Manchester United is a club. The Wine Society is a club. Mensa is a club. Oceana is a club.
Cycling is a mode of transport. It's liberating, practical, green, healthy and life-affirming. But so is walking. Cycling is no more of a club than walking is. It's for everyone, all of the time.
Ignore the pompous black and white marketing imagery. Ignore the elitist numpty in the lycra and peaked cap sipping an espresso outside your local cycle cafe. You don't have to dress in aerodynamic lycra to ride a bike any more than you need to wiggle your hips like those chaps in the walking races at the Olympics to take a Sunday morning stroll in the park.
In the end freedom is the best thing about cycling. You feel special while you're doing it, you feel so in control, so exhilarated, so free. But anyone can do it, any time they like, dressed how they like, at any speed they like.
Cycling in Britain suffers at the hands of this image. The idea that to cycle you need to 'be a cyclist'. It's bullshit. I see people off on a 50 mile training run early Sunday mornings clad head to toe in replica cycling gear and I'm genuinely happy for them, I think pushing yourself physically every now and then is an incredibly important part of a healthy and happy life, but that isn't the only choice on offer here.Â
Cycling doesn't have to be a way of life. You don't have to understand how the Tour de France works to do it. You don't have to own one of those caps to do it. You don't have to 'go cycling' just because you cycle.
It can be just a mode of transport. No glitz, no glamour, no dress code. Just a liberating, practical, green, healthy and life-affirming way of getting from a to b.
