Every so often I see an article or a letter to the editor complaining about a cyclist doing this and that (cycling on the footpath, running a red light, cycling without a helmet, cycling the wrong way down a one way street, cycling while on the phone, cycling blindfolded etc.).

I realise this could be my ‘Rob Ford moment' but at some point or another I've done all those things (OK, except for the last one, at least not yet). Most of this is in the past now; I don't run red lights these days but I do admit to occasionally cycling on the footpath (when it's safe to do so). In fact, I did this earlier today which got me thinking about 'why'.

Firstly, let me explain this particular transgression;  When leaving the entrance to the building where I have my office, I hopped on my bike and cycled on the footpath the short distance the wrong way down the one way street before crossing to the side road (the right way) and cycling home. No harm done, right ? And, shock horror, I've done this many times ! Now I can hear the flurry of pens scribbling and fingers jabbing at keyboards but before you press send or lick that stamp on your letter to the editor, please just hear me out for a bit.

I'm not condoning my behavior or that of any other cyclist that doesn't obey the rules but I'm hoping to try an explain it a little bit from my perceptive.

When I was a student in London, for me, cycling was the way to travel. You could get pretty much anywhere in central London faster than you could by any any other form of transport. For that reason, cycle courier companies were very common and it was with one such company that I got a part time job over the college holidays. You got paid per package, so the faster you could get from A-B the more money you made.

I could say that the job corrupted me. While it did encourage me to take some big risks, the truth is more along the lines of 'the job suited me'. My knowledge of London streets would rival that of any black cab driver but where the cycle courier excels is in the short cuts; Those one way streets (the wrong way), those steps that cut through from one road to the other, that courtyard linking this street with that, that alleyway etc. etc. When I took the job I knew the shortcuts because I was already taking them. I still remember some of the crazy routes I used to take.

To be a cyclist you had to be a bit of a rebel. The roads were built for cars, trucks and buses; If you cycled you were considered to have a 'death wish'. From the cyclist’s point of view though, cycling meant freedom, it meant very cheap, efficient transport, and it kept you fit. It was also the opportunity to 'stick it to the man' (as I cycled past his gridlocked Porsche on the way to college).

With infrastructure that was built for the car, and as a cyclist considered by all other users of the road as an outcast, is it any small wonder that the cyclist behaves like a rebel ?

Forward 20+ years and I am less of a rebel but I do have more of a cause. I and a great many other people would like to see cycling as a real transport option, not just something that has to be tolerated or made 'a bit safer'. When the cyclist is not viewed as an outcast, when our roads and infrastructure really support cycling, when we don't need to wear helmets to protect us, when we don't need to wear high-vis gear just to be noticed, when we feel that we belong, then perhaps some of us will feel, and behave, less like rebels.

(An opinion piece published in the Voices column on the Nelson Mail on 23/11/13)