Cycling or generally sport is so much more to us. None of us were born in to a sport loving family or picked up cycling in an early age. Our parents were actually not into any type of sport other than walking (if you can call walking a sport). So sweating for hours, pushing our limits and challenging ourselves on a daily basis came a lot later in life.
One thing for sure, it all started with cycling. Anything else was an addition. Interests came from different angles, let it be cycling loving colleagues talking about high-end bikes or the workplace setting up fundraisers for great causes. Different reasons, one aim, cycling. Whoever find us on this site or social media know by now that we dream and live cycling. This is how we met each other, met our partners and many good friends. It is now part of us, part of our daily lives and connected to everything we do. Our homes are full of bikes, bike parts, turbo trainers, helmets and all sorts.
When we picked up cycling, it was still not as big as it is nowadays. Especially female participation in cycling clubs was very low. We had one choice when we joined a cycling club, do or die. We rode hard, had our treats and felt proud. Every session, however, became a training session and a survival camp. We did not have garmins or any kind of gps computers to find our way home so we had to "hang on" to the wheel in front of us and not let it pull away. Yes, we became stronger, more confident and better cyclists for it. The first few years of your cycling life are always amazing, you want to do everything. Every weekend ride, every weekday laps or sessions, every sportive and every cycling holidays. So when we felt we became pretty good, we added running and swimming because why not pick up another two discipline and make things even more difficult for ourselves?? Hmm...question we asked ourselves plenty of times, believe us. Triathlon is an amazing sport, challenging, hard and you continuously learn. Every day and every session for the rest of your triathlon days. It's also egoless because it's you versus you. YOU have to do the job without any help so there is no place for ego or it's over.
We originally wanted to complete one triathlon then we thought, why not a longer one, why not abroad...and the obsession started. We found ourselves training for an Ironman. This training was different and probably requires a whole different blog post but we can tell you the truth, it wasn't 'Easy'!!
After becoming Ironman which is an amazing achievement, our training and generally our mindset towards cycling and sport changed. We were tired all the time, we felt like we may not want to go for another ride, or run or swim...EVER. But one day a message was pinged to each other.
"DO YOU WANT TO GO FOR A POOTLE?"
Do you know the feeling of seeing the usual sights from a different perspective? Like noticing things you didn't notice before because your eyes are not peeled on your Garmin or Wahoo to see your average speed, your power and heart rate stats. We actually chatted on the bike! And when we stopped, our coffee & cake break extended the time of our ride. This was a totally new feeling and we LOVED IT! It doesn't matter if you are new to cycling or have been pedalling for years, you can enjoy this sport without pushing every time you go out. Of course we still push sometimes, you cannot just stop the adrenaline rush and feeling of achievement but it doesn't have to be at all times. AND you also don't have to change your apparel. You can still wear beautiful and funky outfit that tells the world, you are not out there to kill it that day (although you can feel incredible smug when you pass people wearing 'Easy' kit!!).
We want to wear what we believe in and how we feel on the day. We want to send the message out to every sport loving people that it's okay to take it easy from time to time, no matter if you ride or run or gym or you only do it for COFFEE and CAKE! There is enough 'push, power, watts, ride hard, do or die' out there so why not just take it Easy? You exercise, keep fit and enjoy life's gifts! We don't think you should make lemonade when life hands you lemons...but take it Easy and go for a ride instead! You will get so much more out of it! Agree?