About

I’ve been on and off bikes since I was four.  I’ve used them for blasting around as a kid, commuting, triathlon, exploring Thailand and, over the last year, mountain bike riding.

Recently I have been (thrown) off the bike more than ever, as I try to improve. The bloodied knee or the bruise the shape of Planet Earth (or the slightly less imaginative handle bar imprint) are not pretty, but they are a badge of honour because they say, ‘I tried’.

On the bike has been hectic; two 24 hour races, a cross country series and a Killer Loop across Dartmoor have been huge tests.  Some I sailed.  Others I cranked through without grace.  And the next one is just on the metaphorical horizon – a six day crack at Tim Woodcock’s Coast to Coast, from St Bees to Robin Hood’s Bay.  Whatever happens, it will be an adventure.

So, that sets the scene for this, another cycling blog.  Age 36, with a passion for literature and the tendency to over-analyse that goes with it, I am writing about biking because of the adventure and the insight it offers.

Beginning this blog feels a little like my first anxious pedal strokes when I was four, or those I take these days ahead of an intimidating obstacle.  It’s scary.  But, fear is ok; that is one insight mountain biking has already offered me.