Your Cycling "Events"

meanredspider

I'm thinking about those things both good and bad that are the outstanding points of your cycling career (sorry about how ham-fisted that sentence is). Some examples from mine (but feel free to expand)

1. Alpe D'HuZes - tough, tough, tough: physically, mentally and emotionally
2. The Strathpuffer (24 hour Winter MTB race) - the first time I experimented with the realisation that we can do far more than we realise. I cried.
3. Glenshee descent - hitting 59mph on a push bike (what a buzz!)
4. Lance Amstrong Twitter Ride (I have his autograph) - you can't deny that the man's an icon (of all things bad, maybe)
5. Stupid Highland commutes: the coldest (-11C), the snowiest (2.5hrs), the windiest - I dunno. But arriving in the office having beaten the elements is very satisfying.
6. Crashing at about 30mph when I was about 13 years old on a 40-mile ride with me bro. Skinned my elbows and knees and flattened a plastic bollard (missed a telegraph pole by inches).
ETA 7. Being stopped by a policeman when I was riding home on the pavement from primary school. I was riding as fast as I could to make my dynamo light as bright as I could.

That's just some if mine. What about yours?

Kieran_Burns

You think anyone's going to be able to post up anything to compare to the AD6? Git.

Okay... I'll chip in with something slightly more mortal:

Not knowing how to use or where the brakes were the first time I rode a bike. Down a hill.
Being pulled over by the police for speeding.
First time I cycled to somewhere more than 20 miles away that I'd only ever driven to before (Tissington)
First hospital visit from a cycling crash
Buying my first 'proper' commuting bike: the Tricross. The Carrera was a good bike but was always an introduction
First 100km
First 100 miles: Notts sportive - losing my sportive cherry.
Rocking up to work on my bike and finding I was the only person to make it in that day through the snow and ice (-8C). My boss called me an idiot and told me to go home.

Getting back home so tired I could barely stand and almost unable to get the key in the door my hand was shaking so much. Then collapsing on the bed for 30 minutes before being able to actually get anything to eat / drink. That was the closest to my absolute limit I've ever got. Scary at the time (very scary) but equally satisfying afterwards.

meanredspider

Kieran_Burns wrote:

You think anyone's going to be able to post up anything to compare to the AD6? Git.

There's a bloke older than me that's done Ventoux 6x in a day - he might be on here (or I might be forced to try it :shock: )

Seriously, though, it doesn't matter. I like to read all of them - it says a little bit about what people value. In interviews I always ask people 2 questions: What characterises a day when they get home buzzing and what characterises a day when they get home and want to kick the (metaphorical ) cat.

rick_chasey

Mine reads a bit like standard progression.

1. Racing a friend on his bike on the pavement. Fell, scraped all the skin off my chin. Still remember the pain, and it hurt twice as much when my face wrinkled up to cry ( in fairness I was about 6 or 7)

2. Post GCSE's, 16 me and 3 friends decide to celebrate by cycling around Cornwall. On MTBs. With 20kg of baggage (no exaggeration) each. We'd planned it in Cambridge and figured 70-80 miles a day was do-able. It was, but only after a Herculean effort.

3. First ride straight from the shop after I got my first road bike, at 16 (not long after my Cornwall trip!). Got over excited, did a loop of my local villages, and mum was very angry that I'd be gone for so long without letting her know.

4. First club run, with the Cambridge Cycling club. Was surprised by how easy it was to ride in a group and hold position, but 130km pan flat ( no rest!), howling side winds and a puncture hurt like no ride had hurt before. Still remember lying on the landing, declaring to my parents that my 'legs were black' they were so sore.

5. Did 5 days, 1000km in the Pyrenees at 21, with a bunch of 30 yr old sub-12hr Ironman guys I'd never met before. Learned that real cycling was about battling the demons in your own head. Will never forget that moment 2km into the Tourmalet on day 3, where I went from trying to get to the top, to racing others to the top. I still lost, but I left it all out on that mountain, only to do the same on the Aspin and the Peyresourde hours later.

