This year, I’m riding just for fun – no pressure, no pace

I fell out of love with cycling for a while. I think it was halfway around a loop of London’s Richmond Park, sometime last year, while chasing a PR, when the thought hit me.

I hate this.

Ok, hate is a strong word, but I wasn’t enjoying any of this anymore, so why am I doing it?

The cold and icy winter here hadn’t helped. In previous years, I would have layered up and braved the conditions for the sake of training, under the pressure to keep up. I would have strapped on my heart rate monitor and followed a program given to me by a coach. I would have fought to maintain the appearance of being a strong rider.

Admittedly, I am no longer a twenty-something, nor a thirties in that matter. I’ve had my time of looking good in my kits and entered races where I got to test my strength. And yet, ask me about the atmosphere of the hilltop village in Italy when we sped past it during a Gran Fondo event, or what the mountains looked like when I tried to chase down a pack of club team riders, I couldn’t tell you, and the club riders didn’t notice the scenery either.

I love cycling, but I wasn’t having fun.

So recently, I’ve decided to don a tutu over my kit whenever I can join a ride with my local cycling group, the local branch of London Cycling Campaign, which encourages anyone with any bike to come along for a ride to the pub and back.

Why a tutu, you ask? Well, have you ever seen a tutu and not smiled or laughed?

Exactly.

Don’t get me wrong, I still want to be fit. I am now training more for a healthy body in my later years than to prove anything. I have always been an active person, after all, and I will still bike, run, and lift heavy at the gym, but I will no longer stress about my performance or compare myself to others.

Because, quite frankly, I just want to enjoy my life and have fun.

It’s easy to forget that cycling is supposed to be fun. Today’s social media landscape hypes us up with young, pretty influencers or marketing associated with major cycling events. We can get sucked into believing that we, normal people with jobs and responsibilities, can achieve the FTPs and Watts of professionals, and how much time we can shave off by cutting corners or finding ways to make our bikes another gram lighter.

Stepping back from this mentality, I’ve finally found love with cycling again. It is still fun to do the odd race from time to time, and it is still satisfying when I know I can get stronger, but I no longer stress about it.

So my resolution this year is not to optimise my training so I can hit a target FTP or to climb faster than before. I am prioritising fun, with or without tutu!