The beginning of bikes
1989 Mk 3 Toyota Supra - 7MGTE
For as long as I remember my (now ex) wife had been into cycling but for me it started as a mode of transport for a while my car was off the road.
Way back in 2003 I had a cool sports car that I wanted to look and drive like something from the fast and the furious. To achieve this I had to take it off the road for upgrades and fixing. I bought the car from a dodgy second-hand dealer and being a naïve young guy who only saw a superficial sports car it came into my possession in a less than ideal condition. It didn't even have a working first gear but hey, it had a turbo that went psssst and a targa top roof which is all that mattered.
It was cool, I loved it but I had to pay for all the modifications that I wanted to do to it and there were a lot. I worked as a disability care worker across a number of sites that were all fairly local to where I was. My house mate at the time was without a car and rode a bike to her work, which was also at the same company doing the same job. That’s when I got my first bike as an adult. By that I mean the first bike my parents didn't purchase for me.
It wasn't special and it was exactly the same as my house mates bike. A yellow frame house special (shop brand) mountain bike that wasn't expensive. It had 16 gears, 2 wheels, fat tires, clamp brakes and good enough to ferry me the few kilometers to and from work. It was nothing more than a method of commuting. On my days off it got me to the beach and into the city. I was lucky enough to live within a few kilometers to the city center and a few more the other direction to the beach. There were bike lanes on the major roads as well as an off-road shared bike path that ran from the city to the sea. The local shops were within walking distance and there were many a time we just walked a shopping cart home and kept it there for the house to use for big grocery shops. We had everything we needed close by, those were good times and we had a blast.
It wasn’t always sweet as in the winter There were times that I required a taxi to commute me home because of the rain. Thankfully where I live that’s not many days of the year and few and far between. I always had a saying that “it never rained more than 2 hours at a time” where I lived. The money I saved not having to register, insure and run a sports car was great. I was privileged enough to live near where I worked and had plenty of opportunity for work. Not only that, drink driving was never a problem. Going out and drinking was a part of my social life, unfortunately the money saved was often spent on the social times in clubs and pubs instead of the car.
I have fond memories of those times and don’t regret the choices I made. I found an affiliation with over-ear headphone on public transport and listening to music carefully to better understand its intention. I was forced into this situation from the choice I made to lay-up my car. It was also around this time I continued to develop my skills at mixing music and DJ'ing. Not having a car and working hard meant I spent some days really working on the beats and sounds that made people dance.
Eventually I got rid of the car as an unfinished project and acquired small run-about cars that could sustain my lifestyle. It was this yellow framed mountain bike that started it all and wouldn’t be for another 7 years before I got my next bike and began to truly understand the potential. I’m not sure whatever happened to that particular bike but it exists now only as a memory that I daydream about with a smile.