Let me give you a little insight into my madness, if you care to read a little bit further.
If you were to speak to someone who dived for pearls I am sure they would describe to you the countless times they opened an oyster shell to find nothing but will also be able to describe in detail, what it feels like when they actually find something magical inside.
This is why I ride my bike.
I would love to tell you that every time I ride my bike it is like the time that each of my kids rode without stabilisers for the first time, but it isn't. Sometimes it's hard, particularly in Winter, to get 16 layers of clothes on, 2 pairs of gloves and go out in the wind and rain and churn up the miles but it is for those amazing moments and those amazing moments are so worth it.
They don't always come in a race either. I don't race enough to make it worth it and, don't get me wrong, some training sessions are just lovely, long, lazy rides to sort my head out but the other morning I had one of those really, really special moments on the bike that I get every so often that make me realise why it is so worth it.
Up just after 6am in the pitch black, freezing cold and out to walk the dog first because that is one of my jobs in the morning. On the bike about 6.45am, in the dark, lights on, 5 layers on top and 2 pairs of gloves, 2 layers on my head then a helmet! Riding out to do this hill session that I usually do during the Winter which involves getting to short sharp hill about 7 miles outside of Nottingham and then climbing it as many times as I can before going home. On this occasion the timings were such that it just started to get light as I got to the hill for the first time. I looked around at all the trees that line the hill and the colours were absolutely fantastic: dark greens, orange, brown, typical English Autumn colours. The hill is a straight climb, then a descent, then into an 'S' shape, left and then a right to the summit. The summit opens out onto open fields and as I crested the top for the first time I looked at the sky and it was like the sky was on fire. The sunrise was absolutely fabulous and the mist was rising off the fields and I thought "almost nobody gets to see this"
I would never have seen that if I had stayed in my bed and eaten another bun.
That's why I ride my bike.
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