Mind is the Ride

By Jet McDonald

An adventure through cycling and philosophy

Friday, 21 May 2021

Is cycling floating on air for kids who never got a hovercraft?

When I was a kid, maybe 8,9,10, I was fascinated by those ads in the back of American comics, eg Caspar the Ghost, Batman, Superman, etc that promised you x-ray specs, or bodybuilding devices that made you Mr Universe in one week, but, most excitingly, ones that said you could build your own hovercraft. I never did send off for a hovercraft but now hovering around middle age I have written a pop punk song about this very impulse. And, in the exciting denouement, have spent a frivolous amount of time building several prototypes out of cardboard with my bandmates from The Woodlice, involving old sofa boxes from Ikea and some second-hand braces off ebay. 

Ultimately though, I am left with the question did I really lose my hovercraft all those years ago? Or did I rise up on two pneumatic tyres with a bell that went ding-a-ling-a-ling. For what has really saved my facon bacon over this past year has been rising over the brow of a hill, and then floating down the other side, on my cherished, breath powered, bicycle.

You can find out more and get ‘Keep the Light On Baby’ from The Woodlice in digital download, CD and gorgeous vinyl here: https://linktr.ee/thewoodlice

Keep the Light On,

Dynamo style,

Jet

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