This is a short story to celebrate my return to cycling. I gave up cycling in my mid sixties because I couldn’t hack the hills. The Covid pandemic resulted in me doing very little physically. I have painful arthritis in my knees when walking and I have chronic breathing problems made worse by catching a cold virus. The end result was I put on weight and became unfit.
A move to Somerset led me to see what the U3A (University of the Third Age) might offer as a way of getting to know people and finding some new interests. If you don’t know what U3A is you can Google it. At the same time, my daughter asked if I would like to have her electric mountain bike as she had no use for it. I was interested to see the local U3A had a cycling group. I was told they went for a ride together once a month for about 20 plus miles. 20 miles seemed daunting to me in my mid seventies but I joined the group and hoped the e bike would see me through.
I found the group to be small and very welcoming. We don’t travel very fast and always wait for anyone who needs to catch up. Having an e bike has enabled me to enjoy the rides and I can now easily do 30 miles. A few of us from the group go out on our bikes together at least once a week. I’ve got stronger in my legs and my knees don’t hurt when I’m riding the bike. I’ve made new friends and I’m riding along beautiful country lanes seeing my new county from a different viewpoint.
I’ve had a whole new lease of life!