LabRatt
Senior Member
- Location
- Sarf lundin
[This seems to be the way I go with forums - I can't read everything so I eventually stop bothering to turn up at all. Must get over that...]
OK, so some of you might remember my situation (girlfriend who's convinced that I'll die if I cycle on the road) but I thought I'd share this: that's changed.
Anyone who watches the rubbish I stick up youtube will have noticed a few new cycling clips. There's a short story behind that: Lauren (the other half) came to the realisation that by insisting I not cycle she was denying me something I really wanted to do, and that regular cycling would help with that healthy lifestyle/more exercise thing she kept bugging me with. She didn't tell me that, she bought me stuff instead.
For christmas she bought me a handlebar mirror (useless as it's for flat bars and my bike has drops, but the thought was there) and a set of Ortlieb panniers, saying that they were well reviewed and I could ride through the rain and find my work clothes still dry at the end of my journey. That's what she bought me. What she gave me, by implication, was much more important:
Permission to ride
I'm still taking it at her speed, making sure she's comfortable, but now I'm riding. Just a little bit. There's no way I can handle the commute to work yet (I'm on one side of Crystal Palace, work's on the other), but I'll get there. For now I'm doing the shopping and riding to and from the station (when I go to town) and trying to build up my fitness to outside the embarrassment threshold. I will ride to work one day though, and one day soon.
My most recent proud achievement - riding home from the station on Monday night (just over a mile and a half) in about six minutes without stopping for a breather!
OK, so some of you might remember my situation (girlfriend who's convinced that I'll die if I cycle on the road) but I thought I'd share this: that's changed.
Anyone who watches the rubbish I stick up youtube will have noticed a few new cycling clips. There's a short story behind that: Lauren (the other half) came to the realisation that by insisting I not cycle she was denying me something I really wanted to do, and that regular cycling would help with that healthy lifestyle/more exercise thing she kept bugging me with. She didn't tell me that, she bought me stuff instead.
For christmas she bought me a handlebar mirror (useless as it's for flat bars and my bike has drops, but the thought was there) and a set of Ortlieb panniers, saying that they were well reviewed and I could ride through the rain and find my work clothes still dry at the end of my journey. That's what she bought me. What she gave me, by implication, was much more important:
Permission to ride
I'm still taking it at her speed, making sure she's comfortable, but now I'm riding. Just a little bit. There's no way I can handle the commute to work yet (I'm on one side of Crystal Palace, work's on the other), but I'll get there. For now I'm doing the shopping and riding to and from the station (when I go to town) and trying to build up my fitness to outside the embarrassment threshold. I will ride to work one day though, and one day soon.
My most recent proud achievement - riding home from the station on Monday night (just over a mile and a half) in about six minutes without stopping for a breather!