Yes, it’s true. I have been out on my bike. Ergo, I am a cyclist. Clearly I’m a very bad cyclist with an awful lot of progress to make in a terribly short time but I have at least managed to banish the massive hurdle of actually getting on the bike. And, it felt ok. I’d even be willing to go as far as to say that there were parts of it which I quite enjoyed. I loved getting up a little speed and whizzing along with the wind whipping through my hair and flying insects going up my nose. No doubt if someone showed me a video of my ride, I’d look like a very elderly tortoise creeping along painfully slowly but it seemed fast at the time.
I went to a water pipeline track near where I live which I think is just over 6 km return and I enjoyed it so much that after making a quick video, I did it again! So 12 km down. If I could only work out how to use my little cycling equivalent of a pedometer then I could provide more stats but even that defeats me. It is freaking me out that everyone on this trip to Sri Lanka will be really fast and I’ll be left for dust at the back, becoming ever increasingly shiny and damp while it gets dark and they abandon me to the tigers. Do they even have tigers in Sri Lanka? I could look in my guidebook but I’ve no time between cycling, renovations, working and having small disasters.
If you carry on past the water pipeline track, it makes a turn into the bush and becomes more sloping, eventually ending up at a steep hill of switchbacks. I’m told the trek involves “the occasional hill”. I’ve no idea what that means but hopefully not steep hills of switchbacks. So the next step is to extend my cycling to include the sloping, but definitely not the switchbacks. The trouble is, I’m terrified of even the slightest incline and not understanding the gears is making me panicky. What is it with the gears? I’ve mastered them in the car, so why not the bike? And why are there so many of them?
Anyway, the video I recorded while on the cycle track is a gem, mainly due to my deeply suspicious looking around for strangers. The others are ones I’ve been slow to upload but explain the various issues with the exercycle, bike, car, renovations and life in general.
Until next time…
Anecdotally, 
Get yourself the app called Strava, carry your phone when you go out the app will record your journey.
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Brilliant! Thanks Phill. Always good to get a recommendation
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What’s a switchback? X
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It’s a steep hill where the path or road zig zags upwards x
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