The true meaning of “Utility Cycling”?

I am, I think, what is sometimes referred to as a “utility cyclist”. Of the miles I cycle, probably fewer than 10% are purely for the joy of cycling or for the exercise rather than to achieve some other purpose like getting to work. That isn’t to say that I don’t enjoy the cycling that I do when I am going to work and back, and I certainly do benefit from the exercise, but most of the time, those are not the immediate objectives for getting on the bike at that time on that day. The lifestyle decision that I will adopt the bicycle as my primary means of travel to work is certainly driven by concerns of health, lifestyle and to some extent ecological sustainability, but the decision that I will get on my bicycle tomorrow morning is driven by the need to get to a particular place at a particular time.

Given that I am now cycling about 100 miles a week, I tend to wear special cycling clothes – padded lycra tights or shorts, synthetic jersey or t-shirt and training shoes – when cycling to work. This makes sense as I tend to be quite wet by the time I arrive at work either through rain or sweat or both, so I need to change my clothes anyway, the padding helps my bum to cope with 8 or more hours per week of grinding on a fairly hard saddle, the stretchy fabric doesn’t crease under me, which is more comfortable and any friction is between the pants and the saddle, not the bum and the pants. They are also very cheap to buy, so I can have several sets. I also wore out my trusty old bike, so I bought quite a nice new one; not a hyper-expensive MAMIL-mobile, but nice enough not to want to get it vandalized or stolen.

All of this means, though, that I have come to think of cycling journeys in a different way, and there is a sense in which the decision to start using my bicycle for travelling to work may have moved me away from the true meaning of “utility cycling”. I tend to think of my journey to work as something that involves putting on the cycling clothes, getting out the bike, packing the substantial panniers that I carry my stuff in, cycling the 12.5 miles from my house to work and then putting my bike in my office where it will be safe, getting changed and setting my cycling clothes to dry. In the morning, I move into a cycling mode, and when I arrive at work, there is a clear transition from cycling mode to “normal” mode, and that even involves being nude for a brief period. When coming home, I have to undergo the transition from normal mode to cycling mode for the journey home. This contrasts quite strongly with the situation when travelling on foot, for example, where I would just put on my coat over my normal day clothes and go. Even when using the car, there is far less of a mode switch as I just jump in the car and go; on arrival at my destination, whilst I have to find somewhere to park, it is then easy to secure the car and move on to normal daytime activities.

A consequence of this changed perception is that I rarely now get on my bike to travel short distances in my normal clothes. Where in the past I would have just tucked my right trouser-leg into my sock to get on my bike, I just don’t have the habit of doing that now. It even feels as though I expect to use the bike for the relatively long trip to work, but the car to nip down to the local supermarket, which seems weird. I can see why this is the case. If I need to carry anything, I have to empty a pannier and fit it to the bike, whereas the car boot always has space in it. When I get to the supermarket, I have to find a safe place to put my bike and lock it up with the U-bolt and cable that I have to have remembered to bring with me, whereas I just stick the car in a parking space and press the button to operate the central locking. When I leave the bike, I have to remove anything that might get stolen (lights, air horn, pannier(s), toolkit, etc.) and carry those things, whereas this is all taken care of just by locking the car. If it is raining, I have to put up with being in wet clothes when I get to my destination (which is not an issue on the journey to work because I will get changed), whereas it doesn’t rain in my car.

So, I think that I need to have two kinds of utility cycling: one for going to work and other long(ish) journeys, and another for just doing stuff. I’m thinking that the start of that could be to get my old bike into a serviceable condition again so that I can use that as my “doin’ stuff” bike. I won’t mind leaving that old tomcat chained to a lamp post (or bike stand or whatever). I could permanently fasten some kind of basket to the rear rack for carrying things. The next stage night be to start wearing synthetic, fast-drying fabrics instead of rain absorbing cotton jeans and t-shirts, which should address the rain problem at least to some extent. Perhaps when all this is sorted out, I will be able to call myself a “cyclist” rather than just a “cycle commuter”.

Now, what about the times when I need to do stuff when I’m at work with my nice bike, etc. Hm, need to think some more about this.

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