coffeejo
Ælfrēd
- Location
- West Somerset
This time, two years ago I didn't own a bike - hadn't for at least a decade and I'm not convinced that free wheeling down the hill to uni and then drunkenly pushing it back up after a session in the SU bar counts as cycling.
Tomorrow marks two years since my entry into this strange but wonderful world, where "cranks" and "bar ends" have a different meaning from my student days.
My first ride home from the bike shop was a roller coaster of emotions. Nervously wobbling through the traffic on my shiny new bike, so busy concentrating on remaining upright and moving forward all at the same time that I promptly forgot everything I'd just been told about gear changes and wotnot. The first hill was a bit of a challenge. Well, it's not really a hill but at the time it seemed like a mountain. By the time I crawled to the top and collapsed on a handy bench, I was trying to work out how much I would get for the bike on eBay. Another couple of miles and some more "hills" and I would have cheerfully given the wretched machine away to the first person who asked.
But then ... the first descent. Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! All was forgiven. I was sold, utterly and completely, 100%. Seven miles later, I was home and collapsed on the sofa, a massive grin plastered across my face. As the days and then weeks went by, I spent less and less time pushing the bike up the hills, until the day came when I only needed to stop for traffic lights and junctions. And then the miles started increasing, and the stable doubled when I got a road bike...
Anyway, my point is this: if you'd told me, as I sat gasping by the side of the road after that first hill, that those same wobbling and decidedly woolly legs would, within two years, push the pedals enough times to clock up 10,000 miles, I would have had a heart attack on the spot!
Just got home from a sunny ride into town and checked the cycle computer: 10,001 miles since I started recording my mileage in April 2011 - neatly hitting that figure in time for tomorrow's anniversary (veloversary?).
If this cake-eating bumpkin (with a figure to match) can go from zero to 10k, anyone can.
Tomorrow marks two years since my entry into this strange but wonderful world, where "cranks" and "bar ends" have a different meaning from my student days.
My first ride home from the bike shop was a roller coaster of emotions. Nervously wobbling through the traffic on my shiny new bike, so busy concentrating on remaining upright and moving forward all at the same time that I promptly forgot everything I'd just been told about gear changes and wotnot. The first hill was a bit of a challenge. Well, it's not really a hill but at the time it seemed like a mountain. By the time I crawled to the top and collapsed on a handy bench, I was trying to work out how much I would get for the bike on eBay. Another couple of miles and some more "hills" and I would have cheerfully given the wretched machine away to the first person who asked.
But then ... the first descent. Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! All was forgiven. I was sold, utterly and completely, 100%. Seven miles later, I was home and collapsed on the sofa, a massive grin plastered across my face. As the days and then weeks went by, I spent less and less time pushing the bike up the hills, until the day came when I only needed to stop for traffic lights and junctions. And then the miles started increasing, and the stable doubled when I got a road bike...
Anyway, my point is this: if you'd told me, as I sat gasping by the side of the road after that first hill, that those same wobbling and decidedly woolly legs would, within two years, push the pedals enough times to clock up 10,000 miles, I would have had a heart attack on the spot!
Just got home from a sunny ride into town and checked the cycle computer: 10,001 miles since I started recording my mileage in April 2011 - neatly hitting that figure in time for tomorrow's anniversary (veloversary?).
If this cake-eating bumpkin (with a figure to match) can go from zero to 10k, anyone can.
