My first road bike

I’ve suffered with a painful knee injury since September which has seriously limited my running this year. The unfortunate side effect of an injury which means you can no longer do your preferred form of exercise, especially for someone who enjoys food as much as I do, sadly predictable.

Sitting on my bum feeling sorry for myself wasn’t doing anything for my mood or my weight so once I’d recovered enough to manage some exercise I decided to mix up the light running I’m now doing with some mileage on the bike. Last summer’s overload of sport stuck in my head and I decided it would be nice to treat myself to some new wheels. A trip to Banchory Cycles and a quick (wobbly) spin round the block and I got a hold of my first road bike a few weeks ago.

It’s hard to quantify just how much different it is to the heavy 6-year-old mountain bike I know and love. I think I’m just about getting used to the narrow tyres, low turning circle and most importantly the SPD pedals! Though I’ve still to go through the SPD right of passage that is falling off at a road junction while trying to unclip from a pedal. Hopefully I can keep that going.

In my head I bought a road bike just for some casual riding around the local area. Not putting too much pressure on myself. Then a friend told me about Strava and of course now I’m tracking every mile and trying to beat my own times and climb up the rankings on segments just as I do when running. Guess I’ve got a competitive nature.

Thankfully it seems the cycling is helping my knee though and it feels great to get out and about again. Here’s hoping for a great summer and lots of dry weather to make the most of it!