It's been a busier summer for me with cycling this year, and i've been loving the additional kms! Bigger rides: 80km road race in June, 100km road race in July, and this month trying a 20km road race as part of a sprint triathlon, and a 50km gravel grind! Just getting into gravel, and i'm loving it so far!

I also try my hand at MTB every now and then; there are some sweet trails locally.

Unfortunately, I have to stick to the trainer during the winter months, which means there's not usually much to talk about for about 6 months of the year here in Canada

To give you an idea of how long it was since I last rode a road bike, when I was buying my Giant Defy Advanced 1 last October, I pointed to the down tube and asked "where is the gear lever?".

I'm still not much better educated 9 months on, though my emphatic declaration of "I'm not wearing any of that lycra nonsense" lasted all of 1 ride, when I realised regular t-shirts become a sail at 20+ kph

Winter on a Turbo was a bit of a mental test, but I'd signed up for my first triathlon in the spring, so I had a reason to keep heading out to the freezing garage and getting it done. Netflix helped too.

My first 100km ride was at a hilly local velo in February. As cold as it was, I took a lot of confidence out of making it up all 6 climbs without being one of the ones pushing (not that I was going faster than them), and this was followed by the 100mile Birmingham (UK) velo a few months later, where I learned an important lesson about ensuring I ate enough.....the final hour of that ride was spent in a head fugue, praying for the end to come soon.

At least, I thought I learned a lesson. Come my first triathlon (half Iron Man) in June, I had a good bike leg (90kms), hitting my goals and felt really confident going into the 21.1km run, since I'd achieved a 15min PB at London marathon 6 weeks earlier (to which I credit cycling), the run was going to be easy. 5kms in, I learned the hard way that whilst I had eaten more, I hadn't eaten enough.......my energy just dropped off a cliff.

Reflecting on the bike segment, the experience of people go flying past me for the whole of my 3hr 15m bike leg of that triathlon, made me realise how important it is to be good on the bike, so I've just purchased some power meter pedals and hope to use that to build up my ability and shave 30 mins off next year.

Other than that, I'm blessed to be surrounded by some stunning English countryside and lots of quiet roads that have enabled me to explore the area I've lived in for 17 years, but clearly only discovered a fraction of. I love, love, love being out in the countryside on a nice day on the bike. I find the whole experience uplifting and it puts a smile on my face every time.

[edit: I'd love to get some more MfP cycling friends to share motivation with if any of you are willing, do please add me]