Cycling in Hull

 Philip Larkin once famously quipped that the one good thing about Hull was that it was ‘nice and flat for cycling’. While I don’t agree that there is only one good thing about Hull, he does have a point: Hull really is a great city to be a cyclist in and for students I cannot see a finer way to get about on a day to day basis.
 For almost as long as I can remember I’ve cycled but university was the first time I used it as a regular means of transport. In my first year, I lived at The Lawns and my daily journey to university consisted of cramped buses full of smelly hung-over students. A bus not turning up was a constant worry, and missing them by a few minutes and having to wait half an hour for another made a significant dent in my attendance figures. In contrast, cycling was a vastly more joyous experience; there is a certain pleasure in speeding around a corner at breakneck speed and it feels great knowing that you’re travelling in an environmentally friendly way. There’s also a slightly more sinister satisfaction in overtaking absolutely everyone stuck in a traffic jam caused by the gates on the level crossing coming down. Plus when one considers the cost of buses and taxis to get from place to place it is easy to see that buying a bike is cheaper. One can find a perfectly adequate bike for around fifty pounds or a beautiful old vintage one for less than a hundred.
 Towards the end of my first year my bike was stolen. This is an obvious worry as a cyclist, but perhaps one that is slightly overblown.
 When buying a new bike there are a lot of factors that need to be considered. Firstly, sturdiness; there is little point in having a bicycle that can’t sustain a few knocks. Bicycles have a remarkable tendency to fall over when left alone, whether that be because they are propped hastily against walls, swept off their wheels by a gust of wind, or even walked into by a housemate coming in from a night out.
 Secondly, there is a great deal of pleasure in looking stylish in the saddle. Personally that means mountain bikes are out of the question unless you live on a mountain. There are some great steel framed bikes that are very affordable, virtually indestructible, and have a retro Tour De France chic about them. There are also some brilliant vintage bikes that are incredibly cheap, and have the air of the Victorian gent or the British eccentric about them. There are also fix geared bikes or ‘fixies’, these have a huge amount of minimalist cool (some of them are so stripped back they forgo breaks, forcing the driver to back-pedal to stop). However, I can’t fully recommend them as they are massively overpriced, especially when you consider that you are getting less bike for your money.
 Finally a bike with a method of carrying your possessions can be a huge advantage. A basket at the front of my bike is something I have coveted for a long time. It is also possible to have saddlebags or a rack over the rear wheel; a lot of stuff can be carried this way without you really noticing that it’s there. A backpack is a fine substitute to either of these options but can be more cumbersome, especially on long journeys.
One of the delights of owning a bike is the ability to go cycling out in the countryside at the first hint of a sunny day. This can be as a serious exercise activity, a more leisurely jaunt or even a date (finding somewhere nice and having a picnic would earn some serious romance points). One of the most pleasurable ways of cycling out in the country is not to follow a set route but just take whichever road looks most interesting, I’ve visited all sorts of picturesque villages and found some really beautiful areas that I wouldn’t have seen without getting thoroughly lost on my bike first. One of my favourite routes that has lead to such blissfully lost situations is to find Eppleworth Road (from The Lawns you have to go over the roundabout and take the first right), a road that takes you to the middle of nowhere surprisingly fast. A more set route that is highly recommended follows an old railway line all the way to Hornsea. This route starts at the old railway station next to Audi on Beverly Road and is clearly signposted all the way.
 I would be lying if I said there were not drawbacks to cycling. In my experience there are two groups of people that drivers in Hull are least inclined to take care around; students and cyclists. Being a student cyclist therefore means effectively painting two targets on your back rather than one. However, this just means one needs to take extra care and attention.
 The weather in Hull can also be wildly changeable and one can find oneself miserable and soaked through to the bone cycling home in an unexpected downpour, that’s started all of a sudden. However, I would argue that this is not a problem confined to cycling, walkers and people at bus stops are just as vulnerable to the English weather.
 There are several great bike shops in Hull, I haven’t visited all of them but I can definitely recommend Cottingham Cycle Centre near the railway station in Cottingham, Bob’s Bikes on Beverley Road and also East Coast Cycles on Princes Avenue for a great selection of refurbished vintage bicycles.

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