The hobby of bicycling consists of many activities including racing, mountain bike riding and simple commuting.
Mathematics and physics teacher Michael Segers loves to participate in all of these activities.
Bike riding is a very versatile hobby that can be done in every weather condition according to Segers.
“I started racing in college; that is where I became interested in [bike riding]. I raced all through college and these would be road [bike races] and mountain biking. When I was in college I started to become a pretty big site and mountain bike racer as well. I commuted pretty much everywhere by bike. I did not even really own a car until I was 23 because I rode everywhere,” Segers said.
Racing was not the only part of bicycling Segers enjoyed as he even finds time to ride in rainy weather.
“I got into track racing, which would be racing on a velodrome, in 1991. I did a little bit of track racing but mostly road racing. The hobby part of [bike riding] has been mostly racing. I am also an avid bicycle commuter [even in] rain, snow and dark I can get from here to wherever, usually if I can find some safe corridor then I will use my bike,” Segers said.
For Segers although bicycling as a hobby started in college, he still finds time to ride now.
“I was just walking around campus one day and there was a semiprofessional bike race and I just stood there and watched it. I did not realize how much racing took place locally, I thought it was all ‘you are a professional bike racer or you just do not race’,” Segers said. “I started racing in 1984 and I probably raced pretty solid for 10 years. When my children were young I had to take a few years off and I raced sort of intermittently for quite a while. For the past five or six years I have not raced at all but I still ride for fitness and recreation and I still bike commute any time that I can get from point A to point B by bicycle.”
The meditative component of bicycling is part of why Segers enjoys riding his bike.
“I find [bike riding] to be a time to reflect and meditate. I do not wear headphones for a couple reasons: one is, I wanted to be purposefully bored enough to actually have to think and daydream. I also do not wear headphones that have to have my ears available to hear cars around me. I now find riding to be a time to get away and to think,” Segers said.
