In September of last year I moved to London for university. Cycling seems so much more common in London than my hometown of Birmingham and I often noticed the bikes that were around and available for the public to use. Admittedly I'd gotten pretty out of shape over the extra long, lockdown-lengthened holidays we'd been having (not that I was ever partically in shape in the first place) and was looking for more fun ways of excerising.
There's a saying that goes, "It's just like riding a bike!" which basically means that even if you don't perform a particular action for a while you'll be able to get back into it easily. Despite the saying, in the past that hadn't been the case for me with cycling; I had to relearn the skill about 3 times when I was kid. I would learn while I was away at a summer camp or something then I'd go home and not really have the opportunity to do it again for the rest of the year. Then, when I went back to camp again the following year I'd completely forgotten how to do it again. After I'd moved to London, I became interested in trying cycling again but I had no idea if I could even still ride a bike so I definitely didn't have the confidence to be riding one on the busy London streets.
When I came back to Birmingham for the summer though, one of the first things I noticed was the new bikes and eScooters parked around the city centre, similar to the ones they had in London. Since I was more familliar with Birmingham and knew of a few places where I could ride somewhat safely, I thought this would be a great opportunity to try it out again without having to commit to buying my own bike.
My boyfriend, James and I went into town with the purpose of trying the bikes twice this week. The first time was on Wednesday and was of course full of chaos, as our endevours often are as a couple with autism. We went to the bike station on Eden Place and it took us a good few minutes to figure out the app and how to pay for the bikes. When we finally figured it out, we walked with the bikes up to the Library of Birmingham as there's a lot of open space around the building. Just walking with the bikes was a workout in itself.
When it came to actually riding them, James being a more experience rider than me immediately set off and was practically riding circles around me. It took me however, quite a while to get back into the feeling of being on a bike and I only really got the hang of it when we were about to leave. The rain was on and off and got quite heavy at some points so it was all in all a very cursed experience but I was glad I managed to get at least some riding in.
We tried again on the Sunday. There were no bikes at the Eden Place station when we arrived so we had a fun time trying to use the app to find another station. We ended up getting them from the station on Ethel Street (and much to my annoyance, we realized afterwards that we’d literally walked right past an even closer one right by the tramline). So again, we walked with them back up to the library.
I got back into riding much more quickly this time and was able to ride around with little problems. The fact that the library was closed also helped as there were less people around so I could ride near the entrance with less fear of running someone down, haha.
About half way through our ride, seemingly out of nowhere a small group of people wearing roller skates came striding into the area. Most of them were wearing quads but there were a few using inline skates. They had a speaker blasting music so of course James and I being the dorks that we are started dancing.
The group parked themselves in an area near the fountain and began doing all sorts of moves and tricks on their skates. James and I watched in awe at how smoothly they moved and how effortless they made it look. Roller-skating is yet another thing I’ve been wanting to try so I thought it was quite a funny coincidence that they happened to be there at the same time as us.
Seeing us watching, they asked if one of us could take a photo of them as a group and James being a photographer of course obliged. We got speaking to them afterwards and it turned out they were from Skatebrum, a roller-skating club that regularly meets in Cannon Hill Park. They were very friendly and when we mentioned that we were both interested in taking up roller-skating, they gave us helpful tips on what kind of skates to buy and encouraged us to join one of their meet-ups in the future.
After we’d spoken to them, James and I continued with our bike riding for a little while longer before returning the bikes to one of the stations and then going home.
The West Midlands Cycle Hire bikes are a great alternative to the eScooters if you don’t want to just walk but you still want to exercise your muscles. The chains on the bikes can be a bit lose and it took James and I a while to figure out how to properly adjust the seats however, so if you’re serious about cycling it would probably be better to purchase your own bike but these bikes are fine for the occasional leisurely ride.
When you’re done with them, you don’t have to take them back to the specific station you got them from; you can just use the app to find wherever the nearest station is and leave it there. Make sure though that you’ve properly locked it up via the app just so you don’t get charged more than necessary.
All you need to hire a bike is a bank card and a phone with internet access and the Beryl app installed. Unlike the eScooters, you don't need any ID to use them but you do need to be at least 16-years-old. They aren’t too expensive to use either, a ride of about an hour ended up costing us just over £5.
Once I finally got into it, I really enjoyed being able to ride a bike again and definitely want to try and make it a more regular occurence. Bumping into the group from Skatebrum was also great and has made me even more excited to properly try roller-skating in the future!
Have you tried hiring a West Midlands Cycle Hire bike or Voi eScooter? How was your experience? Let me know in the comments!
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