My favourite job by far has been working in a bike shop. I have worked in other types of retail. I have been locked up every day in an office building.

I have worked on a farm and I have regrettably spent long days bothering people on the phone telling them the merits of a software package they firstly don’t want or secondly can’t afford.

But being surrounded by bikes of all shapes and sizes and varying states of decay all day long, tinkering with the newest bike technology or seeing the new products rolling off the production line and on to the shelves makes me very happy, and will probably entertain me until the day I die.

And I am over the moon to now be working in a newly-decorated, swish little pad in Jericho. I work at Walton Street Cycles. Before today we could hardly see out of the windows, froze in winter and couldn’t swing a road bike for fear of toppling everything else on the shelves.

But with an extension, basement conversion and newly-decorated display, going to work fills me with enthusiasm and pride. I still get to do what I love everyday – fix and sell practical bikes for our local customers.

The piece de resistance is surely our 3x2 metre ordnance survey map covering a whole wall. Centring on Oxford city it helps us show customers where they are cycling and really how easy it is to cycle further than they think.

Independent bike shops are great places and I never tire of nosing around them. For 40 years, our bike shop has been serving the community, long before the internet jumped in offering everything your heart could desire for sale at knock-down prices.

Independent bike shops have been helping make your cycling trouble-free and enjoyable by knowing what your bike needs and how to fix its breakdowns. Oxford has many great bike shops dotted around the city and, if you support them, they will in return support you. A good bike shop only stocks what is tried and tested and, importantly, what the staff would use on their own bikes too. The internet can save you a few pounds but it can’t fix a broken left-hand crank for you.

Oxford relies on its bike shops and workshops. With the influx of new student cyclists each year, and more and more people choosing cycling as their daily form of transport, we need the infrastructure of great shops and great mechanics who can quickly get your bike back on the road. Your local bike shop must also be a simple place with easy-to-find goodies that will make your day-to-day riding more enjoyable and make the process of selecting a new bike as simple as possible.

Don’t just cycle past. Go in your local bike shop and make friends with the people who work there, you just don’t know when you need their expertise.

To me a bike shop is a treasure trove. Only the luckiest people get to work in them.