I'm so pleased I started cycling when I did..
I was once quoted as saying “My biggest regret with cycling was that I wished I had started earlier, with gravel it’s more like I’m so pleased I started when I did.”
When I read this back months later it somehow stuck and resonated with me again. I can clearly remember the thrill and excitement of my first two wheel adventures at age 5. My grandkids started on balance bikes and were adept by age 3, despite living in the mountainous French Alps. At age 9-12 they still ride almost every day.
But somehow in those in-between years of adolescence something happens and we lose the bike and gain a car. I only got back on the bike in my mid-thirties, to my regret. I know many others like me.
So my thought process has now landed up here. Together with Michelle Sharland we are starting HotChillee Kids gravel rides (6-16 years) accompanied by running or riding adults, with the objective of lighting that fire and providing a family friendly event arena and community that continues to promote that excitement and passion and skill that will hopefully mean that these youngsters don’t miss out on those middle cycling years. It’s so pleasing to see that almost ? of the kids signed up for the inaugural event are children of the early years LONDON-PARIS riders.
One day I hope to hear or see a quote by one of them “I’m so glad I started cycling when I did and carried on for as long as I have.”
Multiple business owner and now consultant and speaker. Cycling and triathlon, specialising in development of new projects and creating sustainability and legacy
5 年Good initiative. If you send through the details we'll send to all the young riders we work with and see if we can encourage some of them to join in. Many of these guys will not have entered a race before, some have not even left their own town, but with support, these are the kind of events that could be good for them. Cheers Marc
Owner at Rupert Rivett Photography
5 年Oh sorry can't seem to add the image?
Owner at Rupert Rivett Photography
5 年Climbing Col des Saisies 1650m 14,9 km 6.4 %
Owner at Rupert Rivett Photography
5 年What a great idea, it's so important to get young and old out on their bikes instead of using the car, and getting kids to enjoy cycling at a young age is such a useful thing to do on so many levels.? I took this photo of this young lad in his yellow jersey climbing the Col Des Saisies ?on 20th July 2006, It was stage 17 of the Tour de France and in about an hour Floyd Landis would come flying up the mountain on his loan brake that catapulted him back into contention to win the Tour. This is the Col des Saisies a 14.9 km hill with a 6.4 % gradient & from what I remember this lad had cycled up all the way from the bottom. Cycling in a way is like a metaphor for life ?i.e. you have to put in the graft to get to the top.........well most of the time anyway. There are some caveats to that thinking (aka Landis & Armstrong). But if you can climb the Col des Saisies at such a young age your future goals are bound to be much much higher.? Good luck with the gravel riding..... its the future of the sport as more and more trails are opening up.
OWNER at SPRINGWOOD LEISURE
5 年See you I February.AJB