2 minute read
Cycling
On the right track
Gareth Ffowcs-Williams recommends that everyone hops on their bike this May, embracing the ‘give it a go’ spirit…
May is always a welcome friend. It usually brings with it the promise of more reliable weather and certainly longer days. Getting dressed for a bike ride in April is the worst – you need to be dressed for glorious sunshine, freezing cold, hot, cloudy, wet and dry all at the same time! With the more reliable weather comes the confidence of organisers to start putting on
more regular rides, events and competitions and my advice to everyone is to “give it a go”.
Rhos-on-Sea Cycling Club for example, like many in North Wales, put on a really busy calendar of weekly, semicompetitive rides as well as the more sociable group rides. These rides are either Hill Climbs or Time Trials. A few of us from the shop entered the first event a couple of weeks ago
which was a Hill Climb which, as the name suggests, is a cycle ride up a hill. You set off on your own at one-minute intervals, and really you are only racing against yourself. This is a fairly unique experience as cycling is often an individual sport, and although this event sees you riding predominantly on your own, there is a very real feeling of community and camaraderie about the events.
We have some amazing cyclists locally, and at these Hill Climbs and Time Trials you will see current junior champions, national champions and ex British champions riding. So for the majority of us, we already know it is unlikely we are going to be the quickest on the day, so the pressure is off from that respect. Being able to see riders of this calibre doing the same event as you is a bit of a buzz as it lets you appreciate first hand just
how good they are.
The huge variety of abilities helps to cement the fact that the only person you are really competing with is yourself, and that helps to generate the welcoming atmosphere. Other competitors are not interested in how quickly or slowly you did the ride, what matters is if you are happy with it, did you enjoy it and are you getting better?
It can certainly be intimidating turning up and seeing people who have the equipment of a professional athlete and, in some cases, the ability to match – but everyone who is there was once in your position and attending their first event, and
everyone remembers it. These officially timed events are a
great way of checking on how you are improving over the weeks and months and once you get into the swing of things you are sure to set yourself a little goal to achieve by the end of the season.
So look out for the “testers” down the Conwy Valley on a
Thursday night and why not consider giving it a go? n
