Racer!

When I started out, I was just riding a comfort MTB to try and keep fit, along with going to the gym. I was packing on the kilos after ending my rugby union career after dislocating my shoulder. Running was a great weight loss routine addition, but after only a few months, my knees and ankles said NO! After a while, I transitioned to a road bike and began riding with a local social group, most of whom were club racers. I was out the back before you could say "wait up", but I stuck with it. A little while later, I happened to get my daughter into track racing as we lived across the road from our local track at the time. After sitting and watching her for the last half of the race season, I decided I wanted to try this out for myself and got a track bike. I trained throughout winter with the intention to be a track rider, but the other road riders asked me why not ride both, it's no extra license fee? So once the summer season kicked in and I got my race license, I rode both. That was 6 seasons ago now, and I'm firmly into the racer category. I have found that it is the competition that keeps me going to ride more and to get better at it. I have really struggled to keep myself fit when out of organised sport, be it competition or regular social meetups.

Prior to me getting my track bike, I would have definitely told you that I was a tourer. Most of the regular road riders in the social group I was part of rode long rides of 100km+ on a regular basis, and I was envisaging doing exactly that. But once I tried track, the thrill of the speed had me firmly in it's grip, and my weight didn't matter so much as I had power to go with it, just not long term power.