A year later, and for the next few years, I rode the same bike 20 miles a day to Uni through some pretty attrocious Norfolk lanes. At the time I wasn't aware of optimisations to make a cyclist's life easier, such as lycra, but I persevered until 1995. The mountain bike went slowly downhill, changing colour a couple of times in the process and getting gradually more rusty. A brief foray into tri-bars did little to improve aerodynamics, but did add a few unsightly scars to my limbs.

1995: my awakening to 'real' cycling. I don't know what brought it about, but all of a sudden I was riding the same country lanes, in Lycra, on a new Dawes Horizon tourer. In October I had also joined the UEA Cycling Club and was persuaded to enter my first competition event, a 1400-yard hill climb in Yorkshire. I rode it on my tourer (stripped down, of course!) and finished some way down the table. But it was fun!

The tempo gradually increased from there, and by the next summer I was time-trialling on a Cannondale road bike. I was entering time trials left, right and centre with my UEA team-mates (mainly Andy Tyler, Jo Tuck and Dave Cooper - aka Cooperman). I gradually improved, but seemed to plateau at around 24 minutes for a 10 and just over the hour for a 25. At the same time Andy was putting in 21's and 55's, but gradually going downhill as he struggled to identify a problem in his diet.

We used to do training rides back then, up to Wells-next-the-Sea or down to Diss, or along to Yarmouth, and life was grand.

Enough rambling! What you really need is some useful information, either about places to cycle, performance cycling or how to look after yourself and your bike.

Our musings on Tandem Bikes

Cycling in Norfolk

Cycling in Loughborough

Time Trialling

Bike Maintenance

Performance Matters

Staying Dry

Under Test

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