Born in 1965 in Hartlepool I can be described most definitely as a roadie. Even when I mountain biked I felt like an impostor. I took up mountain biking for something different in the winter, get covered in mud instead of salty road dirt ! I gave it up after two fairly scary crashes in the Coed-y-Brenin forest, still got the scar on my face ! (Picture)

I have been messing around with bikes for as long as I can remember, I love tinkering with them, mending them, upgrading them.

Most of my riding has been recreational, that's not to say easy though. I am not particularly fast by racing standards, can't really climb but I do challenge myself. I have cycled across the UK pretty much non stop; across America with the help the California Zephyr; over most of the French Cols that are used in the Tour de France. I am not your average 30 miles a go born again cyclist. I am not a gear snob either, I don't need the latest carbon fibre bikes but mine are what I want and I'm happy with them.

My earliest cycling memory was in my parents back room one Christmas. I was the very proud owner of a little orange (the colour not the manufacturer) bike with very fat tyres. I can picture myself riding round the room on it using stabilisers. I learned to ride with assistance on our batman bike. This was my brothers bike, so called because a friend of ours had one with a plastic batman doll mounted on the handlebars. It had a regular diamond frame and about 20" wheels I'd guess. My dad was holding the back of the saddle running along with me, I recall shouting 'let go, let go' to him after so many assisted runs. He had let go a few moments earlier, I was riding properly and I was thrilled with myself.

Throughout my childhood I had the usual kids bikes, but my first serious bike was a Hercules Balmoral, a green 26/27 " wheeled sit up and beg with Sturmey Archer 3 speed hub gears, Brooks sprung saddle and rack. I also had an analogue speedo with odometer connected to the front hub by a cable ! I kept my first training log for this bike, pledged to ride 1000 miles in its first year. I achieved my goal. I used to ride whenever I could, errands, paper rounds or purely for recreation. I was itching to go further afield but never did.

At University I bought a second hand steel racer from UB Cycles for transport use. This was my first 700c wheeled bike with drop bars (I did use my brothers 5 speed Raleigh Olympus for a while before I left home), I suddenly remembered how much I loved riding my bikes. 'I could go for day rides on this' I thought to my self, 'explore the countryside'. And this is what I did. I had no idea what speed I could achieve and therefore how far I could ride in a day. I planned a ride to Maidenhead which was 18 miles away. As it turned out I was back in time for lunch !

My first major purchase when I started my first job was a Raleigh Royal tourer which I still have. I didn't consider a racing bike, didn't know anything about racing. This bike was my only form of transport for over two years, used for commuting, shopping and my first tours to Denmark, Devon & Cornwall and East Anglia. I got the touring bug and in 1990 I cycled across America. By this time, no doubt inspired by Greg Lemond after seeing him at the 1989 Tour, I was in Paris for that time trial, I was the owner of a Peugeot Triathlon 531 a fast entry level racing bike. This bike was stored while the Raleigh & I were overseas.

After returning from the US, New Zealand and Australia I did a short, three week, ride to Normandy and Brittany. In the 13 months from June 1990 to July 1991 I completed 6500 loaded touring miles, though for six months in this period I rode hardly at all as the bike was left in Melbourne as I travelled around Australia by bus.

On getting back into the rat race I continued to cycle, occasional commuting, weekend recreational rides and trips to the Tour de France. In 1999 I got my third serious bike, spec'ed myself and saved for those special summer rides in the sunshine. I owned a mountain bike at one point. It was a custom made Bromwich, bought from a friend. It was made for a roadie in the days when mountain bikes were thin on the ground, it fitted me well and was well spec'ed, made from Reynolds 531 tubing like my tourer and Peugeot. I bought second-hand as I wanted a high spec bike that I could administer some stick to. I would hate to have paid £500+ for a bike which would career down hill sides, with/without me attached, get dumped in rivers and mud, thrown in the car. The Pink Peril as it was christened stood up to the task.

These days I am still mad on bikes, ride as much as I can though this is not as much as I'd like. Getting fit each spring always seems harder than the previous year but I still can't get enough of those endorphins.