Following on from Darryl’s great ‘Do It Now’ post featured here yesterday, I wondered what things it would spark people into doing. This might not be as thought provoking as Darryl’s post or so centred in distant grey memories, but we’d like to help kick start some people into new challenges as the seasons change.
Over the last few years cyclo cross has been gaining a massive following in this country. It’s seems to have taken much longer to grow into a legitimate cycling/sporting option over here than it has in North America, but it has gripped many with the muddy bug. I’ve wanted to give cyclo cross a go for a long time but I think the start up costs have held me back as at first it seemed like I’d have to buy a whole new bike, kit and mud resistant mouth guard. But I’ve decided to stop worrying about things like that.
Please don’t snitch on me to my fiance, I’m not off to the LBS to purchase a new bike light enough to shoulder, I’m just going to try to borrow my friends bike as much as I can! I’m also going to investigate ways to adapt my winter bike into something a bit more mud friendly. (BTW Joey is OK).
Photo courtesy of epicfail.net
I’m a roadie through and through. If you sliced me open you’d see I’m lined with pure white MicroTex bar tape. But I can’t deny that the lure of the woods and trails does try to grab me from time to time. I’m going to say it… sometimes, I want to be a mountain biker (Jeez I can’t believe I just said that out loud!) When the weather turns nasty and the clouds go grey, the wonderful terrain we cycle through all year doesn’t seem so exciting, so why not change up the view and go down to the woods? Again, I don’t have the specific equipment but I know how to handle a bike and don’t mind getting muddy, what’s been holding me back!? I guess I’ll be asking my other buddy if I can take his MTB into the woods this winter!
Photo courtesy of bigshotbikes.com
Bike polo has also been tempting me over the summer. To break a winning format, I do have the correct equipment for this sport (if you don’t mention the giant wooden mallet) but I have been honing my fixie skills. After using all of my Bart Simpson Band Aids I can track stand, I can ride backwards (a bit) and I generally look pretty cool on my fixie, even if I do say so myself. But even I could win a game of bike polo if I’m the only player, I need more fixie friends! Well Hallelujah! I’ve found that a neighbouring town has an open league! It seems I have one less excuse to get my hockey mask on and start swinging that mallet!
Photo courtesy of… oh I can’t remember, but thanks!
I don’t need to have a go at road riding, I do it an awful lot and love it. But what if you have never been on a road bike before and want to start… what have you been missing? The escapism as you leave the city and smell the fresh country air, the sights you see when travelling a little slower, the interaction with other cyclists and pedestrians and the feeling of speed in your face. Road riding seems to have a little more of a stigma about it as it’s seen as ‘the Lycra sport’ and thus some are not as open to trying it. But it’s not necessary to zip your flabby bits into skin-tight clothing to enjoy the delights of a road bike. Get out there, climb some hills and enjoy the downhill bits. Screw what your colleagues say about push bikes, you know they are wrong. Road bikes are the new mid-life crisis purchase… just get one now and buy a Porsche when you’re 50!
There are lots of new experiences out there, and I now have a few more to try, and then conquer over the coming months. I hope you have fun trying something new. Whatever you do… Do It Now.