For me 2024 was a busy year, I didn't post much on social media, and never took the time to add to this blog, but in terms of cycling it was a great year, despite the poor summer I rode a lot and managed to buy 4 new bikes to add to the fleet, which I realise is ridiculous when I type it.
May - The Change
My riding didn't fully kick off until spring, with May being my first proper ride out. But this was an important ride, in many ways, my May riding experience has been life-changing. I have always been a heavy rider, by have never really let my weight bother me, I have always been lucky enough to keep up with the pack despite being the heaviest rider. In May I entered a new Gravel event in Innerleithen, Muc n Mac. opting for the short 40km route I never considered doing significant training as this was a distance I would regularly do, however, my misplaced confidence met its match early into the weekend of riding as for the first time, I couldn't finish the route. At the time I blamed the route design, then the bike, but truth be told the only issue was my fitness. It didn't take wrong for my inner monologue to start a narrative on this, I had a decision, either accept my riding would not need to be basic and on the leisure end of the spectrum, or at 43 gain whatever fitness I could back, and start living correctly in terms of what I put in my body and the level of exercise I did.
I don't know how I managed it as I have tried diet after diet, but typing this on Xmas day Dec 24, I am now almost 100lbs lighter, with 20% more lean muscle. Since May I have eaten a strict ketogenic diet, I have quit alcohol, quit my daily energy drinks, and have completely changed the type of rides I do. I now focus on elevation rather than distance, forcing myself to take a climb over a flat road. the result of this is I have started breaking PRs on strava again for the first time in 10 years. My waist has shrunk, and weirdly my feet have shrunk.
The Bikes
You likely won't agree, but for me, the best way to really get riding hours increased is to buy a new bike, this year I bought 4 - For the first time since 2015, and after swearing never to buy one again, I bought a full suspension Mountain bike, I treated myself and bought a Surly as I've always wanted one, I saw a bargain on a Rocky Mountain and couldn't say no, and Finally this month I bought a new Gravel bike, to replace the one I sold out of frustration in May after Muc and Mac. I have spent a small fortune, which is actually daft, but if it has helped get my health back, then I'd buy another 4 all over again, it's been worth every penny.
Mountain Biking
In my 20s I was a Mountain Biker, every weekend I would head off with my riding buddy, more often or not to Glentress, and ride. Life got in the road of this in my later 20s and throughout my 30s, and I honestly thought those days we gone. Buy I surprised myself this year, when reflecting on what made me fit in the past and how I kept weight off, the answer was Mountain Biking. So, in June I made my first trip to Glentress in ten years, I remember stepping out the car and starting to take the bike off the roof (it was the fat bike in June as the only MTB-able rig) and feeling the weight of life start to lift. From that day I have considered myself a reborn Mountain Biker, I've bought a new hardatil and a new Full Suspension bike, and my hold habit of heading off every weekend (with a couple of exceptions) is very much, reinstated.
2025
I am determined to ride further in 2025, in Sept 24 I took part in a Gravel event in the Lake District "Just Gravel" compared to how I performed in May at Muc and Mac, it was night and day, I hope to do more events like this in 2025. I joined a community cycling club around the same time and found enjoyment again in cycling in a group, the rides start back in March and hopefully, I will make it out every week. I have already registered for a couple of events, but more importantly, I have made a big chance in terms of the work-life balance by compressing hours so that every second Wednesday I will have a mid-week day off.
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