Research Assistant, Oxford Brookes University
I can’t really remember not cycling.
I think it started with a blue Triang tricycle when I was about three. It had a very handy rear carrier which I busily loaded and unloaded with toys and other important stuff as I moved around the garden. I started cycling the mile or so to school when I was nine and since then a bike has always been my preferred form of transport.
My best cycling experience was a solo trip setting off from home in Berkshire on a five-speed racer. I went to meet friends on the Spanish Costa Brava and ended up being so fit I could combine cycling West-East through the Pyrenees with stumbling the all-night village fiestas I stumbled across along the way.
These days I cycle for fun with my partner and two girls around the few flat parts of Stroud and a bit of mountain biking in Scotland. But mainly I cycle to get around, including combining bike and train to get from Stroud to Oxford – still carrying all my important stuff.
External Profile: http://planning.brookes.ac.uk/staff/benspencer.html