In life, sometimes you don’t need a plan, you just need a bicycle. A bicycle can take you places, be the best friend you ever had and may even help save your life. I’ve known some people to genuinely grieve after having their bicycle stolen. Like Antonio in the 1948 classic Italian movie ‘Bicycle Thieves’. A bicycle is the gateway to happiness and well-being.

I still mourn the theft of my Vivente Anatolia touring bike, stolen whilst cycle touring in Sweden back in 2017.

Perhaps it’s a little crazy, this anthropomorphic attitude I have, giving human traits and emotions to a bicycle. It’s just a mixture of steel and rubber, however when I’m out there cycle touring, the bike and I melt into one another creating a unique form of symbiosis.

I tend to the bicycle’s mechanical needs, and in return, my bike takes me anywhere around the world I want to go. Our co-dependent relationship has seen us travel many thousands of kilometres, sharing unforgettable experiences.

I know my bike like an old lover, every scratch, scar, and blemish holds a particular memory of our time together. But sometimes love ends.

Over many years, our bikes have been taken apart, boxed up and reassembled numerous times in several countries, not unlike their owners. Parts have broken off or worn away, only to be lovingly replaced with newer ones.I’m reminded of the English comedic duo The Two Ronnies: Ronnie Barker talks about his favourite broom: “It’s only had 3 new handles and 2 new brush heads”. But is it the same broom or bike?

Increasingly, Therese has had difficulty ‘getting her leg over’. She now finds her bicycle too heavy and a little uncomfortable, somewhat like a favourite chair you might put up with even though, the fabric’s threadbare with the stuffing gone.

I haven’t told the bikes yet, but we have decided that they won’t be coming back to Australia with us. Our old ‘iron horses‘ are bound for greener pastures. In the last three months, they have travelled an additional 4000 kilometres across Europe and it’s time they retired.

At home in Footscray, the Inner West Community Bike Hub recycles pre-loved bicycles which are then given away or sold cheaply to people in need of transport and recreation. We have found a similar organisation here in Frankfurt Germany, where we can donate our bicycles now we have finished our cycling adventure.

I console myself that it’s the right thing to do letting the bikes go, but somehow, it feels like I’m off to the vet to have my pet dog put down. If we can get a couple more adults on bicycles then surely the world will be a better place.

As writer H. G Wells said, “Every time I see an adult on a bicycle, I no longer despair for the future of the human race.”

Peace & bike grease.