Get on your bike and ride!

Well I never thought I would say this but I actually look good head to toe in lycra! Let me explain… As you most probably know I do like to keep fit and keep the love handles at bay but my marathon days are well and truly numbered especially at my tender age.

When Chris asked me to join him and a few others from work to do the London to Brighton bike ride I thought that would be nice, having a gentle ride down to the coast on a Sunday afternoon. It was also a great opportunity to raise some money for our charity Hopes and Dreams. I thought to myself I’d better start some training for this as I wanted to keep up with the other much younger and fitter guys from work, so I started spinning which was an experience the first time I did it!. I couldn’t walk for a week and my backside felt like it was made of concrete. The only thing that kept me going was a very fit instructor who seemed to enjoy me being in pain. So, after a few weeks of this I thought I should least go out on the road and I dug my bike out from the shed, dusted off the cobwebs and found one of the kids helmets to use. Well after nearly falling off twice and not realising how many hills there are in Billericay I survived my first ride for many years. The only problem was that I only went out for about 5 miles and was exhausted and my backside is still very sore. How I was ever going to do 55 miles was beyond me.

Then the trouble started… Chris decided to upgrade his mountain bike to a posh racing bike and told me that the difference was amazing and easier. So I thought that would obviously help me in my quest to do this bike ride with some dignity so I started looking for a new bike. Well I didn’t realise I would need to re mortgage my home to get a decent bike. I could get a decent car for the prices of some of these bikes even for a beginners road bike you wouldn’t get much change from £700! So not wanting to feel left out I got a lovely Trek bike that is lighter than my son’s scooter and practically drives itself. Now the problem was I had this great bike but I didn’t have all the right gear to wear with it. So that’s where the lycra comes in. I now have these great shorts with the biggest nappy you have seen, a lovely tight fitting top that shows all my curves, a great pair of sunglasses that squats all the flies that are brave to mess with me. I haven’t actually been out on it yet but hey I look pretty cool on it. I know that all of the trauma and pain will be worth it and we will raise loads of money for Hopes and Dreams as they are a great charity and give very seriously ill children a dream of a life time.

I will keep you updated on my progress and will very soon post a pic of my lycra covered body and inform you whether the new lady in my life was worth the investment or whether I should have opted for table tennis which does seem to be the better option at this time!