“We’re about to witness some living, breathing proof that it’s never too late to start a new hobby,” Laura Kirkpatrick (aka ‘@Lauradoessports’) says over the top of a video of her dad posing next to his second hand Rapide RC3. They’re about to set out on their first-ever father-daughter bike trip – 15km to the coffee shop.
Kirkpatrick’s dad, Peter, is 56 and dressed in an oversized red bomber jacket and navy-blue jogging bottoms. Laura rides next to him, wearing an ensemble of high-end cycling kit. This is the first episode of her new series where she teaches her dad how to ride a bike.
Now, Peter could already technically ride a bike, but he was yet to be indoctrinated into the world of the MAMIL – albeit, via his very trendy 25-year-old daughter, Laura. “He’s actually fairly good. Not my cycling ability, but for a beginner, he’s pretty solid to be fair,” Laura tells Cycling Weekly.
The first lessons Laura taught her dad were strictly practical: this is a cassette, this is how you change gears and how to fix a puncture. “The thing we haven’t really got to yet is the cleats,” she says.
“I think part of it is cycling on the roads, because – more so my mum, but definitely a bit my dad – they’re very scared of cycling on the roads, and try to avoid it at all costs.” They’ve been practising hand signals and bike balance, but have mainly just been spending time getting out and comfortable on the roads.
But Laura was on another mission, too. Earlier this year, a video announcing she was dropping her nine-to-five to build a life more aligned to her passions, went viral. From there, brand partnerships started trickling in, then flooding in. Finding herself back home in Newcastle, living with a dad primed and ready to get cycling – and in desperate need of some new kit – the series began.
Episode two features Peter in some new SYN garb, arms protected in layers of bubble wrap as he learns how to clip and unclip.
“I think the next step is a longer ride, with a lot of café stops, see how he gets on, and I’m also gonna give him my old Garmin so he can see how to use routes,” she explains.
Every time Laura shares a new skill with her dad, their traditional roles are switched. It is, for both father and daughter, an unexpected joy, and an exchange Peter has nicknamed a “hand me up”. “Instead of ‘hand me downs’, ‘hand me ups’ was a thing that he and his friends would use for when your kids, give you stuff,” Laura adds. “It’s felt really nice being able to give him kit and teach him how to do something new. It feels really special.
“It’s so nice to like, connect over a new hobby, because I think sometimes, with my parents, I find we don’t have that much in common when it comes to the things we do. When we were younger, we’d go for walks, or maybe we’d occasionally go out for dinner or to a cinema or something. But there wasn’t necessarily a shared hobby.”
As Laura teaches her dad how to cycle, she’s learning new things about the sport – and herself – too.
“I think maybe just how much there is to know, or just how some things are really not obvious,” she says. “I think Instagram does a very good job of inspiring people to ride their bikes, but I don’t see a lot of practical, useful advice. I didn’t realise that I had to change my chain every so often, and then when I turned up to a race my Ironman, they were like, when was the last time you changed a chain?
“But I think that’s probably the biggest thing that it’s taught me, is just being patient.”
I ask Laura what tips she’d give people to get their loved ones into cycling. Her advice is simple: pick a straightforward bike – a hybrid that can do most things, “probably aluminium“, but most importantly “a bike you will feel comfortable on.” Then, find a community that can help make road cycling less scary. Oh, and follow along to her series as she continues to teach her dad, Peter, how to ride – and the next episode drops on Monday.
