I confess...

good for you MM :)
(I also broke my cycling drought last week, had a nice pootle home from town... yet to get back on again though)

Yay :)

Cycling on uk roads, more hard core than eh...hard core :p

Woop!

im a fucking cliche.... candy crush soda
addicted...

we just spunked away over 100 notes on a salt & pepper grinder set.

#nxtlvlcndmnts

Dear patron saint of cycling, Madonna del Ghisallo, forgive me for I am no longer in love with long distance cycling. For 35 years I have been riding and obsessing about bicycles. I have ridden some decent distances, at times over a century. Perhaps some of my happiest days were last year circumventing the Cairngorms alone for 3 magical days in beautiful sunny weather on my MTB. I'm regularly to be found riding through London connecting the bridges or looking at it's greatest trees. Having never ridden an Audax I decided recently to enter the 200 km Great Escape. After a lapse in cycling I've been training for it - doing intervals, hilly rides and have increased my long rides up to about 50-60 miles. However this morning after 45 miles of Box and Leith Hill and Ranmore Common a thought crossed my mind - why am I doing this? My neck and back was hurting, my knees were burning and there was 20 miles to get home across the knackered tarmac of south London braving the fuck wit drivers wizzing past my elbow. Immediately a voice said 'man up you fucking wimp' to which replied a louder voice saying why not just get on the train at West Humble and be enjoying a beer in the sun very soon - you've enjoyed a beautiful mornings cycle? I listened to temptation and had an epiphany - what's the point of riding a 200 km Audax? I know I can do it so what's the rationale of all those uncomfortable and frankly boring hours of training. I'd rather do rides that interest me: to the coast, across fields and through forests, finding old pubs and the biggest cakes. Maybe I'll never ride 100 miles again, maybe I will. I'll still be fascinated by the 400+ KM stages of the early tour and nut jobs like Steve Abrams but I wont be joining them for hours in the saddle. Can I be forgiven for this sacrilegious talk and feeble physical state? This is my confession.

Long rides are shit. You have to go slow and it gets really boring.

you are forgiven, i reached this conclusion a while ago, so now i just see where the fancy takes me

Hey, some of us ride slowly on short rides too!

Riding by myself I get bored in under 3 hours. With company I will enjoy a long day.

I ride long rides to be on my own with lots of time to think.

#introverted

Hah, I did this the other week. Without the P2M mind.

Have a look here:

https://www.lfgss.com/conversations/239417/

Thanks for the forgiveness. Good conversation @Oliver Schick I could relate to much of what was said and took on board some good suggestions. Part of it is being really busy at medical school, having two small kids, a wife working stupid hours, and recently working as a Paramedic where I saw some pretty horrific stuff that happened to cyclists. Anyway I had a much better ride yesterday in the sun: 20 mile loop through London taking in salt beef at Alpino's, kleiner brauner at Kipferl, and beers at McGlynn's in Kings X and Brewdog in Clapham Junction. Just hope the wife doesn't read this as I was supposed to be studying!

Part of it is being really busy at medical school, having two small kids, a wife working stupid hours, and recently working as a Paramedic where I saw some pretty horrific stuff that happened to cyclists.

Well, you certainly have your busy-ness sorted! I suppose one way of looking at cycling is that it'll help you keep up your fitness so you can do so much. Distressing experiences are, of course, inevitable if working in medicine.

You can always improve your own riding by taking some cycle training and understanding the nature of risk and traffic better, if you haven't already. Very relevant to medical practice.

Good to hear you were able to make use of the weather, just staying in studying when you really need to get out can be counter-productive!

Not a confession, this is enlightenment.

You are now one with the cycling budda.

And the rest of us who just look like him :)

I confess to getting myself a decent cycling pump for my birthday

While I should probably get new clothes as the last batch order online didn't fit. No room for cycling legs at all. But hey, at least a pump will always fit ;)

But hey, at least a pump will always fit ;)

Oh man, I feel your pain...

Not if you have a woods valve

We don't speak of that sort of thing here ;)

(but they're very common in Sweden I've been told)

EDIT: It has arrived...and does Dunlop too. Yeooo.... :D

I just bought a floral bow tie

in tribute to timmy mallett?

a phil collins track just appeared inexplicably on my spotify. didn't even ffwd.

#susudio

I wish it was that simple.

don't feel bad, just let it all out and bash those air drums!