20?? - 2021

[gavroche]

I have been a CC member for 10 years now and am reflecting back on what I was doing then and now, so here goes:
In 2011, I was still working as Driving Instructor ( my own school) during the day and teaching French in the evening . When I restarted cycling after a 30 year gap, I first bought a cheap road bike which punctured every time I was out due to rubbish Kenda tyres so took the plunge and bought a Specialized Allez which I still have and use as my winter bike now.
Move forward 10 years to 2021 and I am now fully retired and have two more bikes in my stable: A Specialized Elite Roubaix and a Cube Peloton and soon to add Trek Domane.
I have also built a new shed in my back garden dedicated to housing my bikes.
So, tell us what you were doing when you joined CC and what you are at now.

 

[Brandane]

Joined in November 2009.
Back then I was trying my best not to get involved in endless, pointless "debates" on the NACA board, or whatever it was called then.
Fast forward 11 and a half years, and....
Nothing has changed - although I am getting better. The pills must be working 😄.

 

[Sniper68]

Not much has changed since I joined in 2018 apart from I only have 1 bike now,back then I had 5.(not sure I can count the Proform TDF indoor trainer as an actual bike).I will be 53 next week so does that mean I'm now mid-50s?
Nowt more to say really

 

[Drago]

Joined in 2012. I was recovering from surgery and working in the control room at the time. Fortunately, in May 2013 I had an argument with my inspector, lost my rag and called him a "bullying c***", whichnhe most assuredly was. Luckily no one witnessed it so it was his word against mine so no real punishment beyond being turfed out the control room. I'd hated in there and had only gone in the first place under medical duress, so I was pleased to go. Still, my card was marked and the organisation had a couple of tries at me after that, resulting in me starting the process to go to tribunal for bullying. They backed down and offered me a settlement that I can't discuss further. They left me alone after that.

Id passed my D's ticket so got sent to core CID to be a DS (dog sheet), which I didn't enjoy due to the jobsworth culture - why people bother gping to all that effort to get their D's ticket, only to try and cuff away the jobs when the come in is beyond me. They were like mechanics not wanting to fix cars, or estate agents not wanting to sell.

Managed to wriggle across to be a skipper on the prisoner processing team, which I enjoyed. When that team a was disbanded in 2015 I got shunted over to hi tec crime, which I enjoyed but was ill suited to by lack of knowledge or training, so I dealt the the leglislative side and became the supernintendo's gatekeeper for RIPA applications etc. The job itself was dull, but some interesting things crossed my desk.

Would have stayed longer but that tw@t Tom Winsor was making noises about punishing non operational coppers by cropping up to 10% of their salary. That was a bit sheet, seeing as I was injurednon duty, so I put in my cards. The irony is that a 30 year ill health pension (id served 27 but bought some extra years) and a band 2 injury award costs the Government tens of thousands more a year than if I'd simply been left alone.

Applied for a couple of part time jobs since then, no luck. With covid and the resulting spike in unemplyoment its become dog eat dog - I don't need the money, or the stress and hassle, so I've given up trying. Im now a house husband and do all the cldaning, washing, shopping, etc, everything bar the cooking.

Lost count of the number of bikes I have butnits low double figuresish.

 

[Deleted member 1258]

Since joining in 2007 we've moved house, the kids have left home and I've retired. When I started in 2007 I was laid up with a badly bruised back after being rear ended on my way home from work, we were living in the Earlsdon part of the city, I was working as a Labourer/driver in a small engineering company and cycling 4-5000 miles a year commuting and doing Sunday rides. Now we are in the Holbrooks part of the city, I'm retired and spending most of my time looking after my Wife who now has very limited mobility and is largely house bound, I'm doing very little cycling, I don't have time.

 

[Beebo]

I had one child, now I have two.
Still in the same house with the same wife.
I have changed jobs a couple of times which means my daily cycle commuting has stopped which is a big shame.

 

[classic33]

In a cyber cafe when I joined, having been made aware of here a few days earlier by another member, now gone.

Working in a toy shop at the time, 2007. Owner went bankrupt, and sought to get out of their legal obligations(wages, NI, Tax), in late 2013.

 

[Chris S]

When I joined Cycle Chat in 2008 I had a reasonably well paid IT job. I was on the same money in 2020 (which was effectively a large pay cut) so I resigned and have been semi-retired ever since.

I've still got the same Raleigh 3-speed though. It was junk and just about every thing on it that could be replaced has been. Unfortunately I can't do anything about the wobbly bottom bracket because the frame threads haven't be cut straight. British engineering at it's best.

 

[CanucksTraveller]

I joined CycleChat in 2010; Back then I owned just the one bike, a Trek 7.3FX which I bought on the Cycle to Work scheme and used mostly to commute a couple of miles to work in West London. I came here for advice on new tyres, commuting kit etc. Later that same year my wife was pregnant with our daughter and I was starting to plan and retrain for career number 2, there were major upheavals in the year that followed, what with a new family member, the aforementioned career change, and a house move.

In 2021 still have that Trek. I've since added several more bikes, and the baby girl is coming up for ten and has her own Trek.
As we're on a cycle forum I feel I should post a picture of the original bike I joined CC with (it's my pub bike now).

