Nodding Off - Into The Sunset

LEGEND HAS IT, COMPLETING THIS SACRED RITE OF PASSAGE MEANS YOU’VE REACHED THE NEXT LEVEL OF CYCLING…

- Jonathan Ancer

I was about to do it. I braced myself to transform from a Noddee to a Nodder.

There are a number of cycling rites of passage that signal your transition from ‘newbie’ to ‘cyclist’ – for example, when you finally manage not to fall as you uncleat at a red robot, or the first time you catapult over the handlebars, or when your odometer clicks over from 99km and you break your 100-kay virginity.

So far, The Nod had been elusive. But at last, I was about to give another rider The Nod as I overtook him.

The Nod is a subtle movement; a small, almost unnoticeable head tweak that lands a powerful patronising punch. If you could put The Nod into words, the phrase ‘Ag, shame’ would come closest.