Yesterday was my birthday. It wasn’t a great birthday as I also happened to be ill and had taken the day off work. I’m still ill and I’m still off work. Late last night as I was coughing in my bed, unable to fall asleep, I heard my iPad go ‘bing’, a sound that was telling me I had an email. Clearly the sleep thing wasn’t going to happen anytime soon so I got up, wentย into the living room and read the email. It was entitled “Issues arising from reading your bookโ” which made my heart sink; it sounded like a complaint of some description was coming (could my day get any worse?) but I read on…
“From: Craig Dodson, 10/06/2014, To:ย apsykes@hotmail.com
Dear Andrew [at least it wasn’t ‘Mr Sykes’; that would have been really bad news…]
I feel I have to write to you with some issues that have arisen since reading your book. 25 years ago I was a keen cyclist but because of work commitments, house buying and girls I turned into a lapsed cyclist. Then at the age of 45 I was browsing through Amazon and happened upon your book. I read the whole thing in two days and it started a slow burn within me. A week later I had purchased a bike, a battered Cube Acid onย eBay. I rushed out on it and did a whole 4 miles Rastrick to Ainley Top and back and promptly collapsed on the settee struggling for breath and feeling sick.ย Fast forwarding 1 year to the issues I lay squarely at your door. [Here come the complaints; gulp…]
- I now have a carbon fibre bike sized hole in my bank account
- Iย have a wardrobe full of clothes that no longer fit
- Iย have a wife and daughter that give me “the look” every weekend as I wave them goodbye as I set off yet again
- And to cap it all I have now contracted midlife cyclist syndrome and cannot go 2 days without a ride or surfing the internet for the latest cycling relatedย acquisitionย I need to add to myย wish list.
So now I have explained the issues I have have just one more thing to say Andrew.
THANK YOU For your book that helped me fall in love with cycling all over again.
Many thanks
Craig Dodson”
Phew! My illness affected birthday didn’t seem so bad after all, rescued in the very last few minutes of the day by a kind email from a stranger. Thanks Craig.
Craig also mentioned in his message that on Saturdayย 21st June he is taking part in the Great Yorkshire Bike Ride from Wetherby to Filey. There’s also a Facebook page and a Twitter account to follow. It’s an event that has been taking place for over 30 years having started back in 1983 and has raised over ยฃ1 million for various good causes. Proof that Yorkshire was very keen on cycling well before the arrival of this year’s Tour de France… Good luck Craig!
