So far I have bought on several friends and Neighbours to road riding. Nathan was the first one and he is young- Fit and fast. Too young- fit and fast for me so it was a blessing that Mick started getting interested in riding just on 8 weeks ago. He bought My OCR for a sensible price and it is almost set up for him. Just got to get the saddle raised and the bars lowered and he will be fine. Nathan Went on E-bay and gained a superb Jamis Ventura for £260- about $400- and that is one superb bike.

But the "I could never do that" bit. Before Nathan got the Jamis he borrowed my TCR-C and it just about fitted him with the saddle and bars up high and the saddle way back on the rails. It also had a triple and he did a 65 miler on it that took in about 5,000 ft of climbing. Then he got the Jamis with a compact. When Mick told Nathan about last Sundays ride- Nathan said he could not do those hills. He could- but he has to get confidence in the compact crank- and learn to use the gears as he is a bit of a masher at present.

So next Sunday- Mick and I are doing a ride and Nathan will be invited without knowing where we are going. It will be a 40 miler and have two hills that Nathan does not even know about. One is called the "High and Over" so you can guess what that is like. Straight over the ridge with a 20% section for about 200 yards right at the start -then it evens out to a 10% for about 1 mile.The other is just one long drag that has a couple of sharp 15% sections in it and seems to go on and on and --------. Only a couple of miles but tiring.

I'll slow Nathan down somehow- Even if it kills him-Mick will be fine.