The Joy of Cycling - Carmel Buttimer - Trendy Travel

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Whenever I think of cycling I think of Freedom.
The Joy of Cycling
Submitted by: Carmel Buttimer
When I was growing up, I didn’t live near my school friends, so when I was twelve and got a bicycle for
cycling to secondary school, it was a revelation to me. My sisters and I used to cycle five miles to school
each day, and I loved it because now I was in charge of part of my life.
Now I did not have to rely on lifts to go visit my friends. During the summer I could cycle to the river and
swim, and just laze about for the day, knowing that I could leave just in time to make it home at the
appointed hour. I knew the time it would take from various friends’ houses and the best routes to go so that
I would avoid the worst hills. I didn’t have to ask for on lifts or spend my pocket money on buses to get
where I wanted to go.
When I started a job during my time in college, I saved some pay cheques to buy an ex-rental hybrid for a
smoother ride to college and work. I loved that I could get right up to the building and park. As I am not tall,
I can’t keep up with quick walking, but I can hold my own on a bike.
I also relished the first time I cycled up a steep hill. I would make it up only one quarter of the way at first
and then eventually I would make it up to the top without stopping.
At the start of summer, I would have to keep my mouth shut passing a farm to avoid swallowing Mayfly...
And who has not pretended to be in the Tour De France when going downhill and leaning into corners?
But eventually I “grew up” and got a car as I needed to travel to different clients for work; but still, that bike I
first bought myself came with me when I moved out of my parent’s house into my own. It wasn’t used every
day but I still took it out to do some shopping, or just to connect with the world around me.
Now I am married with three children, so one would think that there is surely no room for a bike in my life
anymore, but instead through my children’s eyes I see the bicycle anew!
I can see again the fear of starting to cycle without stabilisers, and then the sheer joy and wonder of
showing their friends how fast they can go. I can see my daughters gaining confidence as they master the
cycle to school. At first, they could not make it all the way without breaks and tears and pain. Now there is
elation at the achievement of climbing a hill on the way back to the house (without stopping). When one
skidded on stones, but kept herself on the bike, even though it weaved and could have thrown her off, there
was pride and satisfaction in her control and poise.
There is also some small satisfaction when I beat my neighbours to school, even though they are driving.
But strangely there is also a need to explain why I would have my children undertake such a ‘dangerous
mode’ of transport to school. However I believe it is safe, even though I have been knocked off my bike in
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the past. I can see my older daughter reading the traffic as we cycle, noticing a truck at the traffic lights and
being aware of the doors of parked cars.
I must admit there is also a slight bit of mischief for me in looking slightly odd when I have my son on the
child carrier, my daughters cycling alongside and one of their friends in the trailer, and having children say
“wow cool” and parents giving a double take.
That ex-rental bike of mine is still around, doing some Trojan pulling and dragging 19 years later. Although I
admire the long distance cyclist I have never had an ambition to cycle in a road race or to do long distance
bicycle trips.
The joy of cycling for me is all about small things; whether it is usurping the need for a car on the journey to
the local shop, or showing yourself that you can it make it up that hill. It is about observing my children gain
independence and trust in their own abilities, through the use of their bikes. It is about being joyful when my
lungs cease to burn on a hill that used to “kill me” and pushing yourself just that little bit extra. It is about
noticing the weather and acknowledging a fellow cyclist. It is about seeing things and pointing out the world
to a child on a carrier. It is about slowing down and enjoying things and being master of your own destiny,
being free from timetables and fuel gauges.
Figure 1: From Left to right- Molly Hogan, Diarmuid Buttimer, Carmel Buttimer, Sinéad Buttimer and Éabha
Buttimer- on the way home from Gaelscoil Uí Ríordáin, Ballincollig, Co. Cork.
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