“Like the hand of God giving you a massive push.”
15.12.2021 | People & Society
Reverend Jacqueline Dove, Rector for the Blackthorn Chase Benefice in North Buckinghamshire, bought a Riese & Müller Tinker to have a greater presence in the community – and to feel close to nature.
Reverend Jacqueline Dove and her Tinker. | Photo: Fully Charged Silverstone
“When you're on the bike, you're just so much more in touch with nature. And one of the ways I experience God is through nature,” explains Reverend Jacqueline Dove.
She gave her car to her daughter for her birthday and had a definite wish to go electric – either with an electric bike or an electric car. Primarily, she wanted a greater presence within her communities, and riding around on the Tinker seemed to her to be a really good idea.
Jacqueline knew that it was going to be an investment, because she wanted this bike to last her for the rest of her life. “I want to be riding around on it when I'm 80.”
People she knows recommended Tristan from Fully Charged Silverstone to her. He put several bikes in his van and brought them to her village so that she could have a ride around and try them all out. She decided on the Tinker.
Video: Fully Charged Silverstone.
Closer to the community and to nature
On one of the first rides Jacqueline went on, it was drizzling but the sun was shining and a rainbow appeared. “You could almost touch the rainbow,” she recalls. “So even when it's raining, you feel at one with the elements and I find myself just instinctively praying more, because of that sense of feeling close to God on a bike.”
Jacqueline likes the Tinker’s upright seating position, which is comfortable and lets her look around as she’s cycling. Although Jacqueline primarily uses her bike as a way of getting around and not so much for sport, the Eco mode does give her a sense of exercising when she feels like it.
“But what I really love is when you push Turbo,” she admits, “It feels like the hand of God coming behind you giving you this massive push.” It reminds her of when she was a child and her parents supported her when she was learning to ride.
The power of the motor is really evident, especially on inclines. “The Tinker does eat hills” Jacqueline says.
Overall, the bike brings joy to her life, she points out. It can brighten her mood when she has to deal with sadness and with people who are suffering. “I can feel quite heavy laden, when when I wake up,” Jacqueline admits. “But then I get on my bike and my spirits just lift. Life's good on a bike.”