routes

(Responding to criticism for learning to ride a bicycle at 67 years old) – I feel that I am entitled to my share of lightheartedness and there is nothing wrong with enjoying oneself simply, like a boy

Let a man find himself, in distinction from others, on top of two wheels with a chain – at least in a poor country like Russia – and his vanity begins to swell out like his tyres

Here’s the routine I’d advise for the evening before a race: a pheasant with chestnuts, a bottle of champagne and a woman

Don’t buy upgrades, ride up grades

I came out for exercise, gentle exercise and to notice the scenery and to botanise. And no sooner do I get on that accursed machine than off I go hammer and tongs; I never look to right or left, never notice a flower, never see a view – get hot, juicy, red – like a grilled chop. Get me on that machine and I have to go. I go scorching along the road and cursing aloud at myself for doing it

Learn to ride a bicycle. You will not regret it if you live

When the spirits are low, when the day appears dark, when work becomes monotonous, when hope hardly seems worth having, just mount a bicycle and go out for a spin down the road, without thought on anything but the ride you are taking

It is by riding a bicycle that you learn the contours of a country best, since you have to sweat up the hills and coast down them. Thus you remember them as they actually are, while in a motor car only a high hill impresses you, and you have no such accurate remembrance of country you have driven through as you gain by riding a bicycle