Back in the Saddle Again

I’m finally back cycling again.

After a long time without a bike, I bought myself a new one yesterday (this was written on the train over a week ago, on August 5th) in the UCD bike shop. I got very good service and I’d highly recommend the place. Thanks to Cathal for recommending the place to me. I called out there at about 0915 in the morning and picked out a nice looking new bike for €150.00 after taking it for a test drive. Then I went off for some breakfast while Rob the bicycle mechanic fitted a carrier for me.

This bike shop is in a beautiful setting. It has a courtyard bounded with old stone walls which are hung with foliage. Against one hedge are stacked a pile of scrap bikes, which will probably end up being dumped. I know a few people who run bike workshops, where they try to construct decent bikes out of discarded bits of frames and stuff. Rob said they’d be more than welcome to take these parts away if they liked.

I ended up having a good chat with Rob, because when I came back to collect the bike he was still attaching the carrier. He was an interesting guy with a good take on things, I reckon. I often think that it’d be nice to have a job that was quite physical. It’s good to be active, and I think that spending your days sitting in an office is pretty unhealthy and can make you quite lazy. In a funny way, I also think that physical work can be better for your mind – certainly better than a certain type of office work. I remember that Beatles song about the pleasures of fixing a hole to keep your mind from wandering…

I’ve been meaning to buy myself a bike for ages – it’s definitely the most convenient way to get around the city. But the spur that made me finally get around to it is the fact that I’m on my way to Clare for the weekend. My bike and I are currently on the train to Birdhill, and from there I’ll be cycling about 20km to Scariff, where the Irish Seed Savers Association are having an open day tomorrow (Sunday August 6th). Seed Savers is an organisation that tries to maintain Irish biodiversity, by maintaining stocks of plants that might otherwise die out – eg varieties of turnips, garlic, apple trees etc. I’m accompanied by a few fellow Dublin community gardeners, and we should be meeting up with more environmental types down there. Indeed, despite all the accommodation in East Clare (including campsites) being totally booked up due to two festivals going on in the area, we will be camping for free in Scariff’s very own community garden. Such are the joys of being part of an environmental network.

So that’s why I got myself a bike at last. But just half an hour after I bought it, as I was cycling down the canal, one of the pedals fell off!! Turns out the crank (?) hadn’t been tightened properly and the UCD bike shop had let me down… But I still stick by what I said about getting good service there – it didn’t turn out badly – I rang Rob and he told me to call into the nearby Rathmines bike shop, and a fellow he knew in there would fix it for me. And that’s how it happened. It’s a great feeling of freedom to have the bike again. It was as though the whole of Dublin was accessible to me, and felt like cycling off around the place. It’s such a handy way to get around Dublin. It’s also easy on the environment and my wallet. And I have my helmet to prevent severe head injury. What more could I want??