6. Did the Tour of Flanders sportief. For those of you who see my posts on pro-race you'll know I'm an enormous nerd when it comes to cobbled races. My grandfather, who had loved professional cycling and got me into it, had died during the 2013 Amstel Gold race. Flanders was always his favourite race. He'd read the papers weeks before, and on the big day, he'd sit in front of the TV, put the Belgian coverage on, and lap it up from 10am through to 5pm.

I paid my own little personal homage to him by doing the 2014 sportief. It was perfect weather, sunny skies, 12 degrees. I hit the first flat cobbled section hard, and was grinning from ear to ear. Jumping from pothole to pothole, passing people here and there. Came off the cobbles, my hands and feel still buzzing like I had pins & needles, and couldn't believe how exhilarating it was. I ticked off the climbs one by on, and on each one I tried to emulate what I'd seen a pro do on TV. Towards the end, after the final climb, I got all excited about telling my grandfather all about it, until I remembered, about 5m from the finish line, that I couldn't.

I spent the afternoon sipping on a beer in the Tour of Flanders museum on my own, and bumped into Eddy Planckaert. He loves to chat, and so do I. My grandfather always used to say he spent too much time talking and not enough racing. I didn't really mind that day.

voodooman

Only really got into cycling (as opposed to commuting) in the last three years, initially through spin classes, as I'm getting too old for other sports at a decent level.

Loved my first 100 miler this year (Winchester 100).
First FTP test (lots of watts, but still rubbish uphill)
First injuries: #1 dislocated shoulder - on ice in the woods and #2 fractured scaphoid on my son's BMX on a half pipe at the local rec.

Saw this thread when looking for a challenge for next year. A mate is doing the South Downs Randonee, but I fancy something longer but more relaxed.

tgotb

1. First ride without stabilisers, aged 4 (I remember it vividly)
2. First 50 mile ride, some time in my teens
3. First podium in a cross race - never thought I'd be good enough to do that
4. First time riding 25 miles at >28mph - going under the hour had been a childhood ambition, realised decades later; somehow breaking the 28mph barrier felt more of an achievement when I actually did it - probably because, right to the moment I crossed the line, I was quite sure it was beyond me
5. Daughter's first ride without stabilisers (I remember launching her, and then running ahead to get a photo)
6. Daughter's first cross race win

@KB - I also remember riding down a hill and not knowing what to do. I knew the brakes were for stopping, but felt like I was going too fast to stop safely; I had no idea they could also be used to slow down...

vermin

Some great stuff here - I wish I had something interesting to add.

But this...

TGOTB wrote:

First time riding 25 miles at >28mph

blows my mind.

I ride around thinking, 'I'm ok. I can ride a bike and, when people start racing around me, I can generally hold my own. On fast club runs I tend to end up in the final selection at the end of a 70 miler, even if I might eventually be out-powered on the line by 1 or 2 better riders. In sportif events, I will expect to finish in the top 3-4% of the field, without too much effort.'

But then someone comes out with a statement like that and 'pop' goes my balloon! Tonight, I shall ride the 30 miles back home, putting in plenty of sustained effort to maintain 18mph average. And I shall be disappoint.

Agent57

Jumped 6 friends, Evel Knievel style, on my Raleigh Grifter. No bones were broken. Theirs or mine.

smokey_bacon

All this year.

- joining a club.
- First club run.
- First sportive.
- Being first to the top of the last climb on a club run.
- Realising there is more to life than strava and being able to ride every day for the pure enjoyment of it.

IanREmery

First proper bike - A second hand Raleigh racing bike (as there were called back in 1991). Five speed, gear changer on the downtube. Used to take it off roading over the south downs. Loved it.

First 50 miler - BHF London to Brighton 2010. The most amazing ride, never realised these rides would be so well supported by complete strangers standing by the sides of the roads for miles on end in the @rse end of nowhere. Blown away by it all, got a touch emotional at the finish line.

First proper road bike - March 2013. Cube Agree GTC. The first ride was only 3 miles around my village and had trouble clipping in all the time. Totally amazed that you could cycle on the flat at around 20mph with very little effort.

First training ride/First speed wobble - 3 weeks after getting the Agree, on a training ride with members of the Rapha Condor JLT team (including Ed Clancy!) descending at 35mph towards Blackmill near the Bwlch. Had never realised a bike could do that, totally terrified me. One of the pros behind me said it looked terrifying and I had done really well to hold onto it. Those first few weeks genuinely made me question the roadbike and whether I was doing the right thing.

