Hardrock93
Guru
- Location
- Stirling
Hello there. I have to admit to being a ‘lurker ’on the site for some time now, having enjoyed reading the posts and absorbing masses of information on current bike tech.
So, how did I end up in the cyber world that is Cycle Chat? Well...
As a kid I had bikes of the Sturmey Archer 3 speed variety, but never got into cycling as an interest in its own right.
When I was a callow youth working with BT, in Glasgow in the 70’s, I had a few, older colleagues who were deeply into cycling and I now wish I had paid more attention to their tales of long leisure runs and competition. All I recall are recurring exotic terms such as bottom brackets, Campag, time trials, tubs, Millar,Hinault, Dales Cycles, Glasgow Wheelers, Ivy Cycling Club etc etc.
However, at that time, and ever since, motorcycling has been my passion and I’m afraid cycling was something I hardly ever considered. In fact the only time I was particularly aware of cycling was when I was out on the motorbike and I’d see lycra clad people on road bikes pounding along the highway. It always struck me, from their expressions of intense concentration that they didn’t seem to be really enjoying what they were doing!
I only rekindled an interest in cycling at the end of last year. I think the trigger was buying a couple of second-hand books from the Oxfam shop here in Stirling. One was ‘French Revolutions’ by Tim Moore and the other was ‘Breaking the Chain’ by Willy Voet. Entertaining and interesting, respectively. I started researching further with the intention of bringing my cycling knowledge up to date but, sadly, this merely resulted in an addiction to the ‘Yehuda Moon and the Kickstand Cyclery’ cartoon strip followed by a daily dose of Bike Snob NYC.
Anyway, all this led to me digging my old bicycle out from under years of accumulated garage junk. Please don’t snort with derision; it’s a 1993 Specialized Hardrock in a rather fetching dark blue/green hue. I guess that in 2011, and perhaps even in 1993, this would be deemed a BSO, but I think it’s great. It still has the original, rather cracked with age, knobbly ‘Crossroads II’ tyres and cheap and cheerful Altus shifters and mechs.
Since exhuming the Hardrock, I’ve been out for only relatively short runs around my local area, the longest of which was about 17 miles so I was in awe of the huge experience on this forum, all the super fitness and tales of epic rides. Feeling a bit like Wayne and Garth in the presence of Alice Cooper, I was reluctant to make the transition from lurker to participant, so I set myself a goal and decided that only after achieving this would I register on the forum.
Ok, it was a modest ambition by Cycle Chat standards; I simply intended to attempt part of the ‘Round the Forth’ route (NCN76). Today, I donned my Lidl cycling top and shorts and, after checking that the OH hadn’t actually injured herself from laughing, set out. For those who know the area, I rode an anti-clockwise circuit on NCN76 from Stirling to Fallin and Cowie, across the Clackmannanshire Bridge,Clackmannan, Alloa, Cambus and back home. 33 miles door to door, average speed (not including stops), a lowly 10mph. Chicken feed, I can hear all you proper cyclists saying, but it meant something special to me and I had fantastic fun doing it. If I can do 33 miles, I guess I can do more.
So here I am. Hi.
So, how did I end up in the cyber world that is Cycle Chat? Well...
As a kid I had bikes of the Sturmey Archer 3 speed variety, but never got into cycling as an interest in its own right.
When I was a callow youth working with BT, in Glasgow in the 70’s, I had a few, older colleagues who were deeply into cycling and I now wish I had paid more attention to their tales of long leisure runs and competition. All I recall are recurring exotic terms such as bottom brackets, Campag, time trials, tubs, Millar,Hinault, Dales Cycles, Glasgow Wheelers, Ivy Cycling Club etc etc.
However, at that time, and ever since, motorcycling has been my passion and I’m afraid cycling was something I hardly ever considered. In fact the only time I was particularly aware of cycling was when I was out on the motorbike and I’d see lycra clad people on road bikes pounding along the highway. It always struck me, from their expressions of intense concentration that they didn’t seem to be really enjoying what they were doing!
I only rekindled an interest in cycling at the end of last year. I think the trigger was buying a couple of second-hand books from the Oxfam shop here in Stirling. One was ‘French Revolutions’ by Tim Moore and the other was ‘Breaking the Chain’ by Willy Voet. Entertaining and interesting, respectively. I started researching further with the intention of bringing my cycling knowledge up to date but, sadly, this merely resulted in an addiction to the ‘Yehuda Moon and the Kickstand Cyclery’ cartoon strip followed by a daily dose of Bike Snob NYC.
Anyway, all this led to me digging my old bicycle out from under years of accumulated garage junk. Please don’t snort with derision; it’s a 1993 Specialized Hardrock in a rather fetching dark blue/green hue. I guess that in 2011, and perhaps even in 1993, this would be deemed a BSO, but I think it’s great. It still has the original, rather cracked with age, knobbly ‘Crossroads II’ tyres and cheap and cheerful Altus shifters and mechs.
Since exhuming the Hardrock, I’ve been out for only relatively short runs around my local area, the longest of which was about 17 miles so I was in awe of the huge experience on this forum, all the super fitness and tales of epic rides. Feeling a bit like Wayne and Garth in the presence of Alice Cooper, I was reluctant to make the transition from lurker to participant, so I set myself a goal and decided that only after achieving this would I register on the forum.
Ok, it was a modest ambition by Cycle Chat standards; I simply intended to attempt part of the ‘Round the Forth’ route (NCN76). Today, I donned my Lidl cycling top and shorts and, after checking that the OH hadn’t actually injured herself from laughing, set out. For those who know the area, I rode an anti-clockwise circuit on NCN76 from Stirling to Fallin and Cowie, across the Clackmannanshire Bridge,Clackmannan, Alloa, Cambus and back home. 33 miles door to door, average speed (not including stops), a lowly 10mph. Chicken feed, I can hear all you proper cyclists saying, but it meant something special to me and I had fantastic fun doing it. If I can do 33 miles, I guess I can do more.
So here I am. Hi.
to CC
I knew I still had a fair bit to go. Though I became a hero when I could lift their bikes over a locked fence in the middle of the NCN route.
Sounds as if you might just qualify for the age allowance as well.
