Meet Mark Metcalfe, the Bitterne Park man you may have seen riding a penny-farthing by the river.

 

You can sometimes spot Mark riding his penny-farthing along the cycle path in Riverside Park.

“I got to that time in life when I thought, if I don’t do mad things soon, I won’t have any time left,” says Mark.

The bikes are named after the British penny and farthing coins, one being much larger than the other, reflected by the size of the cycle’s wheels.

“I’ve always liked penny-farthing bikes, the shape of them, since I was a kid. I thought, I can’t afford the real thing – the Victorian bikes cost two or three thousand pounds – so I had this one made for me by a gentleman in London who builds them and who’s actually been around the world on one.

“But I just ride it for exercise and fun.”

Mark says while Riverside is his usual haunt, he’s been as far as Romsey on it.

So how hard is it to ride?

“It takes a bit of getting used to,” he says. “The getting off and getting on is the difficult bit. Once you’re on it’s like any bike and it’s got its own stability.”

If you thought going up hills on a fixed gear penny-farthing would be tricky, consider cycling down: there are no brakes, and you just have to use the pedals to stay at a safe speed!

You can read more about penny-farthings on Wikipedia.

Pic from 2013: Rodrigo Pacheco-Ruiz