First 50 miler on the roadbike. A week or so after the first training ride, I went out with my local club (Bike Doctor in Porth) and ended up doing a 50 miler around the Vale of Glamorgan. Was the first time I realised just how social a bike ride can be.

First 100 miler - Ride London 2013. The most amazing day in my life (after my wedding day and the birth of both my children). From cycling from Dagenham at 5am (as most people were getting booted out of the local clubs) and watching the sun rise over the velodrome as "One Day Like This" (one of the songs from my wedding) blasted over the tannoy, to flashing through London at speed, conquering the hills (Leith Hill was tough but I got there), nailing 40mph on a roadbike for the first time, to riding up the Mall with my best man to meet our respective wives. Got very emotional on that day as well. Just about as perfect a ride as I could have hoped).

Kieran_Burns

Rick Chasey wrote:

I ticked off the climbs one by on, and on each one I tried to emulate what I'd seen a pro do on TV. Towards the end, after the final climb, I got all excited about telling my grandfather all about it, until I remembered, about 5m from the finish line, that I couldn't.

Got something in my eye at this point....

meanredspider

Kieran_Burns wrote:

Rick Chasey wrote:

I ticked off the climbs one by on, and on each one I tried to emulate what I'd seen a pro do on TV. Towards the end, after the final climb, I got all excited about telling my grandfather all about it, until I remembered, about 5m from the finish line, that I couldn't.

Got something in my eye at this point....

Yup. These stories are amazing.

Whenever I find a ride hard, I think about Doug - a friend, athlete, and better man than I could hope to be. He was diagnosed with terminal cancer the day my son was diagnosed with his tumour. Doug hoped that his diagnosis would mean that Charlie's would come up clear. That thought alone will get me through anything.

pastryboy

Going as fast as I could downhill fixed. 37mph,170rpm. Everything started to go blurry.

Teaching my daughter to ride after the initial tears and frustration (from her, not me).

msmancunia

Nothing so heartwarming as a couple of those but:

Ringing my (then) boyfriend after my first ride on the (sorry) deadweight hybrid he bought me to tell him I'd just "ridden FIFTEEN miles!"

Seeing the Tour come into Gap last year.

Being overtaken by a running club climbing up a hill on aforementioned hybrid and realising I wanted a better bike.

Riding down Holme Moss with thousands of other cyclists after this year's TdF.

Getting the hang of descending when riding in France and hitting 48mph.

Getting peed off after being overtaken uphill before I realised it was an electric tandem.

Being chatted up by a cycling Berber shepherd when riding through the Atlas and telling him "mon (non-existent) mari est a la montagne"

Falling off, breaking my wrist and still attempting to ride to work.

Feeling utterly bereft when my moronic brother borrowed my Grifter, left it on next-doors drive, and my friend's dad drove over it. Even more upset when my mum said I couldn't have another (there had been a spate of teenaged cyclist deaths including our paperboy outside our house who died in my mum's arms). I still think of the bike, still think of our paperboy, and always wonder what my mum (who died when I was 23) would think of her daughter getting back on a bike at 26 and who now does c.2,000 miles a year. I hope she'd be tentatively proud rather than worried sick.

The day I threw a bidon full of Vimto into the window of a passenger who leaned out of the window of a Ford Escort van to slap my bum, before pedalling off manically as his driver stalled the engine always makes me smile too

Crouching Peeky

msmancunia wrote:

Being overtaken by a running club climbing up a hill on aforementioned hybrid and realising I wanted a better bike.

This reminded me of when I was doing a coast to coast ride from Weston Super Mare to Southend over a couple of days. It was the first time I had ridden over 30 miles in one go and as up to this point I had only used my bike for my entirely flat commute, so the hills along the way was a bit of an eye opener. But what makes me laugh when I think back was cycling through small village on route where the hills were particularly steep, blowing out my backside, being passed by a postman on his rickety old bike and I'm fully lycra'd up on my road bike. It must have looked ridiculous and at the time I didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

marcusjb

First century after returning to cycling after nearly 20 years away - Dun Run 2008

Paris Brest Paris 1200km 2011 - sort of happened by accident, I hadn't even really heard of it, but started Audaxing late 2010 and everyone was talking about this ride in France. I could hardly ride 200km without being destroyed, so I really didn't consider it as a concept. Until early 2011 and things were going better - I could ride 300km, so why not try and qualify for it. Still about the best thing I have ever done on two wheels.

