The tale of a Belles Newbie
Hello I’m Sarah and I’m still feeling a bit of a newbie with the Bingley Belles. I don’t have a long back story to cycling but first memories were of my little blue bike with a basket on the front containing “Blue Ted.” There’s a theme here, its my favourite colour. I would cycle around the house for hours and hours.
I then progressed beyond the house in the 1970’s to the local estate where I grew up in Tenby and a new bike. A Moulton Mini (If you know, you know) now a vintage classic but I never really liked the small wheels and the colour was red!! (Editor’s note-this is not Sarah’s bike, but a photo filched from a google search)
Blue Ted was eventually replaced with Judy, a Westie Terrier and our first family dog and I would be out cycling with my friends on the estate with Judy in the basket on the back, singing and learning the dance moves to the latest hits at the time, my firm favourite for a while was Long Haired lover from Liverpool by Jimmy Osmond. Don’t judge!
When I finished school I moved to London and did my nurse training. In 1992 my partner and I moved to Bingley and bought a couple of bikes from Halfords but apart from a few cycle trips along the canal two wheels didn’t really feature greatly in our lives at the time. My big love was walking and still is.
The joys of cycling in France
However, cycling began to feature more regularly when we bought our little VW campervan about twelve years ago and started visiting France where we would take our bikes and explore all the wonderful cycle paths that the country has to offer. I can thoroughly recommend Annecy, Ile de Re and around St Malo.
Learning to cycle with Betty
We then got our beautiful cockerpoo Betty but realised it was going to be difficult to enjoy cycling holidays with our beautiful little dog in tow. However we quickly discovered the “Buddy Rider” a small dog seat that sits along the crossbar. Its where Betty sits and looks so cute with her ears flapping in the wind and looking out very proudly as we cycle along. We get so much enjoyment from seeing the big smiles on people faces when they spot Betty enjoying life from her pet platform as we cycle past them, particularly the children who often whoop with joy.
I actually have a cycling claim to fame as my godson Rory Townsend is a professional cyclist and represents Ireland and his team Q36.5 Pro. Its so exciting watching a cycling race when you know one of the cyclists, keep a look out for him on the socials.
I joined the Bingley Belles in October 2024 and have participated in a few sometimes chilly rides since then. From the first time to the last, I’ve found this group of women absolutely lovely, kind, friendly, interesting and always full of lively chat. I really loved and appreciated the support and encouragement to exercise through the dark winter months and also loved playing Badminton with some of the group too. I’m really looking forward to lots of summer rides and getting to know everyone a bit better.
My favourite ride so far has been venturing out to Horsforth and particularly the countryside stretch between Leeds and Bradford. It was just beautiful and I even managed a few hills on my new little green bike – Olive.
Thank you Bingley Belles for reinvigorating my love of cycling and introducing me to a wonderful group of like minded ladies.