Sponsored bike ride for Rising Tide

Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 11/09/2006 - 19:11

Fran and trusty steed

'On 26th July 2006 I set off from the end of the M27 at the edge of Southampton en route to Glastonbury. I sat on my bike loaded up with panniers and pulling a bike trailer full of tent and bedding stuff. I was allowing 5 days to get there, which I realise was not particularly challenging by professional cyclists standards. However, I am by no definition a ‘professional’ or even an experienced cyclist. I’d only made my decision a couple of weeks beforehand and had done little preparation. I’ve got 2 arthritic knees and was still aching from a minor back injury a few days before. Storms were forecast ahead. Accusations of ‘foolhardiness’ seemed to just fuel the compelling determination I had developed for the journey!

It would be so easy to get in the car, dump all my kit in the back, switch the music on and arrive painlessly at my destination 2 hours later, unaffected by the hills and weather, effortlessly detached from my environment. That was in part my reason. I wanted to know if it was possible for me to journey long distance without losing a real connection with the environment which we all so depend on. I wanted to arrive without contributing to climate change, without polluting the air through which I passed. I wanted to feel the reality of the land – that means the ups and downs experienced on an actual cellular level deep inside my body (yes, my muscles certainly let me know about those Dorset hills!). I wanted to interact with the climate – feel the heat of the sun, the rain and the wind. I knew I must fluidly work with these elements and that my journey would be made shorter or longer because of them. I wanted my mind to slow down from all the rushing in my daily world and reconnect with the natural rhythms of life. Here I could see clearer the hurt caused by capitalism’s soul-less values of disconnection from nature, its obsession with speed and the exploitation of lives and the environment for mechanistic production and profit. Here I could marvel at the dragonfly, the deer, the hare, the sheltering tree, remembering that their lives were somehow intricately woven with my own.

Whilst I survived the hills, hairpin bends and fast cars, I discovered how enclosed this country is by the ownership of cars (and agricultural land ownership). I felt the strong attitude that you shouldn't be on the road if you're not in a car, and certainly not on a bike pulling a trailer! Road-signs indicated no walking on stretches of road, where I just had to walk pulling the bike if I was to proceed with the journey, meaning I was forced to put myself in added danger. I felt rage at the sense of no-go areas of country which seem designed to be inaccessible without car. I experienced abuse out of car windows from impatient drivers (do they shout at tractor drivers too?). However, I also experienced great camaraderie from other cyclists, support from individuals along the way for the cause of action against climate change (as publicised on the rear of my trailer) and a campsite in Glastonbury which was full but said they have a policy of never turning cyclists away! I arrived at the foot of Glastonbury Tor on July 29th, 80 miles behind me.

So, I now realise that cycling has become a political act in itself, and together with other forms of people-powered travelling is vital for beginning to reclaim our land, really experiencing the landscape we're travelling through and our direct relationship with nature & the environment. Through regaining our true connection with the elements of life and insisting on creative participatory grassroots politics then we can reclaim the future from the governments, corporations and value systems which are killing us.

By gathering sponsors from family and friends I raised a total of £246 for Rising Tide.'