I enjoy cycling. I don't know how much I've been into it but it seems like it's been all my life. I only got into competitive cycling when I was well into my thirties - which is comparatively late.
But I remember as a teenager going to Doncaster, the nearest big town to where I lived, and looking at the club cyclists in admiration as they took their cafe stop. I really wished I could be able to ride a bike from our village in North Lincolnshire all the way to Doncaster, all dressed up lean and mean in brightly coloured Lycra on a racing bike.
I had no idea where people bought that type of clothing from. I didn't even have a racing bike. In fact I didn't have any bike. I had access to an old Raleigh 20 that I shared with my sister.
My parents didn't like me cycling. I remember the great disappointment and upset I felt when my parents refused to let me take part in an 11-mile sponsored bike ride. My dad claimed that I wouldn't be capable because I'd had knee problems. From then on I was even more determined to get out one day and ride 10 or 11 miles.
The first time I rode that distance was one Saturday afternoon, when I rode from Scunthorpe back home to Crowle. It was a very windy day but I was determined to keep going on my beloved steed, a brand new Falcon mountainbike.
I was so pleased to have made it. Of course, as a 19 year-old I was free to do what I wanted, but I still had to keep this adventure a secret from my parents.
Fast forward 20 years and I am very much within a cycling community. I have several bikes, have taken part in lots of bike races, I have been on cycle 100-mile bike rides around the UK and Europe, and yes I have lots of Lycra and I know where to find them.
The thing is, I am now wondering if you really can get too much of a good thing. I enjoy the racing and the camaraderie that goes with it, however I am so wrapped up in it that at times it is difficult to escape from it.
Racing regularly means you have to train more and more, to the point that it is the only thing you do outside of work, eat and slip. You can easily stop seeing your family, unless they are racing cyclists too. Your spare cash gets spent on bike bits, bike clothing and entering and travelling to races. You even lose out on social life. Suddenly it's no longer practical to have a night out with friends as you need to be up early the next morning to race. And forget about a leisurely Sunday afternoon in the summer. If you are not racing you are doing a 70-mile training ride!
Don't get me wrong. I enjoyed doing those things, but it has gotten to the point where I don't have a non-cycling social life. My holidays involve cycling. Even the new people I meet are cyclists or connected with cycling. What's more it is also the yardstick by which people judge you! How friendly someone gets with you, and how popular you are is dependent on how fast you can ride your bike!
Yes, this biking business can take over your life.
That's how it is feeling for me. And I'm beginning to not like it. As an avid twitterer I take a voyeuristic interest in what others are doing, thinking and feeling. I'm getting a bit fed up of seeing people tweeting the same old "I went on a bike ride" post, with details of their heart rate and power readings, their post ride meal or how they "wish they were out on their bike" instead of being in the office.
Some even talk about a void in their lives due to the Tour de France not being on, or injury keeping them from cycling. Cycling is fun but it should not be an emotional handrail. I don't want that to happen to me.
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