National 24 hour TT championships 2014 - I've done loads of (very) long rides, but all at moderate pace. So here was a new challenge, ride a long way at somewhat faster pace. Pretty early on in the project, I decided 600km was a good target - fairly modest, but it was what was required of a British rider wanting to enter PBP before we had Audax events over here. Much went right - some things went horribly wrong (a cold started about 4 days ahead of the event, my knee gave out after about 18 hours), but sheer determination got me to my target (just!). I'm very proud of that distance (I managed 374.88 miles), but I also have the problem that I now know the possibilities much better - what if I wasn't full of a cold, what if I had been able to actually pedal in the last 2 hours?). I will give it another go sometime - I know 400 miles is very achievable, and maybe more on a less challenging course than the ESCA. I'll never trouble the 500 mile boys, but I think I can improve dramatically on this year.

There's a million and one other moments - but I think those are the ones that stick in my mind.

notsoblue

When I was 12 I had a second hand steel road bike that I loved. It had down tube shifters. When out riding with my dad once, in a moment of carelessness I went to change gear, slipped and got my hand stuck between my front wheel and fork so the tyre was rubbing on my palm between my index and middle finger. I was riding at cruising speed but it still took some time to come to a stop, using my hand as a brake. All the skin was friction burned away, only feint scarring left there now.

I did an unsupported LEJOG with two friends in 2008. I think that is the most challenging and rewarding thing I've done on my bike. Its just an amazing way to see the country.

veronese68

None of the big rides that many of you have done, but a few memorable ones.
Learning to ride without stabilisers on the same day as my older sister. She went first, got going in a straight line but fell off when she had to turn. I was 18 months younger so was given strict instructions not to go round a corner. I set off rode in a straight line for a bit, then turned right, then right again and kept on going. That felt good.
Waking up in hospital aged 12. Looked around to see my Dad asleep in a chair next to my bed. the conversation went like this:
Where am I?
Hospital
How did I get here?
You fell off your bike
I need a new bike
You fell off your new bike.
Oh, what is it? Is it broken?
Apparently we'd had that same conversation on an hourly basis throughout the night, I only remember the last one. I'd fallen off the new Peugeot 5 speed racer I'd been given a couple of days earlier. Still don't remember getting it or the accident. Luckily the bike was ok.
Getting the aforementioned Peugeot stolen when I just popped into a shop couple of years later. Very distressing, I really bang on about locking bikes up to my kids as a result of this. It was replaced by a rather larger black Falcon 10 speed that Christmas.
I've done a few large organised rides. The memorable ones are the first London to Brighton Off Road, now done it 3 times and it is hard. Although I'm a lot faster now.
The Ditchling Devil is the longest ride I've done. 200km with a few hills and a sore aris' at the end of it.
The Paddle London 86 this year. That was quite something, I've been drier whilst having a bath, but I'm glad I did it.
I'm sure there will be more to come.

hegyestomi

I remember sitting on my first 2 wheeler first time, didn't know how to pedal or brake, rolled out of the front of the house, across the road (luckily the car was coming slowly) and straight into the neighbour's hedge.
Remember riding behind my friend, pouring down with rain, just out of pure proudness (I had (still have) a lovely steel MBK, he was on a russian road bike) I had to overtake him a few times and after at my last effort I just couldn't see a thing. Hit a small looking puddle on a newly surfaced road just to discover that it was as deep as wide(15 inches). Fell off and slid on my front for about 8-10m: got up and had one bruise on my hip and small scratch on my as I was gliding over the water.
Next one would be cycling through the Tatra mountain to surprise my girlfriend. 2 days 170+230km with a giant rucksack on my back. Beautiful scenery and plenty of pain to remember.

