Fat Lad Rides Again

Al was right……..

I don’t often say those words but for once Al was right and I was wrong…..

Sometime in the middle of March, Al casually mentioned that he fancied
doing 30 days of riding. Me being the sensible (ish) one in the
marriage immediately gave him plenty of reasons why it wasn’t a good
idea:

1.  We run a busy shop
2.  He has very little time to himself
3.  There was no possible way he could ride for 30 consecutive days
4.  It was a foolish idea

and so on……

A few days later after a conversation with a friend on Twitter I
looked at Al and muttered the words “I fancy doing 30 days of
riding, are you gonna do it with me?”  That’s right I used the age old
womens perogative to change her mind 🙂

I guess it was a momentary lapse of being the sensible one on my
behalf as if i’d thought about it I would never have commited to it. I
mean I’d never ridden more than twice in a week before. I’d never
ridden for two consecutive days in a row before. I didn’t have enough
riding clothes. I work long hours all over the UK with Job 1 and when
I’m not there I can be found preventing chaos at Garage Bikes.

However I am stubborn and once I’ve decided to do something I do it,
so I announced it to everyone I knew. My friends thought I was mad, my
mates on twitter however thought it was a great idea, Al was always up for it
and so it began.

So what did I learn…

I met and rode with some great people that i will ride with again and again
I pedalled in parts of the country i’d never ridden before
I discovered the delights of local trails and how they change daily
I learnt that it is possible to do a 14 hr day in London then go and
enjoy a fantastic night ride
I rode in rain for more than half of the 30 days and still enjoyed it
I found a desire for riding that I thought I had lost as a teenager
I can ride day after day without completely bonking (mainly thanks to
Al’s guidance)
I learnt to ride uphill and achieved many firsts this month

The aftermath
I want to ride my bike all the time and i’ve gone over to the dark
side and bought a road bike (purely to improve my fitness honest!)
I’m already planning my next 30 days of riding in September
and…..

Al is sometimes right