By Stan Purdum
I like to have an e-book in my iPhone for those times when I’m in a waiting room or otherwise find myself with some time on my hands. But since waiting places tend to be noisy with people coming and going — and some even have a TV running in the background — I want the book to be something that doesn’t require great concentration to read. And given that I’m a cyclist, if the book can be related to that subject, all the better.
I recently found a book that fits those requirements: Back on My Bike, by Tom Eastham. Its subtitle, “How Cycling Transformed My Life After Sixty,” is an accurate summary of the book’s content, but it doesn’t communicate how entertaining the account is or how much it mirrors the experience of many of us riders who can get so wrapped up in our passion for all things bicycle that it borders on obsessive-compulsive disorder.
In his young adult years, Tom, who lives in the UK, was heavily into cycling, and raced at the amateur level. But at around age 30, he let go of cycling to concentrate on his career as a hotel manager. But now, nearing retirement at age 60, his best friend, who was also Tom’s wife’s employer, had put their heads together to lure Tom back to cycling so that he’d have some active pastime after retiring. That worked, but he became so laser focused on his cycling resurgence that Sarah, his long-suffering wife, felt the need to help him keep his cycling in balance with the rest of his life.
Tom tells this story wonderfully, with good doses of self-deprecating humor. In the excerpt below, Tom has just completed one of his first rides, and achieved an average speed of nearly 14 mph.
I strode proudly into the kitchen and told Sarah of my marvelous accomplishment. …
“That’s nice. Take those shoes off in here.” I complied before giving her a blow-by-blow account of my ride.
“The A6? And that huge roundabout? I can’t remember seeing cyclists on it.”
… “Yes, well, there is a sort of cycle path, but it would have slowed me down too much, and I really wanted to do 14 mph.”
“Why?”
“Er, well, it’s a nice round number, and thirteen’s unlucky, isn’t it?”
“I see, so after all your moaning about the traffic that’s stopped you cycling for thirty years, you risk life and limb with all those speeding cars so that one number rather than another appears on the screen.”
I eyed her sulkily. “Well, I think I did quite well, all things considered.”
“And I think you need your head examining.” … “Oh, yes, this is taking me back to the days before we got married. You’d rattle on about your times and speed and sprockets and God knows what else. I thought I was going out with some kind of mad cycling scientist.”
I sighed. “You went on about your music too.”
“Until I realized that you didn’t listen to a word I said. You still wouldn’t know a pizzicato if it slapped you in the face.” … “I fear that you’re beginning where you left off. I assumed that you’d treat cycling as a pleasant pastime that would get you out and about and keep you fit, but you’re already pushing yourself and taking stupid risks on the roads.”
“I won’t go that way again,” I mumbled.
“Fetch me that computer thing.”
“What for?”
She smiled. “I don’t really believe you did fourteen miles an hour. It sounds awfully fast.”
“Ha!” In a jiffy I was back with the slim device. “Here, you see, and look, the distance, and here’s my total so far, almost fifty-five miles.” She took it and wandered over to the sink, where she pressed the buttons and appeared to be ruminating on my stats.
“And when I buy a chest strap it’ll tell me my heart rate too.”
She groaned and dropped it into a panful of water. I sprang to my feet to retrieve it, but she held me off with a spatula. “Stay back! This is for your own good.”
Tom did eventually manage to balance his reborn lust for cycling with other things in his life, but his whole story is howl.
The book was so enjoyable (and so reflective of the cycling “disease”) that when I learned that Tom had come out with Part 2 of his story, I also purchased that.
I highly recommend both books for your reading pleasure.
By the way, if you’re looking for other cycling stories for days when you can’t ride, see these touring narrative summaries I wrote a few years ago.
Stan Purdum has ridden several long-distance bike trips, including an across-America ride recounted in his book Roll Around Heaven All Day, and a trek on U.S. 62, from Niagara Falls, New York, to El Paso, Texas, the subject of his book Playing in Traffic. Stan, a freelance writer and editor, lives in Ohio. See more at www.StanPurdum.com.
I’ve read both books, both are great reads.
Thanks.!