Rubber Bullets
Senior Member
- Location
- Torbay
Hi, from another new member from Devon.
I have loitered here for a few weeks, and have generally been taken by the friendly nature of the locals, and the help and advice that can be sought and received here.
I am 44 years old and have just discovered I’m a MAMIL, or at least when I get round to buying some lycra shorts I guess I will be.
I used to cycle quite a lot, but for the last 10 years or so I have done almost nothing and my lovely old Specialized Stumpjumper sat in my shed feeling sad. At the turn of this year I was an indolent 17½ stone and decided that if I didn’t do something soon then I was at risk of all sorts of nasty midlife health problems, not least diabetes, so I did something about it. First of all I got the old exercise bike out of mothballs and fired up the Wii Fit (yes really), altered my diet in a few small but significant ways and started losing weight.
Along with this extra activity I started to think that it would be nice to take my 9 year old daughter (a new and rather nervous cyclist) on some of the lovely traffic free cycle paths that we have round these parts, Plym Valley, Granite Way etc. And in early July I finally dug out the old Stumpy and rode it the 2 miles to my local bike shop for a full service.
It actually took rather less than those 2 miles for me to well and truly get the cycling bug again!
Although I had always ridden mountain bikes (I had a Rockhopper before the Stumpy) I actually always preferred riding on the road, and when I discovered that I could buy a bike through the CycleToWork scheme I bought a Specialized Secteur Sport (some may unkindly describe me as a Fan Boy but I prefer the term ‘loyal’). My partner just bought a Specialised Vita by the way!
I love the speed and agility of the Secteur, and am riding it frequently, though perhaps could still be described as a fair weather cyclist, and am yet to do any long rides, but am aiming to build up. I am pleased to report that I now weigh just under 14½ stone and feel (and look, apparently) much better for it. I am now planning to take part in next year’s Dartmoor Classic but will start a thread in the training section concerning that in due course.
I have also looked at the YOGi site for what appears to be a friendly club in Plymouth that does the sort of leisure rides that I need to step up to next, so I may join them.
I’m afraid this post got a bit on the long side, I apologise, and thank anyone who has made it this far, in general when I post I think it will be far shorter and, hopefully, less dull than this.
RB
I have loitered here for a few weeks, and have generally been taken by the friendly nature of the locals, and the help and advice that can be sought and received here.
I am 44 years old and have just discovered I’m a MAMIL, or at least when I get round to buying some lycra shorts I guess I will be.
I used to cycle quite a lot, but for the last 10 years or so I have done almost nothing and my lovely old Specialized Stumpjumper sat in my shed feeling sad. At the turn of this year I was an indolent 17½ stone and decided that if I didn’t do something soon then I was at risk of all sorts of nasty midlife health problems, not least diabetes, so I did something about it. First of all I got the old exercise bike out of mothballs and fired up the Wii Fit (yes really), altered my diet in a few small but significant ways and started losing weight.
Along with this extra activity I started to think that it would be nice to take my 9 year old daughter (a new and rather nervous cyclist) on some of the lovely traffic free cycle paths that we have round these parts, Plym Valley, Granite Way etc. And in early July I finally dug out the old Stumpy and rode it the 2 miles to my local bike shop for a full service.
It actually took rather less than those 2 miles for me to well and truly get the cycling bug again!
Although I had always ridden mountain bikes (I had a Rockhopper before the Stumpy) I actually always preferred riding on the road, and when I discovered that I could buy a bike through the CycleToWork scheme I bought a Specialized Secteur Sport (some may unkindly describe me as a Fan Boy but I prefer the term ‘loyal’). My partner just bought a Specialised Vita by the way!
I love the speed and agility of the Secteur, and am riding it frequently, though perhaps could still be described as a fair weather cyclist, and am yet to do any long rides, but am aiming to build up. I am pleased to report that I now weigh just under 14½ stone and feel (and look, apparently) much better for it. I am now planning to take part in next year’s Dartmoor Classic but will start a thread in the training section concerning that in due course.
I have also looked at the YOGi site for what appears to be a friendly club in Plymouth that does the sort of leisure rides that I need to step up to next, so I may join them.
I’m afraid this post got a bit on the long side, I apologise, and thank anyone who has made it this far, in general when I post I think it will be far shorter and, hopefully, less dull than this.
RB
