RIDING BIKES IS A RELEASE FROM THE RESPONSIBILITIES OF DAILY LIFE… UNTIL THEY BECOME INESCAPABLE. SADDLEBACK SENIOR MERCHANDISER NEIL WEST WAS DELIGHTED TO HEAR HE WAS GOING TO BE A DAD, BUT HADN’T BARGAINED ON FATHERHOOD TRANSFORMING HIS TIME ON THE BIKE, EVEN BEFORE THE BABY ARRIVED.
By Neil West
June 2017. That month sticks out in my mind for a couple of reasons. Firstly, and arguably most importantly, it was when we welcomed our first child into the world. Secondly, it was when my – until then, invariably unrestricted – freedom, when it came to biking, began to come crashing down.
It started with a very alien thought that popped into my head as I was hauling down Sixtapod at Bike Park Wales, while, looking back, in probably my best form (if I ever had any) in a long time. Having just cleared a particularly techy rocky section at some speed, it happened: “You’re about to be a dad, you should probably slow down a little.” Damn!
I thought about this niggling consciousness a lot over the coming days, I’d never had a thought like that in all my years of riding. And just a week later, we were parents. That’s when my relationship with my bike truly changed.
Biking swiftly became something way down the list of things to do. As any parent, especially a new one, will likely understand, there’s a lot of what can simply be described as “existing” that goes on in those first days, weeks and months of parenthood.
I had, and thankfully still have, the luxury of working in the cycling industry, so a lot of my time was spent being at least somewhat i
