The Humble Beginnings

-

I grew up in Poland and my first PROPER bike was Wigry 3. It was blue and I bought it with my Holy Communion money. I guess this is where is all started…

I don’t have a photo of my blue Wigry 3 but I remember it vividly. If you have ever watched Stranger Things, you know what I’m taking about. And if you haven’t watched Stranger Things, watch it! It’s amazing. Well…if you vaguely remember the kids’ bikes in the series, my bike was kind of like that. It had one gear and a Dynamo front light which only shone when you pedalled…It went like the wind! Nostalgia. 

Then there is a big gap without cycling in my life. The most cycling I did in my 20s was to and from the pub to save on taxis. I had to study, party and work in a cafe on the Main Square in Krakow. I had no time for sport. I had to get other things out of my system first.

After my children were born, I started running. It began with a local Race for Life, a 5K for cancer charities, grew to 10K, half marathon, marathon, ultra…all good fun, but..I was lonely in running and I kept getting injured.

By this time I joined Strava. I followed some cyclists and watched their posts with envy. ‘All those coffee and cake stops’, I thought. Plus, I saw they went on cycling holidays, and that became my new obsession and goal.

But…I was too scared to ditch the running and start JUST cycling, so I ventured into triathlons. I thought it was a good idea, even though I’m a rubbish swimmer. So I bought a really old road bike on Gumtree and signed up for a sprint tri in Sutton Park. Little did I know I had to swim in a small lake full of cow mess, run around a rather hilly park and then ride on the MOST ANCIENT bike in the whole event!

You know exactly what happened next. I finished last, I think. Got my medal and straight away went to reseach and buy a carbon road bike. It was a Trek Madone 3.5 and yes, I still have it. It’s at my mom’s in Krakow. This was a game changer. Light and fast. Lovely. BUT. I had never ridden clip in pedals before. So…again…you know wat happened next. I took it for a spin. Got to a T-junction. Stop. Oh dear. As if in slow motion, I fell to the ground. 

To this day, when I ride past that place where I fell down, still clipped in, I chuckle. It was certainly a learning curve.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How to get stronger on the bike. Fast!

-
Image
Does the magic formula really exist? I didn’t think it did…until recently. I had desperately been trying to get faster and stronger on the bike for months. I tried various cycling training plans on Zwift but without much success. There were two reasons they didn’t work for me: 1. I love the freedom of cycling outside and the social aspect of it, and you can hardly do intervals when riding with friends 2. I work full time and (unfortunately) most training plans on Zwift are very time consuming, I mean they are a commitment of at least one hour a day and sometimes 2 or 3 hours on some days And so I wondered. How on earth am I going to improve and how am I going to improve fast before I lose the motivation and become frustrated again. This happened before, when I reached a plateau in my long distance running training and I just lost interest. The first thing I wanted to do is lose a few pounds and stop snacking so much in the evenings. I also wanted to eat more reasonably. What I me
Read more

2022? Seems ages away…but…

-
Image
Have you had the best year so far? I know there are still two months left in 2021 and a good few months left before we can start hitting those PRs on the road again, but early planning definitely means a better chance of success in my world of cycling. So how will I tackle the short and dark winter months ahead to emerge reasonably fit and ready to roll on the other side? Here is my strategy. 1. WINTER BIKE I have my winter bike ready to go as soon as the weather turns. I am still trying to cling onto my summer bike for as long as I can but my winter bike with aluminium wheels is ready to go. This is so important. I don’t want to get caught one Saturday morning (club ride) not being able to ride due to not having it set like it should be. 2. KIT As you know, I own a few pieces of kit…can’t deny it. With limited wardrobe space, I have to rotate my summer and winter kit, so as the weather gets colder, I put away all my short sleeve jerseys and bib shorts and out come all the warmer ga
Read more

Gravel Grind on My Mind

-
Image
I’m a road cyclist. I have been for about 7 years now, since I abandoned my long distance running due to frequent knee injuries. I love my road bikes, the solo rides and the cake runs with my friends…BUT…I have seen too many cyclists (myself included) involved in road accidents with cars. Let’s face it, no matter how good of a cyclist you are, the car always wins. So in January 2021 I started looking at gravel bikes. It wasn’t the best time to look, as the post pandemic cycling market is scarce, but I am very determined. I knew the exact bike I wanted. I am a Canyon girl, my ‘baby’ is my Aeroad and I knew the only bike for me was the mighty Grail. Looking at the Canyon website made me cry because the delivery dates were in 6 or more months’ time and I knew there was just one way to get what I wanted: the Canyon outlet! Daily and obsessively at circa 8:30 am I checked the outlet page on the Canyon website for the Grail in my size, which is a medium and eventually, it appeared! My G
Read more