Yahwob
Regular
- Location
- Lee on Solent
Well that's not strictly true, I did use to commute but that was almost twenty years ago!
been reading these forums for a while now and circumstances have made me start cycling again, mainly the fact that the car has gone to the great salvage yard in the sky, the funeral is this Friday so I'm off to Halfords at the weekend to buy my first bike in almost twenty years.
This isn't going to be easy as I'm 52 now, over weight and unfit, other than that I've got everything going for me! I'm looking at buying an Apollo Excel Hybrid from Halfords, I'm sure there are better bikes out there but it's relatively cheap and as this will be my first hybrid I can build up to bigger and better things later.
My commute will be from lee on Solent to the Eastern Road in Portsmouth, via the Gosport ferry. It's four miles down to the ferry and then another four miles up from the ferry to my work place on the Eastern Road. The good side is the fact that the route is pretty flat and I do get a break in the middle while on the ferry but I do realise that it's still going to be a slog as I'm so unfit. I'm not sure if the current hot weather will be a good thing or a bad thing, at least I won't be cycling in the dark, wet and wind, on the other hand I will probably die of heat stroke!
The route from Lee to the Ferry is pretty straight forward with a fair length of cycle path on the way, I'm not so sure about the Portsmouth side of the trip though, all the bikehike.coms etc suggest going up to the Rudmore roundabout and then cutting through North End to reach the Eastern Road, I'm a bit apprehensive about the Rudmore roundabout though! Any Portsmouth cyclists have any comments?
So the plan is go to Halfords on Friday, order the bike and accessories, pick it up Saturday or Sunday, ride it around Monday and Tuesday ( bank holidays) and then ride it to work on Wednesday. Hopelessy short preperation I know but that's the plan.
Anyway I thought I'd introduce myself on here and wish me luck
been reading these forums for a while now and circumstances have made me start cycling again, mainly the fact that the car has gone to the great salvage yard in the sky, the funeral is this Friday so I'm off to Halfords at the weekend to buy my first bike in almost twenty years.
This isn't going to be easy as I'm 52 now, over weight and unfit, other than that I've got everything going for me! I'm looking at buying an Apollo Excel Hybrid from Halfords, I'm sure there are better bikes out there but it's relatively cheap and as this will be my first hybrid I can build up to bigger and better things later.
My commute will be from lee on Solent to the Eastern Road in Portsmouth, via the Gosport ferry. It's four miles down to the ferry and then another four miles up from the ferry to my work place on the Eastern Road. The good side is the fact that the route is pretty flat and I do get a break in the middle while on the ferry but I do realise that it's still going to be a slog as I'm so unfit. I'm not sure if the current hot weather will be a good thing or a bad thing, at least I won't be cycling in the dark, wet and wind, on the other hand I will probably die of heat stroke!
The route from Lee to the Ferry is pretty straight forward with a fair length of cycle path on the way, I'm not so sure about the Portsmouth side of the trip though, all the bikehike.coms etc suggest going up to the Rudmore roundabout and then cutting through North End to reach the Eastern Road, I'm a bit apprehensive about the Rudmore roundabout though! Any Portsmouth cyclists have any comments?
So the plan is go to Halfords on Friday, order the bike and accessories, pick it up Saturday or Sunday, ride it around Monday and Tuesday ( bank holidays) and then ride it to work on Wednesday. Hopelessy short preperation I know but that's the plan.
Anyway I thought I'd introduce myself on here and wish me luck
to the site
only advice i can give regarding fitness is dont kill yourself to start with, take things slow and eventually the fitness will come 
