The open road

Today I buried my long standing hatred of road bikes and purchased a second hand Specialized Allez Epic with carbon fibre frame. A few minor adjustments later and I was off for a quick cruise to check out the handling.

I went out of the house and turned right. Ahead of me was 8 miles of flat, smooth, straight road, so I put the head down and got those legs turning. Almost immediately I was in top gear, pedalling furiously and gaining speed. I was really flying along, hearing a whooshing noise at each tree or lamppost that I passed, gaining speed all the time. I was truly loving it, wondering why on earth I hadn’t got into this a long time ago. Villages were coming and going at an amazing rate; overtaking cars took a long time to pass and an even longer time to disappear from view. The countryside was almost giving way to the city such was the distance that I had unexpectedly travelled. I wasn’t even out of breath as I neared the turn around point. My face was sporting a broad “this is going to be a breeze” smile. I was sailing along.

Quite literally, sailing along, as I found out. I nearly got blown off by the crosswind when I turned a 90 degree left hander off the main road so I could safely cross retrace my route home. Bugger. I knew it was going to be a long way back, cycling directly into a 25 miles per hour head wind.

Cycling with the wind at your back is great fun. Cycling directly into a head wind is not. I was pedalling like billy-oh, giving it everything and rarely stepping out of second gear. Had it been even a tiny bit worse, tears would have come in to play.

Current weight is 13 stones 2 pounds (184 pounds / 83.5 kg).