All,

I’ve been riding again for two weeks now after laying off most of a decade. My knees told me a few weeks ago, “You have a choice. Get back into cycling or get fat, because we %$#@ quit.”

Had two good rides the past two days on the Salisbury Plain. We rode from Netheravon across the plain up to the top of Sidbury Hill and back. Yesterday when all the tracks were frozen hard, it was “exhilarating.” I rode out alone between two snowstorms. Fantastic views! Today was a lot warmer. What was frozen solid yesterday was a slog today! I got the better ride yesterday, but the better workout today. So it goes. I did learn that a 40 year old in trainers and what we Yanks call sweat pants (go ahead and laugh hard….) on a nackered, cheap Huffy (waiting on the Pleistocene ’88 Connondale to get out of the shop) breathing hard after an uphill climb through mud is no small source of amusement to a 12 year old on a BMX bike. Apparently….

Anyway, in the past two weeks I’ve done a lot of reading and web surfing and a lot of basic riding across the plain. In so doing, I’ve generated a few questions with which I’m going to bore you. So in no particular order:

- Riding posture. Do you spend most of your time “up on the pedals” or “on the saddle? One site I visited said most of the time riding XC should be spent off the saddle. Curious to see what you all find best.

- Uphill. Odd question and hard to verbalize, but as a runner, I HATE to see folks swing their arms in any plane except back and forth. Any cross motion (and mostly I see women do this cross-body arms thing when I see it) is a waste of energy. In that vein, when you all are slogging up a steep hill, do you rock your bike from side to side or keep it vertical?

- Downhill. My mate said, “Get as far back as you can.” So said a webpage I read. Issue is the saddle is back there so I can only get as far back as the saddle allows?

- What in the HELL is hucking?

- Riding kit. After reading a lot, I’ve determined that at a minimum, I need to have in a bag or on the bike, some spare tubes (1 or 2), a patch kit, a basic med kit, my emergency information, water. What am I missing? What do you always take when riding (helmet and eye protection a given)?

Thanks in advance! I have a long way to go to get back into biking shape. Amazing how much different “bike shape”, “running shape”, and “swimming shape” are. A mix of the three is probably where I need to be at 40.

Cheers, and I’m hooked. I can’t help but think if I’m having this much fun on a piece of crap Huffy, I’ll have twice the fun on my Pleistocene Cannondale. I’ll probably have four times the fun once I pry open the coffers for an updated bike.


Paul in Harnham, Salisbury