular cycling magazine, and I, basically, am not. The question occurred to me again recently and I think I know what the problem with it is (and, if you’re reading this, Mr Editor, I now have a better answer).

You see there is nothing particularly new and exciting in cycling, and that’s the good thing about it.

Sure there are trends and things to fiddle about with or tell you more about how steep the hill you’ve decided you can’t climb anyway is, but none of it is really important. You do not need a bike specific for what you’re doing, just the ability to adjust it slightly, you don’t need an iPhone app to tell you how noisy it is, or a carbon fibre city bike to ride to work. Nor do you need a fixed gear bike to show how cool and alternative you are by borrowing track technology, or an electric motor to attach to your bike to help you not get too fit as you ride. It’s nice to be able to shift gear wirelessly and electronically, but hardly essential. You don’t need a short-travel forked jump bike to rip up some air over some lumps in the ground (anyone who’s ever been shown up by a kid on a shopper bike on a BMX track will tell you that), nor do you really need any of the things that fill the magazines and the internet.

What you need is a bike. Just two wheels driven by a chain with brakes to slow you down. And you need to enjoy it, however you ride. Bikes are just a way to go faster and with more fun than walking, and that’s what’s more important than the latest fashion-bike.

Mind you, that was never going to get me a job at a magazine where (as with all of them) the pages are filled with new things to buy and the cost of producing it is covered (hopefully) by advertisers wanting you to buy the Next Big Thing.

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