georgebeck-blog

[georgebeck-blog]

Saturday 14th April - Cranleigh

A quick ride this morning on the first warm day of the year! It actually feels like summer is on its way and I cannot wait :)

I have my first sportive tomorrow so we decided not to go too far this morning. We set off from home and headed out to Cranleigh. Stopped for coffee at Maison Du Velo which is a bike shop/cafe. They serve HUGE cappuccinos! A great find. 

Today was also the first day trying out a GoPro camera on the handlebars. The camera is pretty old meaning that the footage is low quality compared to what we are used to these days. I managed to take some photos on my phone. 

Sportive tomorrow :)

[georgebeck-blog]

HELLO!

HELLO! 

NEW BLOG!! CYCLING!!!

Basically, I’ve been casually riding my road bike for a couple of years and now I’ve decided to take cycling a bit more seriously! I’m going to write this blog almost as a diary of how my cycling progresses. I’m not really looking for the blog to get any exposure or anything like that... it’s more for myself and if someone stumbles across it and find its interesting, well, thats a bonus. 

Warning - it’s probably not going to be the most grammatically correct writing you’ve read. I don’t care too much about that. 

So where am I starting from? Well, I’m not a novice to cycling. I’ve been casually riding bicycles most of my life. About 5 years ago I bought my first road bike straight after the London Olympics. I think I had some idea that I would become a cycling pro straight away and be able to do all these amazing rides whilst looking the part. Let’s just say it wasn’t like that at all. I quickly got bored and the bike rarely left the garage for the first few years. 

(My bike - Bianchi via Nirone 7 - bought for about £800 - Aluminium frame with carbon forks)

Anyway - fast forward to 2017 and the offer to go to the Pyrenees with my father, uncle and cycling friend was put to me. I definitely wasn’t fit enough when it was offered and there was probably some hesitation from everyone involved but I took on the challenge. I got riding again and practiced as much as I could in a couple of months. I felt ready. I WAS NOT!

(Above pics - the group pictured at the finish of the ride. Me at the top of a mountain)

I’ll write separate post on the Pyrenees trip later on as it’s definitely worth it. It was epic to say the least. What I will say now is that I definitely got the cycling ‘bug’. 

Now i’ve got the bug, and i’ve got a little bit of experience. It’s time to get seriously involved with cycling. My plans are to join a cycling club, take some steps towards racing and to get much better at cycling! I’m hoping to upgrade my kit as well. 

Lets see how this goes!