Hi.
It was not so long ago that I took up cycling again after many years away from it.
Initially I started because my change in personal circumstances had left me feeling somewhat depressed and having way to much free time on my hands with the departure of my wife. To begin with ,everything was bought on the cheap. A £70 road bike and the cheapest gear I could lay my hands on. 10 mile bike rides felt like epic journeys and would come back home feeling completely knackered after it.
Ever night after work I would get out and cycle, and I was amazed by how the simplicity of a bike was starting to transform my downbeat mood. The weight started to drop off and I started to feel good about the way I looked again. In 3 years I've manage to lose 3 stone in weight..
As the month's flew by ,my rides slowly increased in mileage terms. From doing 10s they slowly went up to regular 20s and then 30 miles a night. Last year I tackled and managed to complete a land mark 100 mile ride. It was really hard going and felt knackered for a few days after, but it was well worth it , just for the feel good factor and the experience of seeing so much of our great land.
This year has been even more intense in cycling terms. I've done countless 70 mile rides in the saddle and feel really good physically after them.
All this cycling is obviously a positive way to go ,but it's not been of plain sailing. As my hunger for cycling has grown, so has my ambitions to want to go faster and invest in more expensive equipment. Strava is the devils work for me unfortunately. I started using it just to see how well I'm getting on against my self ,but I found myself, self obsessing on and trying to compete against others who where well out of my league. As much as I tried to adopt an attitude to not do this, I would always ultimately end up racing around and putting myself in the red on each ride.
Rides were now not much fun ,and was really feeling the after affects the following days. Another obsessive desire was to wanting that better/lighter bike and the expensive accessories that go with them. There's me on my cheap steel framed 80s Peugeot with a cheap computer and cycle clothing whilst virtually everybody else I know rides expensive machines equipped with pricey garmin computers and the latest clothing.
Within three years of taking up cycling ,I have felt my approach to my cycling mentality really did need a reality check. The last few months I've reigned in all this nonsense of thinking I'm going to be the next Chris Froome, and have ditched the addictive strava and stopped the yearning for that expensive carbon fibre bike I could ill afford.I've come to the conclusion ,the only thing I need to continue to enjoy cycling is my health and to keep things as simple as possible. It often makes me wonder if others may of gone through this silly phase just like I have ,on over thinking to much on bike tech/ personal stats such as strava, and aspirations to buy the best bike they could afford a,nd then lose the whole reason as why they took up cycling in the first place..
Hopefully this phase in cycling has now moved on, and i can just simply get on with what I wanted out of cycling in the first place ,which is untimely to enjoy, un wind and stay fit :-) :-)
All the best.
It was not so long ago that I took up cycling again after many years away from it.
Initially I started because my change in personal circumstances had left me feeling somewhat depressed and having way to much free time on my hands with the departure of my wife. To begin with ,everything was bought on the cheap. A £70 road bike and the cheapest gear I could lay my hands on. 10 mile bike rides felt like epic journeys and would come back home feeling completely knackered after it.
Ever night after work I would get out and cycle, and I was amazed by how the simplicity of a bike was starting to transform my downbeat mood. The weight started to drop off and I started to feel good about the way I looked again. In 3 years I've manage to lose 3 stone in weight..
As the month's flew by ,my rides slowly increased in mileage terms. From doing 10s they slowly went up to regular 20s and then 30 miles a night. Last year I tackled and managed to complete a land mark 100 mile ride. It was really hard going and felt knackered for a few days after, but it was well worth it , just for the feel good factor and the experience of seeing so much of our great land.
This year has been even more intense in cycling terms. I've done countless 70 mile rides in the saddle and feel really good physically after them.
All this cycling is obviously a positive way to go ,but it's not been of plain sailing. As my hunger for cycling has grown, so has my ambitions to want to go faster and invest in more expensive equipment. Strava is the devils work for me unfortunately. I started using it just to see how well I'm getting on against my self ,but I found myself, self obsessing on and trying to compete against others who where well out of my league. As much as I tried to adopt an attitude to not do this, I would always ultimately end up racing around and putting myself in the red on each ride.
Rides were now not much fun ,and was really feeling the after affects the following days. Another obsessive desire was to wanting that better/lighter bike and the expensive accessories that go with them. There's me on my cheap steel framed 80s Peugeot with a cheap computer and cycle clothing whilst virtually everybody else I know rides expensive machines equipped with pricey garmin computers and the latest clothing.
Within three years of taking up cycling ,I have felt my approach to my cycling mentality really did need a reality check. The last few months I've reigned in all this nonsense of thinking I'm going to be the next Chris Froome, and have ditched the addictive strava and stopped the yearning for that expensive carbon fibre bike I could ill afford.I've come to the conclusion ,the only thing I need to continue to enjoy cycling is my health and to keep things as simple as possible. It often makes me wonder if others may of gone through this silly phase just like I have ,on over thinking to much on bike tech/ personal stats such as strava, and aspirations to buy the best bike they could afford a,nd then lose the whole reason as why they took up cycling in the first place..
Hopefully this phase in cycling has now moved on, and i can just simply get on with what I wanted out of cycling in the first place ,which is untimely to enjoy, un wind and stay fit :-) :-)
All the best.
