Help James today and think about how we can make our roads a safer place for everyone

James Middleton on our Alps Camp at the top of Col De La Bonnette in the Southern Alps

It’s not an overstatement to say cycling has changed my life. From the early days of racing around Norfolk with my mate, Jack, to finding my bicycle again in my mid twenties to now where it’s an inexplicably constant occupation; it’s the most positive thing I’ve ever found. 

Much of what it’s done for me is about the people it’s brought me into contact with. One such person is James Middleton who I met through a now good mate, James Harrison. 

James (Middleton) went out on his bike one day last year and his life changed for good. You can support him and his family in their recovery here.

How did this happen?

It’s senseless to me. I’ve been struggling with the issues since. Trying to make sense of how and why someone can go out on their bicycle and find their life changed for the worse in such violent and extraordinary ways.

It’s made me reflect. How, since I was a kid, when the roads here really did represent freedom and adventure to me, Mum would say ‘mind the traffic’, ‘be careful’ and we’d run out anyway barely registering the comment. We hardly needed to. It’s not nostalgic to say roads were a safer place back then, for cyclists. 

It’s clear the world has changed. Whether it’s the dehumanising use of the word ‘cyclist’ that supports the palpable and growing division between road users, or just a nasty side effect of our increasingly inward and stressful lifestyles, people who drive cars and people who ride bikes, are increasingly coming into conflict and we have to do more to understand it, increase the peace and collectively stop it.

There’s more of us on the roads, and more and more people recognise the need to be, but instead of safety in those numbers, and the urgency with which we need to turn to alternatives to the car, we often meet with hostility and aggression, carelessness and risk that can (at times) make our simple pursuit feel like it’s not worth the risk.

James would never be put off by that risk. Whether I’ve ridden with him on the track, or impossibly long days in the Alps, he loves cycling regardless, he’s always smiling, and isn’t the sort to find excuses not to go out, or ever be perturbed by the challenge of a few cars. 

The horrible reality of the consequences of contact between a car and a cyclist visited him last year when him and his mate were hit whilst out riding. 

His mate didn’t make it. James did, somehow. He made it to the hospital and his life changing injuries mean his life and that of his wonderful young family is now changed for good. 

The reasons and whether or not the driver that struck them was to blame aren’t known to me, but the symptoms that can lead to such needless tragedies are and we can all do something conscious about it every time we take to the road. And, keep pressure on those who can bring those that don’t to book when other lives are needlessly changed in similarly horrific and preventable ways.

Events like this are preventable.

Please, as a road user (and we all are) take a moment to think about how your driving could end or change someone’s life.  Pause before you turn the ignition and think about how you can increase the peace on our roads. Tolerate the person in front of you, out for a ride on their bike. Give yourself five minutes more time to make that journey. Put the phone in the glove box till you get where you’re going. Take the collective human responsibility we have to get everyone home safe seriously and make sure you’re someone who’s not putting friends, fathers, sons, brothers, sisters, mothers, mates (people just like you) at risk this weekend. 

As you take a moment to think about these issues, I’d also ask anyone that knows me, Spoon Customs, James, or what cycling, family, health means to all of us, to head over to James’ go-fund me page and give what you can to support James and his family as they rebuild their lives. 

If you can spare something, please give what you can at this link: https://ie.gofundme.com/f/james-middleton

#increasethepeace