Themes: Exercise, Enjoyment, Sociability, Topography, Traffic, Mobility
Terry had lived in Tilehurst, near Reading, since 1963 and retired from being a traffic engineer in 1989. He had lived on his own since his divorce in 1979, with two of his four sons living nearby. He stores his bike in the garage and once a year checks it and does a short test ride but otherwise has done little cycling for decades. He plays golf and walks for exercise and enjoyment, including long distance walks overseas.
Terry grew up in Stockport, cycling a lot as a teenager, including a tour of the West Country. After National Service, he joined the Ordnance Survey, working in Southampton, and Kingston, Surrey, where he continued cycling for leisure as well as commuting daily to work. Marrying and returning to Stockport he cycled to Manchester College for night school but then his cycling decreased as there was a convenient bus to work in central Manchester and the traffic was bad. Moving to Reading he worked mainly as a traffic engineer, planning the development of roads and traffic management schemes, in Reading and then Berkshire, which at that time, he reflects, placed an emphasis on catering for rapidly expanding car use.
In this film Terry describes how cycling during the trial provided useful exercise, in addition to walking and golf. He reflects on an enjoyable ride along the river with one of his sons, and the challenge of the steep hill on their return. Terry was also wary of cycling in traffic. He explains how he felt the need to wear a helmet and fluorescent gear , and kept mainly to local, quiet, residential streets. Terry tells how he has done little cycling since the trial as he gets sufficient exercise and finds the car convenient but concludes that it makes him lazy.
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