About
I love cycling.
I started riding bikes, like most people, when I was about 5. It wasn’t until I was twelve that I joined a club. I remember one of my brother’s friends, Nick, being a member of the local cycling club in the town where I grew up. We went out on a ride one day; my brother, Nick and myself. I enjoyed it immensely and Nick suggested that I join a club. My father made some enquiries in the local bike shop, they gave us the number of the Witham Wheelers’ chairman and the next weekend I met the club in town on the Sunday morning. Fifty miles later, there was one knackered, but happy, twelve year old.
That was in early 1990.
Ten years of quite serious cycling followed. Touring holidays up and down the country. Time trial, criterium and road races. National championships. I even managed to drag myself round the Junior Tour of Ireland eight day stage race in 1995, racing against the likes of David Millar and Charlie Wegelius who, you may or may not know, are now professionals on the continent.
It’s twenty years since my first ride with the Witham Wheelers and I love the sport as much as ever. I had a bit of a break from the bike for a few years in the mid 2000s. Work, marriage and all those ‘life’ things seemed, and generally were to a certain extent, more important at the time. But in the last few months I’ve rekindled my old passions and I hate it if a week goes by and I don’t manage to get out on the bike for a couple of hours.
So, here’s to getting out on the bike and enjoying the suffering, the freedom and, of course, the café stops.
Simon
June 2010