I never believed you used to be a triathlete until today.

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My multi-modal mate Tim and I have known each other for several years now. At first we shared the guard’s van with our bikes and started talking, then when I changed jobs we started cycling a few miles together as well. We’ve done a few longer rides back from South London to Medway, and shared the occasional packet of chips.

Tim rides a very nice lightweight Trek roadbike, whereas I have always ridden the clunker commuter, with mudguards, panniers etc. As a result of that and my girth, I’ve had to put up with many comments along the lines of “Come on, pull your weight! Oh you are, that’s the problem, isn’t it?” and similar.

I’ve lost 6kg and got the road bike back on the road. Today I wiped the floor with Tim comprehensively. I dropped him on both big hills, and then let him catch up on the flats only to drop him again. It was beautiful. I was dancing on the pedals, submitting to the bike’s need for speed, not even caring where Tim was behind me.

At the traffic lights just before our routes converge, he gave me the ultimate compliment “I couldn’t keep up with you”. Then he said that he’d never believed my triathlete past, before being reduced to saying “At least I’ve got a top-of-the-range Trek”. My response was “If I had one, you’d never see it – I’d be too far ahead”.

Forgive my boasting and smugness, but it was a lovely moment. It brought several strands together – my returning fitness, my ongoing victory over my weight, my happiness in having the road bike going again, and my pride in my (modest) triathlon achievements.

And then, when I got in to work, one of my “All cyclists should have insurance as they’re all killers” colleagues was whinging about how long she’d been stuck in traffic. I just said “I had a lovely ride in – no problems” and went off to have a shower.

I have a warm, smug glow.
 

domtyler

Über Member
Surname Don?
 

Tetedelacourse

New Member
Location
Rosyth
To put it in context, my mate absurdly called me "Mr Fitness" the other day. This is because I cycle to work whenever I can, whereas he remains motionless whenever he can. I was thankful no other cyclists were around when he came out with it.
 

alecstilleyedye

nothing in moderation
Moderator
special brownie points for burning off the poser on the high-end bike :smile:
 

fossyant

Ride It Like You Stole It!
Location
South Manchester
Well done - all those hours on a clunky commuter pay off - worked for me !

I remember this time last year, when I'd decided to pick up the cycling again, before I moved to a job nearer home, I decided to do the 60 mile round trip to work and back once a week.... one of my colleagues was super impressed - thought I was super human to be able to ride 30 miles before work....really impressed him - he was a couch potatoe though - his school of thought was that the heart only had so many beats in it before it stopped - don't wear it out....
 

Nigeyy

Legendary Member
Oh, good for you. You really deserve it. Reading between the lines, I think you might have put in a ton of work to get where you are, so you really deserve to be proud of your results!

I salute you sir, and I doff my hat to you.
 
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