The Fabulous 5 #4: I hated sport and clipless pedals had me in stitches

Judith Rout, Committee Member

With a decent bike, I felt confident enough to have a go riding with the women’s group of WVCC. Of course, there were no women rides during the time of lockdown so I took my courage in both hands and joined the regular Sunday riders. I needn’t have worried, it was great. The steady group were very welcoming, very friendly and much to my delight, I found I could keep up with them. I love cycling!

I’ve now had a go racing at Bruntingthorpe (came last), tried out a time trial and had a go on the track at Derby. They were all things I never imagined myself ever doing and I thoroughly enjoyed them all. But the best thing of all is just getting on my bike and going out for a ride in the countryside.

I’m still a pretty rubbish cyclist. I’m certainly not very fast, I’ve fallen off too many times to count, my bike handling skills are dire and my move to clipless pedals was rapidly followed by a trip to hospital for stitches. But I still love it.

In fact I love cycling so much that I’m evangelical about it. I’ve been out riding with quite a number of people new to cycling and I’m really excited about the prospect setting up a Breeze rides with WVCC. These are women only bike rides for all abilities. It’s about getting more people doing more cycling. So I’m now on the WVCC committee to try and help do just that. It’s all still new to me and I’m looking forward to learning lots more but I guess that you’re getting the message that I’m completely addicted.