Noobs and returnees - how was 2015 for you?

[RichardB]

2015 was the year I got properly back into cycling, after about 30 years with a bike or two in the shed that I hardly used and came to ignore. It started for me in 2014 when I got an electric bike and started commuting to work in the autumn. However, after the clocks went back I chickened out and went back to the car. I started the commuting again this spring, have now done over 1300 miles, and fully intend to carry on through the winter (when these blasted Atlantic gales stop).

This summer I also got the old MTB out of the shed and treated it to a couple of weekends of lurve. New wheel bearings, brakes and cables and a proper strip down and clean. It's now going like a champ, and I have enjoyed several weekend rides on that one. I also committed myself to going full human power next spring, so I bought a Dawes Galaxy. However, I didn't really get on with it and swapped it for a Galaxy Cross, which suits me a lot better. Mileage on the pushbikes this year is only a couple of hundred, but I feel I am back in the game. I'm way fitter than I was in January and looking forward (at age 62) to a good few years of two-wheeling. Good to be back!

Anyone else?

 

[RegG]

A bit like RichardB, I too got back into cycling in 2015 when my youngest daughter encouraged me to do so to keep fit. She had signed up to do the cycling part of a triathlon with work and bought herself a Liv Avail road bike. I got my 15 year old Carrera Kraken MTB out of the shed and started riding again back in March. I hadn't really ridden properly for some 12 years following the sad loss of my wife to cancer. Before then we used to ride together often, taking the bikes away in the caravan and enjoying leisurely rides in the countryside.

Anyway, I found the MTB a little heavy and felt I was leaning too far forward. I tried a shorter stem and put some Schwalbe City Jet tyres on it which made it feel better. My daughter was really pleased with her Liv Avail and suggested I try out a road bike. I had a good look around and settled on a Giant Defy 0 - what a difference! Much lighter than the MTB and, somehow, more comfortable to ride.

I have now done just short of 900 miles (about 700 on the Giant) and usually do around 10 to 15 miles each ride and am gradually increasing the distance as well as the elevation gained - a mixture of hills and levels around here. Really enjoying the cycling and my partner has also joined me on the rides and she has also got a Liv Avail which she likes much more than the MTB we bought around 5 years ago but had little use.

Also like RichardB, at nearly 62 I am looking forward to next year and plan on going further and taking part in at least one sportive. My health has improved, I have been able to get off the blood pressure tablets and my GP is very pleased with me.

Good luck to all newbies and returnees for the New Year, as well as everyone else on the forum.

 

[Elswick Cotterpin]

Good on you, both of you! Just over 900 miles for me for the year... mostly short rides at a sedate speed, as befits my slothful nature.

 

[steve50]

2015 has been a great year of learning, I have learned much from this forum that has improved my riding abilities and experience no end. I have recorded some mileage but have done more as I didn't start recording miles until the latter end of the year. The most important thing for me has been the huge improvements in my personal fitness as I had put on quite a bit of weight and was in danger of becoming a couch potato. Looking forward to many rides out in 2016 and maybe even joining our local CTC.

 

[Andrew_P]

I was off the bike ill, and off work for the best part of 6-9 months crawled back on to the bike on the 21st of May 2.5 stone off my weight and aged 50 starting out with small rides - 3450 miles to date would love to have hit 4k by Jan but can't see it. Just so relieved to be able to ride again, you truly don't know what you are missing until you can't do it.

 

[Old jon]

Once I reached 16 I stopped cycling, much more interested in motorised two wheelers. I did not pay much attention to bicycles beyond the odd comment on a friend's / colleague's bike. Earlier this year, April or May, me and our lass walked past the Ellis Briggs shop in Shipley, Barbs stopped to photograph some wild flowers and I looked in the shop window, which had inside two Ellis Briggs bikes which looked rather wonderful and had that rarest of all fittings, a pair of proper mudguards ! Memories of riding without mudguards, as most bikes today seem to be, had put me off any idea of a return to pedalling and the sight of the real thing again enthused me massively. So I did a bit of riding on borrowed or hired bikes, still keen about it all. Looked at other bikes but came back to Ellis Briggs and bought mine from them on the last day of June this year. About forty nine years after stopping riding. I am now about to go out in the weather and add thirty or so miles to the 2600 + I have completed since retirement in June.