Initialised

Riding my brother's BMX for the first time, then finding out I'd inherited it! It was the first time I'd ridden a bike and not been able to touch the ground with my feet. I think he upgraded to a Chopper (I never got on with that bike, people only remember them because they look funny) and later a junior road bike, learning how to change gear on downtube shifters when I inherited that was fun! When I first tried STIs last year, so easy in comparison, I still don't get on so well with MTB thumb shifters.

On a cycling holiday in Scotland (I was less than 8 and grew up in London) I recall asking "is Scotland just a really big park?" I learned that this is true on the day I got taught downhilling on a mountain bike on a ski slope and first managed to top 50 mph, that happened on a road section but still on the MTB, 50 mph on the road is nothing after 30 mph off-road).

I've broken five bones, three of those were mine and two of those were in cycling accidents, one was on the BMX, I'd sworn at and got a chase off another kid, went to brake and threw myself over the bars, fractured my ring finger, but the hospital didn't spot it soon enough and it's healed wrong. Same again when I cracked my humerus (cornering at 20 mph on Snow Studs, oil spill on the road), when I saw the X-Ray it was bleeding obvious that I now had a chip on my shoulder, how a trained doctor missed it... So always ask to see the X-Rays if you get one taken when visiting the Emergency Department.

Initialised

Riding my brother's BMX for the first time, then finding out I'd inherited it! It was the first time I'd ridden a bike and not been able to touch the ground with my feet. I think he upgraded to a Chopper (I never got on with that bike, people only remember them because they look funny) and later a junior road bike, learning how to change gear on downtube shifters when I inherited that was fun! When I first tried STIs last year, so easy in comparison, I still don't get on so well with MTB thumb shifters.

On a cycling holiday in Scotland (I was less than 8 and grew up in London) I recall asking "is Scotland just a really big park?" I learned that this is true on the day I got taught downhilling on a mountain bike on a ski slope and first managed to top 50 mph, that happened on a road section but still on the MTB, 50 mph on the road is nothing after 30 mph off-road).

I've broken five bones, three of those were mine and two of those were in cycling accidents, one was on the BMX, I'd sworn at and got a chase off another kid, went to brake and threw myself over the bars, fractured my ring finger, but the hospital didn't spot it soon enough and it's healed wrong. Same again when I cracked my humerus (cornering at 20 mph on Snow Studs, oil spill on the road), when I saw the X-Ray it was bleeding obvious that I now had a chip on my shoulder, how a trained doctor missed it... So always ask to see the X-Rays if you get one taken when visiting the Emergency Department.

alansd1980

This is a great topic that I have been wanting to reply to for ages but child number 2 arrived a couple of weeks ago and this is the first time I have sat down with my laptop and had a chance to post.

These are in no particular order.

First time mountain biking, Was visiting a friend in california (May 2004) and told him I had been cycling lots (10 mile round trip in london at the time) He presented me with a full susser, and told me we were going into the mountains...
Amazing experience, we basically climbed for what seemed like hours in the santa monica mountains and when we got to a dead end he told me to drop the seat cause we were going down... I couldn't see where until he pulled some branches back. A sliver of singletrack zigzagged down the mountain, throw in the pouring rain and failing light and it was such an adrenaline rush. We popped out of the forest to the car park just as the last light faded. Freezing cold, muddy as hell but the cup of coffee and muffin we had driving back down the pacific coast highway was amazing.

Ride London 2014, well it was wet, really wet but the closed roads and bombing through central london part of a peleton at 30mph was amazing. There were a few times I wondered if I would finish, cramping between newlands and dorking was tough and seeing a woman drop me coming out of dorking was a bit demoralizing, turns out it was marianne vos. Finally coming along parkside at a good pace realizing I was going to break 4 hours felt really really good. Had to wait an hour for a lift then stopped for breakfast but was still home by lunchtime to see a lot of the finishers on tele!

Dabbling in MTB racing this year including completing 100k MTB race - Jan to May 2014. The Gorrick 100 race was something I had wanted to do for a couple of years so decided to give it a pop. I lined up alongside lots of racing snakes and several very well known endurance racers. My goal was to finish and I did but god it was hard. Cramped after 3 of the 8 laps and my pace dropped from 50 mins a lap to 1hour plus. I finished dead last however I later discovered over 1/3rd of the field quit and at the end one of the other 100k racers told me it was one of the hardest courses he had ever ridden.

