I'm Peter, 17 years old and just got back into cycling. I'm pretty keen, and I've already learnt a lot from my dad and his mates who ride.
I kinda forgot about cycling when I was about 6, but after my trip to Japan in October, seeing all the people riding there, it kinda clicked in my mind that cycling makes a good deal more sense than thundering about in my old Landcruiser. So when I got back from Japan, I had a dig under the house and found my mum's old Bennett 10-speed from her Uni days, and that got me back to base with my cycling(and made me look quite ridiculous at the same time
). After going for a ride with me, my dad was horrified that his $4000+ Specialised Rock-Hopper couldn't keep up with a mug on an 70s 10-speed ladies bike
A few weeks into riding that back and forth to school, one of dad's mates called up and offerered me his old road racing bike, as he was getting a newer one(blue framed Giant with Sora gears). So a few days after, we went and met this mate, and I was given an Apollo III road bike. On the first day I had it, it ate the rear derailer due to a bad setup, but literally seconds after that happened, a bike mechanic pulled up and offered to fix it...
A week later, the Apollo was back and my goodness, after the Bennett, it seemed twitchy and difficult, but now I'm used to it, I know the Bennett wouldn't be able to keep up for an instant. So fast, so agile, and incredibly entertaining, makes the school run seem just a little too short.
I don't have any of the cycling gear aside from a helmet, but first on the shopping list is a speedo!
If there's an event somewhere around Wollongong that won't grille a newbie like me, I'll see if I can tag along.
Cheers,
Peter
