From an early age I’ve always been into sports and always kept myself fit in one way or another. Riding a bike was part of that and I’d had a bike of one kind or another for years. Before joining Seamons my riding consisted of riding to work and the odd weekend ride. I also did a bit of mountain biking but nothing serious. I did the Manchester to Blackpool ride a couple of times and at the time the 60 miles of that ride was a major achievement for me.
I’ve always been fascinated with the sport of cycling and remember being interested in the Tour (de France) even as a kid. The interest stayed with me and as an adult I’d sit and watch cycling whenever I could on television.
I guess like most people I was aware of a mystique surrounding cycling clubs and had it in my head that if you were a member of a cycling club you must be, first of all, someone who takes part in competition and secondly, a super fit athlete (I know now of course that neither of these assumptions are necessarily true). I eventually took a decision to join a club and found Seamons on the internet. A couple of e-mails later and I found myself turning up for my first club run one Sunday morning. It was my first experience of riding in close formation in a group and I absolutely loved it. We did about 60 miles that day which to me at the time was a huge mileage. I went home buzzing, feeling like I’d just ridden the Tour de France!
I had my first taste of competition in that first year with the club in the form of a club 10 mile time trial. I didn’t break any records but that didn’t matter, other members of the club encouraged and congratulated me all the same. From there I toyed with a few open events the following year trying out different disciplines of the sport to see what suited me. A year after that and I put in my first serious season of competition competing in open Time Trials at 10, 25, 50, 100 mile and 12 hour events. I’ve now completed 5 serious seasons of racing and have achieved goals I honestly wouldn’t have believed were attainable for me when I first joined Seamons.
To me being a member of Seamons has given me things I just didn’t expect when I joined the club. I thought riding a bike was just a matter of sitting on the saddle and turning the pedals but it’s amazing how much you learn in a club like Seamons: positioning, efficient pedalling, riding in a bunch, bike handling…. the list goes on. |