Would love to continue some racing but time really is limited for the next year or two so we will see.


First full commute home - 4/5 Years ago. I had a knackered old mtb with knobbly tyres, it was dark and pouring down. I had old tracksuit trousers and a hoodie and had to ride 17 miles mainly uphill. I made it, but stripped to my pants in the porch as I was so drenched (The lodger we had at the time was surprised), I got into the shower and almost collapsed. No food and being totally under prepared was not a good mix. 20,000km later I think I have the hang of it!

Riding the west highland way with my best mate.

August 2011. A trip up to my homeland meant a chance to ride one the the iconic long distance routes. My mate bought a MTB for this ride and took a spill 100 yards after leaving tarmac! Being Scottish we got hammered the night before we started and almost missed the train to Fort William to ride back to Glasgow. We arrived in Fort William hungover but a trip to nevis sports for a fry up sorted us out. The weather on the Saturday way amazing but some tough terrain meant we were making far slower progress than we expected. We arrived at the kings house hotel (walkers and climbers hotel) 6ish and still had about 15 miles to go. Stopped for food but avoided a pint. At this point we were getting concerned about failing light but pushed on to one of the most fun descent's I can ever remember. Descending off Rannoch Moor on a bumpy bridleway, hands and wrists aching because of the crap suspension but I was laughing all the way. Finally pushed onto out B and B for the night and found an american diner in the heart of the highlands! The next day was wet and miserable, we had to avoid the last big hill (conic) because of fog and low cloud cover but pushed on and got to the end eventually.

My mate lives about 3 miles from the start (our finish) and he bitched and moaned all the way back. Still was a tasty curry we had that night!

Reading back its mainly MTB which is strange because I do a lot more road riding but I suppose when I get a day or weekend to get away then I normally turn to the knobbly tyres.

Wrath Rob

Living in Singapore aged 6 I got a Chopper for Christmas, 1 hour later I'd ridden it into the bottom of a swimming pool showing off to my Grandma, wheelying over the edge and nosediving into the pool. I dived down to fish it out myself before my dad found out

Getting my first road bike at 11, a red, steel framed Raleigh. I learned a lot on that bike, namely when it rains, your brakes don't work as well and if you're going to fast, you will headbutt the rear window of an Astra in the road ahead of you as you fail to brake in time, smack into the back of the car and then fly over the 'bars. Also that other cyclists can be tw@ts, a kid on a bmx took me out as he flew down a driveway and straight into the road in front of me. Unfortunately that was the end of the Raleigh as the damaged frame I hadn't spotted after the Astra incident failed , totaling the bike.

Next lesson was on an old bike of my dads with toe clips. The main lesson was not to use the toe clips when wearing Doc Martens.

Proper cycling for me started 8 years ago. My first commute on my slick-shod MTB. Buying a Boardman 2 weeks later having vowed never to go on the tube again. Thinking I was fit and fast on the commute. Joining a club and doing 53 miles on the newbie club run to find out I was neither that fit or fast!

Doing my first sportive. Organising a 120 mile ride, my first century, with mates to raise over £7000 for the Royal Marsden.

Discovering Strava. Winning my first KOM. Losing my first KOM shortly after.

Doing my first club 10 TT. Breaking 26mph avg for the club 10 TT. Doing a 50 mile TT and feeling worse than I've ever felt on the bike before by the end of it.

Doing my first ever race. Scoring enough points to get up to 3rd Cat. Almost getting taken out by a fatty private "member" at Hillingdon an deciding crit racing maybe wasn't for me.

Trying road racing with outriders from the NEG and feeling like a pro (yeah, yeah, I know, but it felt great at the time!). Finding out I wasn't too bad at it either.

Still loads more to do. Next year will see my first Euro sportive (Ronde den Flanderen), plus targets for 10 and 25m TTs and I might even try crit racing again. And I've not got to the mountains yet! But no wheelying bikes into swimming pools and fishing them out

marcusjb

It's not quite a Rolls Royce, but riding a Chopper into a swimming pool is pretty rock'n'roll! Good work!

meanredspider

marcusjb wrote:

It's not quite a Rolls Royce, but riding a Chopper into a swimming pool is pretty rock'n'roll! Good work!

