About » Cycling
I do enjoy cycling.....
You can't beat a decent summer's day out on your bike around the Lake District. I like getting the miles in, taking in the scenery and going fast (Current max speed: 51.4 mph – coming down Ashfell, just outside Kirkby Stephen with a strong wind behind me!), and if I'm on my mountain bike, I don't mind taking on the odd Lakeland fell or two either, bring it on!!! (Although some of the steeper experiences have ending up with me taking the bike for a ride out on my shoulder rather than the other way round!)
As well as cycling in the Lakes and around Kendal, Sedbergh & Lancaster, I've also been to a couple of the 7stanes MTB trails in Scotland (Newcastleton & Glentress). Both places have fantastic trails for riders of all levels and are great places to improve your skills. However, if you're going to go round the black route (V-Trail) at Glentress, I'd recommend wearing knee pads after I had a nasty 'coming off' up there last year which put me in hospital and out of action for about 3 months!
I started cycling for a couple of reasons: Firstly, the summer in 2003 was scorching hot and I was spending all my spare time in my studio (which hasn't got any daylight) and I just thought I should be spending more time outside in the sun, making the best of it while it's here. Secondly, I'd quit smoking the year before and had developed an extra 'spare tyre' around my waist that needed shifting somehow! Because I'd enjoyed BMXing so much in my teenage years I thought mountain biking would be a great way of keeping fit, losing a few pounds and would be an exciting way of doing it.
Actually, the more you get into cycling, it's not just pounds in weight that seem to disappear, pounds out of your pocket seem to disappear a lot faster! Although I suppose that can be said about most hobbies.
Getting fit and staying fit is a bit of a problem when it's raining so much through the cold, winter months but come spring and the lighter evenings you can get out more and start getting the miles in. I have found that in the past couple of years by midsummer I've been happy with my fitness and once you get to that stage you feel as though you can take on anything!
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