My perspective and outlook on life I guess? There’s no way of putting it in a less cheesy context.
When I came back from a failed attempt at the London lifestyle I was angry with myself and I had to start from scratch. Sometimes things don’t work out for reasons that are way out of your control and London was one of those moments for me. It’s not always a bad thing though, for me, it was a blessing in disguise.
I had to move back home and find a job, I had to find focus and start a fresh with a new perspective. I’ve always had bikes but as I mentioned earlier I’ve only ever used them as a means to get from A to B. I’ve never classed myself as a cyclist. At the time I had a fixed wheel bike and began going out and exploring. The only disadvantage of this was living in Yorkshire it was hill after hill and riding one gear meant I couldn’t go too far without being completely exhausted! I wanted to go further for longer so I saved up some money from a temp job I had and bought a mid range bicycle and as much kit as I could afford.
What really kicked off the obsession was the limitations of what I could or couldn’t do. I didn’t have any money for a car and I had a lot of time on my hands trying to figure out what my next move was going to be. I also be came very frustrated with excuses people would make to avoid doing something because of distance or because it might be too tiring – even things like getting the escalator when there was a stair well beside it. Getting on a bike was the easiest way to combat these limitations.
The new bike fuelled an obsession which at the time I thought nothing more of then a new fad, as it’s grown its become a huge of my life. Before I got the new geared bike I’d set my self challenges in order to prove myself wrong. There we’re a few hills around where I lived (Huddersfield) that I thought were unmanageable at the time – I made a few efforts at getting to the top and surprisingly on every occasion proved myself wrong. What I found was every hill (give or take) was manageable, getting up was the challenge, it didn’t necessarily mean getting to the top at a fast speed!
Once I got my new road bike it then became more about challenging myself to get to the top faster.
The other thing that inspired me about cycling was how much unseen landscape there is out there and how much easier it is to see it on a bike. There’s a huge amount of exploring that can be done on a bike and it’s probably one of the most inspiring things about cycling.
With all this going on I hadn’t thought once about fitness and ability but within 2 months I’d noticed I was going further and faster.
This was all about 5 years ago when all of the above began. Although I can drive I use my bicycle as my number one mode of transport, with relatively little cost incurred (other then a bit of maintenance) and the added health benefits are nothing but a bonus! There’s no better time to get on a bicycle!
With this in mind, curtesy of Inntravel & Yorkshirelife, here’s your opportunity to win a Tern Link C7 bicycle – take some inspiration from the Danes and utilise our phenomenal British countryside!
Simply head over to YorkshireLife and answer the question below:
Question
How many different destinations do Inntravel offer cycling holidays to?
a) 4
b) 7
c) 9
Good luck & regardless of whether you win or don’t #GetCycling!
••• This is a sponsored post. All words and opinions are my own.