Cycling, my passion.

I once used to run marathons and compete in triathlons, training five hours a day over three sessions, swimming with the county team and cycling a lot. I did some long distance cycling events, some lasting for several days, then I reverted back to my collage days and joined the local rugby club. That was thirty odd years ago. I stopped playing and coaching rugby in 2000 and retired from serious fitness training. Wind forward twenty years and the pandemic arrived. As I live in the countryside we have many beautiful walks right on our doorstep so that's what we did, we walked gaining in fitness until I then decided to get on my bike. There was an old mountain bike in the garage so dusting it off, I went out and cycled to the nearest town (8 miles away), and it alost did for me! I found it difficult to hold back, cycle at a slower pace and enjoy the experience. I could remember my competitive days and 'slow' was not good enough, so I went out to buy a racing bike.

I couldn't resist this beautiful bike, a Giant TCR Once, used by the Once team in the Tour de France in the late 1990s. This bike was set up for an experienced cyclist and I found the gearing really hard to cope with on the hills, I definitely needed more or larger gears so I went out and bought a hybrid bike.

This one did exactly what I wanted, but up against other dedicated cyclists it looked a bit odd. Every serious cyclist rides a pure road bike. I train a lot on this bike and completed a charity 100 mile event in May two weeks after recovering from Covid.

Me at about 65 miles, 35 to go! I soon gave in and started to look for a road bike that I could ride on all the undulating terrain in the area where I live.

A Specialized Allez, just the job. It looks good and goes like a rocket. My average speed went up considerably.

Moments before the start of a 100km event in June.

On my various bikes last winter. (The Allez had not joined the stable at this time).

At the track with my son, another keen cyclist. Note the classic Raleigh Kelloggs Pro Tour racing bike circa 1980s, my original bike used to train and compete in all the events I did when I was young and fit!