 

[graham bowers]

I've done a fair bit of MTB'ing in the past, but not for a couple of years. Having never owned a road bike, to my surprise, I was given one by my brother in September, on the condition I ride it! He is a very keen cyclist and on returning to Europe after an Asian assignment, found he had a spare bike.

I started going out twice a week by myself and worked up to 50Km by early Oct. I did a 60 Km Audax in mid October, Bala Mini Bash.

I did a couple of SkyRides, then hooked up with the Derby CTC group. I ride with them most Thursdays.

On my first Audax I met another first timer who had decided to do one a month, so I decided to do the same. For November it was the 110 Km Prison Run, and December the 100 Km Flowers to Furnace.

Ambitions for 2016 include continuing with an audax a month, using the bike to visit my mother instead of the car (140 Km each way) and an imperial century. Oh, and learning how to get less punctures!

I have received plenty of help along the way, so thanks to:
The members of this forum who impart their knowledge and experience freely.
My local cycle centre, Hicks Lodge, who pointed me in the direction of Skyride.
The volunteers who make Audax rides possible.
The Derby CTC Thursday group for welcoming me and waiting while I fix my punctures.
The cyclists whose chance meetings make cycling a richer experience.

Graham, (59 1/4 yo)

 

[RichardB]

Good to hear other people are enjoying getting back into it! I forgot to say in my first post - regular cycling (4/5 days a week) and being careful with what I eat and I have lost three stone in six months. And I have entered the Tour of Pembrokeshire in April. There is a choice of 50/75/100 mile routes, and of course I have opted for the 50-miler, so in the Spring I will need to build up to that. Hoping to do a metric century by the end of the year.

 

[leedsmick]

I started in mid August after not riding a bike for 25 years. Have racked up 670 miles and 60 hours of riding. Next step is to buy an entry level road bike in the January sales. I'm watching prices and visiting bike shops already so know what will be a good deal.

 

[leedsmick]

I started in mid August after not riding a bike for 25 years. Have racked up 670 miles and 60 hours of riding. Next step is to buy an entry level road bike in the January sales. I'm watching prices and visiting bike shops already so know what will be a good deal.

 

[thetribe]

Not done as well as I'd hoped this year, house move in the warm months lost me 2 months of cycling and I've now not been on the bike since October due to a change in hours at work and a busy season (postie) meaning I'm working between 60+70 hours a week and not getting the chance to get out. Only managed half the rides and half the miles of last year and am resigned to the fact I won't be back out till the new year. On a positive note, my cycle to work scheme payments ended last week which means I get to buy myself a new bike for next year, road bike to join the tourer and MTB I think

 

[13 rider]

2015 was my first full calendar year of cycling started again after 25 years off the bike in Sept 2014. I have completed nearly 3500 miles .Completed the half century challenge one 50km ride per month and for good measure a 50 m ride per month . Fully recommend this challenge for anyone it gets you riding when perhaps you wouldnt .Have completed a imperial ton as my longest ride and rode virtually every weekend and now commute a least once a week on the bike 20 mile round trip. Just keep riding and your progress will amaze you as it has me

 

[Justinslow]

Got my road bike in August 2014 aged 43, had an old mtb fairly unused for years but this was the first "proper" bike since I was a kid. Had a great year, joined my local club, compete in the clubs TT's, do quite a lot of group rides with other club members and with the family. I wrote about it here:
https://www.cyclechat.net/threads/first-year-with-my-road-bike.186678/
Looking forward to next year -really trying to set some better times on my new (secondhand) TT bike. Currently hitting the turbo at least 5 nights a week with a "base" road ride in the mix aswell.
Loving it infact I'm on my turbo right now........

 

[leedsmick]

Top story.

 

[FlatCapCyclist]

It's been a lot of fun. Started in Feb, 52, not been on a bike since my teens, 95% commuting & done nearly 5000 miles. So much fun that I've got rid of the car (share my partners if need be or hire) - really looking forward to moving to a cycle friendly city & a new job over the holidays, not quite as far to commute & mostly on a bike path so may think about going a bit faster - or else just chill out & enjoy nature as I pass