Becoming a roadie.

Eek! It wasn't that long since I used to laugh at the mere thought of me on a road bike.  Back then, (early 2010) the thought of riding a bike with drop bars and skinny tires seemed so alien to me.  I had ridden MTB's since my teenage years. 

Gary the snail (enjoying some mud)

However, for those that have been reading my blog from the start you will know that since my re-found love for cycling, I quickly outgrew my hybrid and needed a speedier and lighter bike than my MTB to keep me pedalling.  So along came "Super Ted" - a cylocross bike.  A bike that would be able to withstand rides down the rough coast path and bridleways as well as being good on the roads.  Amazingly, despite my anticipation about curly bars, etc, I took to him like a duck to water and soon saw all the advantages to a lighter nippier bike.  Awww Ted, he's such a dream to ride and just what I needed to help my cycling progress.

Than along came "Paddy".  It was intended that he would be my winter hack bike, something to protect my beloved Ted from the harsh winter along the coast path and something that could take mudguards to protect me from the mud.

However, with the arrival of summer, Paddy is evolving into a "proper" road bike.  The metamorphosis into "The Padster" began when I decided that he would be the bike of choice for our French adventure (Mikey is taking his Cervelo so I thought it would look less odd, than taking my CX bike). So as it's not long now, his mudguards are off and this weekend he will be having a change of tyres, into some slicker and skinnier ones.

It's not just the bike that is going through a transformation though, as I have also noticed a change in myself. Most significantly, the main change is that now when we go on an off-road ride on the MTB's I really struggle to find my Mojo and find myself looking forward to getting off the single track at the places where we have to cross roads to the next bridle path. Don't get me wrong I still love the thrills of riding the tech-"ier" stuff and enjoy the rides but not quite as much as I used to.

The other change is a little more subtle. Back in the day I cringed at the thought of wearing tight cycling clothing - opting for baggy tee's, but in the last few months I have been wearing cycling jerseys and in preparation for our first cycling holiday I have been getting myself set up with a few new bits and bobs - some white road gloves and a spangly white jersey. LOL. All I need now is a pair of white roadie shoes. .... Shh... don't laugh, I'm serious. 

.... In order to complete my transformation into a true "roadie" though, I still need to ditch the baggy shorts.