An Earlier Broadsheet Ode to the Joy of Cycling

We have The Times' marvellous campaign at the moment - Cities Fit For Cycling. Sadly the campaign is built on tragedy, but this single trigger event is blooming positive change.

Going through my files I re-discovered this joie de vivre piece of prose to cycling written by Tarquin Cooper (a serious adventurer currently relocated to the Austrian mountains - http://tarquincooper.wordpress.com ) that appeared in The Daily Telegraph almost two years ago.

I hope neither will object to me sharing this joyous piece with you.

It is the prescription for happiness, the panacea for illness, the solution to global warming and the greatest invention of all time. Listen to any cycling buff and you can be forgiven for thinking you have stumbled upon the secret elixir of life, like a character from The Da Vinci Code.

Of course you would be right, for the humble bicycle is not only the finest and most enjoyable means of transport on the planet, it has the power, literally, to revolutionise your life. Forget the financial and health benefits, it has the ability to liberate the soul.

 "When the spirits are low," wrote Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, "just mount a bicycle and take a spin without thought on anything but the ride you are taking."

Its devotees range from Zen Buddhists to George W Bush. Iris Murdoch called it the most "civilised conveyance known to man" while celebrities from Brad Pitt to Boris Johnson attest to its enduring appeal.

Learning to ride is also a cherished landmark in childhood. Pushing my son down a hill recently, I witnessed that life-changing transition from ungainly wobble to freewheeling flight and recalled my own father's hand on my back some 25 years earlier doing exactly the same. I don't know who was more proud when the cry came back, "I did it, dad!"

Forget football. Cycling should be our national sport. It brought us success in the Beijing Olympics and gave us sporting heroes we can look up to. As the credit crunch bites, more and more of us are rediscovering the simple joys of cycling, whether to burn off the calories or to provide an excuse to consume them.

With National Bike Week under way and the National Cycle Network now clocking more than a million journeys a day, there really is no better time to join the cycling revolution. Remember, it was while cycling that Albert Einstein came up with the theory of relativity.

What will it do for you?

There are many reasons to explain cycling’s new-found popularity; fitness, fashion, affordability and our increasing eco awareness all play their part. But riding a bike is just one of those fundamentally enjoyable life experiences and one that can be shared by everyone from the smallest toddler to the most bandy-legged veteran.

So why not get on your bike and discover the buzz of the chain gang?

And here is joy: