Look back at 2013

We've all enjoyed those rides where we have been out for hours, have no idea of exactly which roads we have travelled or how many miles we have ridden. However, we can remember the banter, the people we rode with and the sheer joy of just being out on the bike. A feeling as close to 'Nirvana' as you are likely to get in this life. You can lose yourself on a bike; you find you are in a kind of hazy existence as a cyclist, that ordinary but boundless experience of just riding somewhere or nowhere in the company of others. Being a cyclist is living the kind of life that effortlessly but fully includes bikes and rides but is not all or perhaps even primarily about going fast and suffering nobly. Being a cyclist comes as much from the being as from the cycling.

During this last year, I have truly rediscovered this and immersed myself in the joys of club cycling with CTC Wessex where I have found a group of like-minded souls. I thought it would be fun to look back at the year-spent riding with CTC Wessex Cycling along the lanes and byways of Dorset, Hampshire and Wiltshire. Looking back our introduction to CTC was back in February when we joined the Saturday ride to Burley under the guidance of Terry Walsh and John Hayter. At the end of the ride we decided that on the following Sunday we would join the CTC ride with the Potterers. 



That first Sunday ride would have put less hardy or perhaps foolish persons off but as we said in the original blog; "It is a bitterly cold day and the cafe at the Compton Abbas is a welcome sight, a chance to chat some more and warm up over coffee and cake. Back on the bikes again and it seems colder, it probably isn't, just the effect of having been in the warm..........A great ride with great company, cycling really brings back simple pleasures. We will be back to ride with CTC Wessex again."





And of course we were back again riding regularly through the rest of last winter into spring and summer and back into autumn and winter again. Up to now we have completed 35 rides with CTC Wessex in our first 10 months with the club and have enjoyed everyone. We have visited places previously unknown to us and certainly travelled along roads we would not normally have used. We have made some wonderful friends and discovered the camaraderie of the cycling community.

It's strange looking back over our achievements and the excitement of the first fifty miler, completing the Coastlet 100k and then on to to do rides pushing us towards 80 miles. However, the real achievements are not measured in miles but in other things learned and the experience gained. Things like ride and group etiquette, a greater knowledge of the lanes and backroads, villages and hamlets discovered and for me a rekindled interest in local history. This trip through history has revealed connections along the way with a diverse group of characters ranging from Oliver Cromwell to Dr who and Worzel Gummage to John of Gaunt.

Quiet lanes
and good company

It seems to me that there are different ways to enjoy this sport of ours and for some it would appear that cycling has become a solo experience, about speed, competition and racing. Now undeniably all of this is an important part of the sport we all love but cycling is, I believe, more than just a sport and with the exception of the time trial,  not just about the individual. It is a true pastime using one of the purest forms of transport, providing recreation that makes us slow down and take in the world around us, while also doing our bit for the environment.

Me - enjoying the summer sunshine

Now, I like to push myself on the climbs, speed down the descents and occasionally race for the sign marking the start of the next village or town. I say Chapeau! To those elite cyclists who are pushing at the boundaries and moving our sport forward. However, for me having pushed myself up the climb I like to stop and enjoy the view and the banter while we wait for the group to reform. The group, the people I cycle with, that is what makes the club run special.





The reason I love cycling? It’s the shared experience of the road travelled, the opportunity to stop and look and to travel at a pace that enables you soak it all up. That is what keeps me coming back for more - so because of this I have found within CTC and the world of touring cyclists a place I want to be.



So I'm sorry CTC Wessex it appears you are lumbered with me as I'll be coming back for more in 2014!

For those of you that have enjoyed following my ramblings in the blog I promise to continue but on a new blog page to cover the 2014 rides at
http://wessexctcpotterers2014.blogspot.co.uk/

For those of you that cycle be safe and enjoy the ride and for those that don't, enjoy the read and maybe it will inspire you to dust of your bike and venture into the world of cycling.

Happy New Year and all the best for 2014 and don't forget the new web address for 2014.