It’s funny, I never thought I’d ever enjoy road cycling. I thought it was just riding. To be fair most of it is, but you can have fun and make it an adventure. When you find someone to do it with you can chat along the way, stop for a coffee and even go on an overnighter.

Where it began.

Now, I have actually only been road cycling once. I can tell many will stop reading at this point, but hold on! I love it and I think you will enjoy hearing about my adventures I haven’t yet been on.

A few months ago I went for a long ride along the east coast of Australia. When I say long it wasn’t really, it was the longest I’d been on. But I cheated, I had an electric bike. I use it to get to work every day, and it’s good for that. But it does take away the challenge. You don’t have to push through any mental or physical blocks other than getting bored.

My brother and a good friend brought road bikes; my brother, an old Mongoose from the side of the road, and our friend brought his mum’s bike. The three of us love mountain biking and each have a nice dual-suspension, so the idea of going on a long trip with no jumps or burms didn’t excite my brother and me. I was intrigued though because our friend felt the opposite. Before we started mountain biking together he actually cycled mostly on the road. So I wanted a taste of what he loved about it.

Anyway, long-story-short we all had a fabulous time. Lunch at Subway and chilling by the beach between long stretches of beautiful beaches made all the difference. The seed of road cycling adventure was planted in me.

My first solo ride.

I’m writing this on a Sunday, and yesterday I went for my first short solo road cycling adventure. I don’t know much about how these rides usually go, but mine went something like this.

Before the ride, I got my Garmin Connect app open and planned a route. The trip started from home and went to Kingscliff beach and back. I sent it over to my Forerunner 245 Music and got ready for the ride.

Since I live on a hill, the start of the trip was a piece of cake… until it wasn’t. I came to the bottom of another hill, and it was steep! The bike I was using didn’t have very good climbing gears and since it was my first ride my legs weren’t used to that stress. So I ended up hopping off the bike and walking it up the hill. That felt like forever!

After getting to the top it was all good. The rest of the ride to Kingscliff was downhill and flat, and I found one of the things I love about cycling most. Road cycling is fast! Of course you can go slowly if you want, but the geometry and position your body’s in makes you naturally go faster. The feeling of going the same speed as cars in a 50 zone is quite nice.

The ride to the beach wasn’t really that far, but it was my first solo ride so it felt like enough. I found a bench, locked my bike up and got ready for a swim. Like I said earlier, I don’t know how rides traditionally go, but it just felt right to get in the cold water since I rode all that way in the hot mid-day sun.

After having a quick snack I started heading back. My return trip brought me past Macca’s, so I stopped to get a small latte and found another nice place I could drink it.

After climbing the hill to get home I sat down and reviewed my ride in the Garmin app. Since I love looking at stats and tracking my health I quite enjoyed this. A Garmin watch is definitely a well worth investment in yourself since you can use it to track many aspects of your health and possibly use it to motivate you to reach higher goals.

What now?

After this trip, I’ve discovered a new hobby that I am so glad to have. Since the NSW government has put us in lockdown, I’ve found it hard to be motivated to exercise and get out in nature. But road cycling, mountain biking and running have helped me to keep fit and enjoy this world we are so blessed to be a part of.

So now I’m going to try something new and honestly a bit scary for me. I’m going to start this blog and write about these adventures. It’s something I’ve always wanted to try, so now I figure is the best time to start.

I hope this post has motivated or at least entertained you. You can follow me on Instagram @Jessals04 where I post about these adventures.

See you again soon,
Jess