I’M A RIDER CHE BERESFORD

The drummer with Happy Mondays, Black Grape and Capercaillie prefers a certain ratio when it comes to gears

My earliest cycling memories are of riding across Bodmin Moor alone at night. I grew up in Cornwall and got a Raleigh Grifter for my birthday when I was a nipper. As I got a bit older I wanted to go to school discos, so would ride across the moor seven miles each way on my own. On the way back I passed a graveyard, which terrified me. I think that’s where I grew to love riding on my own and at night, it’s a very meditative thing, plus the roads are much quieter at night. I moved to Manchester in 1989 to study percussion at Salford College of Technology. One night in 1995, me and my flatmate, another musician, decided on the spur of the moment to get on our bikes – crappy mountain bikes with knobbly tyres – and ride to see a friend of mine in Wales. It was two o’clock in the morning, or “musician o’clock” when the brain’s still buzzing. It was 84 miles. My mate had a map and was good at map reading because he’d been in the Scouts. We had a few punctures and lots of Mars Bars along the way, and arrived in Llanfairfechan the next afternoon absolutely shattered. I only decided to buy my first road bike after going open water swimming at Salford Quays. I met loads of triathletes there so thought I should get one. If I’m thinking of buying anything, whether it’s a musical instrument or a kitchen appliance, I always do loads of research first, and that’s how I discovered the world of fixies. I thought, ‘I like the sound of that’. I bought a £300 Condor Pista with 48-18 gearing from eBay. I bought some Nitto keirin bars with the official NJS [Japanese Keirin Association) stamp on them. I’ve had it seven years now and have ridden it to death. Being a drummer gives me a certain connection with riding a fixie. I love the feel of the drivetrain, and there’s the rhythmic aspect of pushing the pedals, it’s very like playing a groove on a drum kit, very repetitive and very hypnotic. As I got stronger I swapped the rear sprocket for a 16, and was running a double fixed hub so I had the option of flipping between the 18 and 16. This was my ‘Get Out of Jail’ card on some of the hillier rides. Only a few have beaten me. One was Holme Moss. There was a lot of zig-zagging up, but I had to walk the last 300m because there’s a sharp bend at the top and there’s no way you could zig-zag without being sure a car wasn’t coming the other way. I’ve since done it on my other bike, a Cannondale CAAD10, which was much more sensible! Now I’m running a 15 sprocket. I got up Cragg Vale [England’s longest continuous ascent] on it without too much trouble. I’ve played at but never ridden in a velodrome. Touring with Happy Mondays last autumn, we did a gig at the Derby Velodrome. I thought I’d be able to have a spin on the track and tried to get into the room where they keep the bikes, but they were having none of it. The gig was great though. [Lead singer] Sean [Ryder] and the rest of the band aren’t into cycling, I think it would be against doctor’s orders! But another band I play with, [Scottish folk group] Capercaillie has a few cyclists among them. When we sit down for the pre-gig dinner, the eyes of the noncyclists tend to glaze over. I go into self-imposed quarantine before a tour. I toured with Black Grape before Christmas and didn’t go out on my bike for six weeks before in case I injured myself in an accident. I don’t care what happens to me, but if I break something and people lose work because of me, I’d feel terrible. I ride as much to keep myself fit as for pleasure. I’m a 45-year-old geezer now and I can’t play the drums for a couple of hours every night on tour without it hurting when I wake up the next day. Every single part of my body is aching.

The rhythmic aspect of pushing the pedals is like playing a groove on a drum kit, very repetitive and very hypnotic