MATT BAKER
THE COUNTRYFILE PRESENTER GOES BEHIND THE SCENES ON HIS SHOWS AND FAMILY FARM
Cycling is a thrilling and healthy way to explore the countryside.
“The simple joy of cycling is powering ourselves along at our own pace”
REFLECTIONS ON A CYCLING LIFE
Strangely, having never seen myself as a MAMIL (middle-aged man in lycra), I’ve found that a lot of people want to talk to me about my cycling antics these days because I have travelled the length and breadth of the UK (and everything in between) with the Rickshaw Challenge for Children in Need.
I’ve been cycling since I was a boy, or, more to the point, riding many types of bikes, one-, two- and threewheeled ones. BMX Bandits was the first film I watched at the cinema without Mum or Dad. On coming home, I built myself a jump course with old barn doors and breeze blocks in the yard and I would pedal around for hours on end, hypnotically travelling into another dimension as I racked up mile upon mile.
UNIQUE CHALLENGE
The next kind of bike came in the shape of a unicycle. Mad, I know, but as a British champion gymnast, I relished the balancing challenge. So
I asked Father Christmas for one and, sure enough, by Boxing Day I’d left the aid of our five-bar gate behind and I was dodging the dogs while navigating my BMX course.
Then came gears and my pink-and-yellow mountain bike. A super way of a teenage me getting unbelievably mucky, while checking our stock in the process. I had a fantastic route to rival any I’ve seen – massive downhills, woodland trails over tree trunks, gravel pits, boulders and plenty of mud! It was class on the way down but, living on a hill farm, a nightmare getting back up and home. I guess it prepared me well for the Rickshaw Challenge.
I often feel transported back to those early days as I cycle with the young team of riders, raising awareness for their projects. I’d never have believed what the challenge has become since I set off from Edinburgh Castle to London nine years ago.
PROPELLING YOURSELF
Cycling is a wonderful way to experience our countryside. The simple joy of cycling is powering ourselves along, putting the world to rights at our own pace, under our own steam. I love how quiet it is and how you never get bored with the scenery, changing at a pace slow enough to observe but fast enough to keep you interested. As well as the sense of achievement when you look behind you and see where you’ve come from. The hills you’ve conquered and the realisation that you’ve got where you are because of your hard effort. It’s a metaphor for life we should always remember.
As for Rickshaw Challenge 10, hopefully we’ll be in the process of compiling this year’s team as you read this, as we’re aiming to give it a go in the safest way possible.