A Dundee musician poised to tour with Simple Minds is getting his kicks on a bike.
“Cycling is the new rock and roll,” said Ged Grimes, who used to be in the band Danny Wilson best known for their 1987 chart hit Mary’s Prayer.
When Simple Minds start a tour of Europe in two weeks, Ged plans to avoid the tour bus and travel between venues on a bike loaned to him by Nicholson’s Cycles in Dundee.
After damaging his own, he was at the shop on Tuesday to pick up his dream bike in time for his participation in the Etape tour of Highland Perthshire at the weekend.
His cycling buddies for the weekend will include Dougie Vipond, former drummer with Deacon Blue and now a sports presenter on television. The boys are also being urged on by Simple Minds fans on the band’s website and on Facebook.
“I’ve had a great response not just from Simple Minds fans but from people who live with cancer,” said Ged, who is raising money for Macmillan Cancer Support. “There are a lot of people close to me affected by cancer. There is a personal reason for me doing the Etape for Macmillan.”
He said regular postings about his training runs had prompted so much encouragement from Simple Minds fans and others he decided to use his effort to raise money for the charity.
Ged is also hoping to fly round the course, having dropped nine pounds overnight. The new bike weighs just 16lb and is the sort top cyclists ride in events.
Ged is as much a fan of the scenic routes around Dundee as of biking itself.
“We are so lucky to have so many beautiful places to cycle,” he said. “You can’t beat spending a Sunday cycling through Perthshire.
“We are absolutely spoiled in Dundee. It doesn’t matter where you point the bike, to the Carse of Gowrie or up to Forfar, it’s great. I regularly do runs to Pitlochry. We are in a great area for cycling.”
The area can also be testing for cyclists.
“On the Etape you have to go up Schiehallion 45 miles into the event,” said Ged. “There are some nippy wee hills to tackle.”
Ged took up cycling in the heady days of Danny Wilson’s success in the late 1980s when the band’s big hit was riding high in the charts around the globe.
“When Danny Wilson was touring Canada, I bought a mountain bike and put it on the tour bus and when we visited different towns on the tour I would go out on the bike,” said Ged. “It’s a great way to see new towns.
“I plan to cycle between some of the shows on the Simple Minds tour, maybe doing 60 or 70 miles between shows. The rest of the band will go on the tour bus and I will take to the bike and meet them down the road for the next concert.
“Once you get the cycling bug, it never leaves you. I have fallen in love with Scotland all over again, just by getting out on the bike.”