I AM not a serious road biker and I prefer linen to lycra. I also feel a little bit of suspension can get you a long way off-road, so last week I spent the glorious sunny evenings renewing my love of the waterways on my mountain bike.

On Thursday I took to the trail with a guide to the Oxfordshire Way, nonchalantly noting the route was straight and simple all the way to Claydon.

But, after casually re-reading the guide over a well-deserved pint along the way, I became confused as to whether I was allowed on the route I had just come along.

The guide advised me I needed a permit to cycle along the canal towpath, which was news to me as, I am sure it would be to many other cyclists who also use the towpath as a convenient rat-run to Oxford station.

Reading on, I discovered the permit I needed was free. Good news, I thought.

And where can I obtain my free permit? Banbury Tourist Information Centre.

Well, considering I was still 20 miles from Banbury, it was highly likely I would continue breaking the rules.

I also found out I could download it instead. Great, I thought. And put it on the list as a high priority.

But back at HQ, with a laptop in hand and waterscape.com in front of me, I found out my permit was far from free.

They wanted my name and address - which is valuable information in this day and age.

Now, I am sure my details will be held securely, and hope they have a better system than that of the Home Office. There was even a box to tick if one doesn’t want bothering with further emails from them.

But something inside urged me to continue breaking the rules.

I am sure my information is extremely important for certain agencies struggling to get aggregated demographics for canal usage, and I will happily share it with them if needed, but a clause in the privacy policy, which suggested my information would be traded if they sell their business, was slightly off-putting.

As cyclists we often regard our form of transport as relatively free from restriction.

We can go where drivers of cars can only dream about, we can get further in the same amount of time than a pedestrian, and we can enjoy combined transport routes – including travel by train, sea and air – if we take the time to dismantle our vehicles.

So it can be puzzling when the rules over using chosen routes, often routes we have travelled down many times before and which are so close to home that we know them like the back of our hands, present you with such a dilemma.

To be honest I am still procrastinating over that application form. I still don’t have a permit and my tyre marks run all the way to Cropredy.

So, this week I am not answering the door. And if you see a girl on a bike bombing down the canal with authoritative-looking men running after her, you can assume I still don’t have my permit.