23 November 2006

Fair weather biker? Me? Too damn right!!!

I had hoped this day would never arrive. I've become a fair weather biker – an FWB!

After years of riding to work in all weathers, daily dodging the cars on the M1 to commute to London for a 14-year stretch, with only the snow to get me on the train, I have become that armchair biker.

The bloke I used to laugh at. Now I am he!

On Saturday we had to go to Suffolk to visit my sister-in-laws.

"Let's go by bike,” she said.
"Okay as long as it's not p*ssing down" I said.

It wasn't.

As I looked out at the frost on the car windscreen, a voice inside me said, "She'll be cold and miserable". The outer voice said that it was going to be cold and we should go by car. The outer voice hiding my new found status as a fair weather biker!

I guess if you've always been a FWB you won’t understand. You can’t understand the feeling of loss that accompanies the downgrading of your biker status.

No longer one of the hardy-bys, the guys that laugh in the face of frostbite. Just a bloody FWB!


How can I redeem myself? When can I get out and show that:


A bike isn’t just for summer, it’s for life”?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I know the feeling! The feeling passes eventually, though. Doesn't it?

Anonymous said...

Paul,

I'm still commuting every day, 15m there and back. Of course the heated grips, gloves, and jacket helps :) I'd be a fair weather biker, but it''d take 30 mins more each way in the car.

Steve