Wheelying, no less. Where did it all go wrong after that?

the_fuggler

Some great stories here. Mine are all rather tame or silly.

1. Learning to ride without stabilisers in my back garden aged 5. Having proudly completed one full lap of the track without a wobble, I took a hand off the bars to celebrate and promptly falling into a hydrangea bush. Took a full 5 minutes for my Mum to stop laughing.

2. Aged 8, riding a friend's prized BMX for the first time....straight into a lamp post.

3. Also aged 8 getting my own BMX (a Raleigh Burner no less) and tearing off down the road with my mates on Christmas Day.

4. The joy of whizzing down half of Streatley Hill at the end of my paper round with an empty bag. Much more fun than lugging umpteen Sunday Times up it.

5. Crashing through the snow on my MTB having started cycling again aged 34 after 15 years off the bike. One of those gorgeous clear, crisp days after snowfall the night before. Not a soul around on the tracks and trails of Oxfordshire.

6. Watching 100 miles tick up for the first time on a ride, somewhere near Hayle in Cornwall.

7. Seeing the joy that bikes and trikes bring my boys as they buzz around the garden, much to the dismay of their mother ('more bikes?!').

8. Undoubtedly my biggest cycling-related achievement will be organising 8 fully grown men and actually getting them to the start line for the Tour of Flanders ride next April. Like herding blimmin' cats....

davis

1. My first commute on the Scott hardtail MTB. God it was hard.

2. The first time I bonked. I had no idea what was happening, just a *massive* headache and no ability to stand. My brother went to a garage and got me 3 chocolate bars.

3. Looking around a lot more, in particular, stopping halfway along my commute for no real reason in the dark. Just stopped, looked up at the moon and the stars for ages. Have never done that in a car.

4. Hitting 48 mph downhill then feeling really guilty about it because it was on the hill where my sister died. Remembered she'd call me a twat for feeling like that and tell me to carry on. Carried on.

5. My first (and only) 100 miler. Legs felt dead for two days.

6. Watching the boy tap out 21 miles at 6 years old without complaint.

7. Following a barn owl in the snow for about a mile. It was just hanging silently above me, reflected in my lights off the snow. Still stuns me.

8. Lying in hospital covered in blood after breaking my back going into a pothole. The nurse was bloody lovely as I completely fell to bits.

9. Riding with my brother the ~7 miles through deep snow across fields to work not just *despite* the snow, but *because of* the snow. Made it in with frost covering my leg hair, and bloody knackered. Not many people made it in that day (and one of them was in a tractor).

Wrath Rob

meanredspider wrote:

marcusjb wrote:

It's not quite a Rolls Royce, but riding a Chopper into a swimming pool is pretty rock'n'roll! Good work!

Wheelying, no less. Where did it all go wrong after that?

I could have been Danny Macaskill way before Danny! A career missed :shock: :P

Wheelspinner

First bike when I was 5 - shiny red. Learned to ride doing laps on a grass tennis court, until I discovered one day that the net is suspended by a wire right around neck height for a loony kid pedalling as fast as he can. Who knew?

Riding to school and nearly not making it, because one of the houses along the way had a resident Great Dane (huuuuuuuuuge!) of unknown temperament that came out and just stood in the middle of the road, watching me and drooling I'm sure. Waited, petrified, for about 15 minutes till it shuffled back inside and had definitely gone. Probably still my fastest sprint ever getting past that driveway.

Racing through the 80's in a lot of local duathlon and occasional triathlons as unofficial team for the local sports shop, wearing custom shorts made in 3 shades of pink lycra. :oops: Thankfully there are no surviving photographs.

First big time crash and road rash one sunny Sunday morning, carted off to medical center by helpful stranger driving past who'd seen me stack it. Sent home wrapped in an old sheet as all my gear had been cut off to clean up the gravel rash and my mate who'd brought the car back to collect me neglected to bring any clothes. Nursing staff thought it was hilarious. I was too doped on morphine for pain killer to care.

Thousands of happy KM, a couple of decades, and a dozen or so bikes later had my second big crash. Result: a fractured neck and a few more scars from what may still turn out to be the end of a riding career.

Still keen and still trying though. Can't explain how much I miss it.