Getting started is a pain, for sure. I'm insulin dependent diabetic and exercise is a big-time priority. When I started road riding it was very hard, especially hill climbs. We have a hill here in the UK south east called Ditchling Beacon. It's not a massif by Alpine standards, but it is damned hard. It took a lot of on-road persistence but once I got the confidence to try it, I managed to climb it - once. OK, no prizes I know. But there is something about doing a thing like that that makes it all the better and it makes me want to go further afield, hence one of the reasons I'm going off-road now. That'll open new avenues, new scrapes, new hills, but I look forward to getting better at it. Keep going with your riding. You will reach the point where you literally turn the corner and it all clicks into place. A lot of work getting to that place perhaps, but the rewards to your health, confidence, well being cannot be measured!

Well done!