Our new exhibition all about cycling, 'The Perfect Machine' opened at Summerlee Museum on Saturday. As part of the exhibition we are profiling cyclists from around Lanarkshire and Glasgow. Cait works at Summerlee.
“My name is Cait and the first bike that I ever had was my granda’ found it on a local dump. It was red and he done it all up and he bought a bell with Mickey Mouse on it.
“Has cycling changed my life? Well I cycle to work now and what I do get it is a sense of freedom. It’s helped me keep fit and it makes me feel good, it’s a great start to the beginning of my day and for the end, all my troubles just go away by the time I’m home.
“A memorable bike ride that I’ve done was a trip to Sandwood Bay, Durness. It was very cold, it was October time. We had not got much daylight left, I wasn’t feeling that great that day and I hadn’t rode a bike for years. Before we started the cycle we met three experienced cyclists on their way back and they told me how hard it was. Most of the way you were going through water, over rocks and you couldn’t cycle any more. So a few miles in we had to dump the bikes and go the rest by foot, a good few miles by foot but it was well worth it. Once we got over the hill it was like something out of Pirates of the Caribbean, beautiful white sands, blue water, there were stacks on either side. But then had to start making the journey back and by the time we reached our bikes again it was complete darkness so you can imagine what it was like, but it was well worth the trip.
“I cycle to work in the summer months and I cycle from Glenboig to Coatbridge and most of it is cycle tracks. It takes you through a local nature reserve, through Gartcosh train station and this is the site of the old Gartcosh Steel Works. Then you have got a busy stretch of road to Drumpellier. There’s quite a scary bit trying to cross the road, you’re kind of playing chicken there but that is the busiest and most dangerous bit of the cycle. You are then in Drumpellier Country Park. That takes you by the visitor centre, round the loch and onto the cycle track at the back, in the woodlands. It takes you down onto the Monkland Canal at Old Home Farm, then the stretch takes you by the allotments. On your right is a woodland: the wildlife is amazing and, on a good day, you could be anywhere. You then cycle to the West End Park through two underpasses into the old canal basin, cross the road and that’s me at my work at Summerlee: half an hour; four miles.”
'The Perfect Machine', Summerlee Museum of Scottish Industrial Life, Coatbridge
5 July to 14 September 2014
