Ich bin ein cyclist

Before this weekend had I been introduced to someone as a cyclist, as in, "allow me to introduce Andrew - he's a cyclist", I would have looked bashfully down to the floor and said something like, "well I don't know about that, I do ride bikes but I don't think I qualify as a cyclist". Well this weekend I think I can look the world in the eye and call myself a cyclist.

Had a great ride out with the club yesterday. It was a really good workout with a great group. Close to the finish I took a detour with one of the established riders to tackle a 20% incline. A real leg burner at the end of the ride but good experience for the Fred Whitton. Today I went out on my own for a spin round and I did some of the club ride in reverse tackling a 24% incline on the way out. This was unbelievably hard and I really struggled to stay upright but I got to the top, heart pounding. Chains are strong aren't they?! I'm surprised mine didn't snap. A nice sunny day but a strong headwind coming back made it tough.

Total ride time for the weekend was 5 1/2 hours. I didn't get to christen the new bike because I didn't get the pedals organised. Oh well, there's always next week and I did notice that the club riders still seem to be on winter bikes so I don't feel too bad.