 

[Sniper68]

I've just remembered I have my old 2007 Focus Variado frame-set in the shed.It's got stem/bars and 105 STi's.I'm half tempted to build it up as a Winter bike.Alluminium frame with Carbon fork.I'm going to dig it out

 

[T4tomo]

So, tell us what you were doing when you joined CC and what you are at now.

I was working as a waitress in a cocktail bar

 

[DCLane]

Been here since 2011 and, having spent a brief period in HE management, I'm back in the same job as I was before. Much happier in that.

Same house, same wife, one child's left home and is at university. Otherwise much the same.

None of the bikes back then are still around, although they've gone up from 3 to about 10 at present and I've the same frameset for one that's used as my audax bike. We've proper bike storage rather than a shed and I'm still riding, although slower mainly due to a major accident in 2016 which I've never fully recovered from and being 10 years older. I do race now though, which I didn't then.

More time's taken up around races as my son does it. And his bikes are everywhere!

Ask me in 10 year's time and the answers should be much different however

 

[fossyant]

Much the same, same job, house etc.

Bikes, well I had 3 and then bought a fixed commuter, which eventually went last year (not road commuting due to my accident). Bought a Full suspension MTB, just 4 months after breaking my back. Stopped road riding for 5 years after said accident, but slowly getting back into it.

Still have the original 3 bikes, although one had a full refurb this year. Started with 4, and here again with 4. Mrs F has gone from 1 to 2 bikes though !

 

[Donger]

I joined in 2014. I'd been working at HM Land Registry since 1983, and had gone part time in 2012 after 6 years of eldercare had taken its toll. 2014 was the year when my cycling really took off. I had started recording my rides and setting yearly targets back in 2009, and had averaged just over 1,500 miles per year for the first five years. Then in 2014 I joined Cyclechat and was inspired to widen my cycling experience. I put in 2,400 miles that year, and ever since then I have averaged over 3,000 miles, being a regular Metric Century-a-Month Challenge participant.

I really started tackling the hills that year, and after successfully taking on a beast of a climb in Languedoc up to the Chateau de Peyrepertuse (400+ metres of climbing at an average of 9%) I started to believe in myself. That year I managed Britain's biggest climb up the Bealach na Ba (626 metres of climbing) and it all took off from there. Since then I've started bagging Tour de France classified climbs, successfully getting up eleven different ones including five first cat climbs in the Alps and the Vosges.

Back in 2014 I was riding a classic Saracen steel touring bike ... my first road bike ... that I had bought from one friend and have subsequently given to another mate. I was also the proud owner of a new Ridgeback Panorama steel touring bike that I used for all my climbing. Being a super-heavyweight rider in cycling terms, braking on steep descents could be a bit of a white knuckle experience, and I occasionally had to be ready to steer into the hedge at one or other side of the road if I met oncoming traffic on a narrow, steep descent. It never quite came to that, though I did once bail out through an open farm gate and into a field of mud half way through one particularly hairy descent. I now also own a newer Ridgeback Panorama with disc brakes and the difference is amazing.

I'm now 60 and happily retired ..... I left one and a half years early but not a moment too soon .... and cycling is becoming a bigger and bigger part of my life. In the last few weeks I've ridden up into the Malverns, up into the Cotswolds, down to the Severn Bridge and up into the Forest of Dean. Due to travel restrictions, I may have to accept that I've probably ridden my last Alp, but the Welsh mountains are now calling me in. Cyclechat .... particularly the "Your Ride Today" thread .... has really inspired me to broaden my horizons, and I just love not knowing what is just around the next corner. No sat navs for me. Strictly a paper map or wing-it man and always will be.

 

[Rooster1]

Great thread btw.
Joined this forum in 2015 to get advice on fixing my road bike and buying parts.

I started cycling regularly in 2006 at the age of 37! I used to love (road) cycling as a kid until my 20s but I kind of forgot about it.

I was working as a digital designer in a lovely town in Oxfordshire and I was wasting my lunch times eating and drinking.
I decided to start getting fit, and ended up doing 25 miles a day commuting and lunch time rides. My colleague sold me an old (20 year old) steel road racer with campag parts - it was a bit of a lump but I didn't know any different. I used to take it up a hill every lunch time, at first I would have to walk the last steep bit, but over a few weeks I got better and better.

In 2009, for my 40th, I got a new alloy bike, a Giant Defy - it was a revelation. Nice gear changes and light too. However, I soon began to learn why parts can be cheap, or not cheap. The front chainring was made of cheese. This forum helped me to find the best replacement, and how to change a bottom bracket.

I started doing charity rides for local charities such as Sue Ryder around the Chilterns, and another one around the Isle of Wight for https://www.hopeandaiddirect.org.uk/ and the Marlow Kite Ride.

In 2013 I was lucky enough (or unlucky enough) to do the first Ride London, what a blast that was, and I raised a few thousand for Sue Ryder again. Two years later tried to the the Ride 100 again but had to retire half way round when my saddle bolt sheered off (I think that happened on the Giro last week lol)

I have had a few spins and crashes, but all in all cycling has been nothing but amazing for my physical and mental health.

I commute by bike 4 times a week, often going the "long way round" when the weather is half decent. My bike usually goes on holiday with me if possible. I've become it little less ambitious on where I ride so I need to start exploring a little more.

Your turn.