Alex's cycling anecdotes

Just some anecdotes from my short career in cycling you might be interested in.

I started “serious” cycling rather late in life. I will be 67 years old in January 2011 and started riding a bike after my retirement from the New South Wales Fire Brigade in 2004 as a way to keep fit and healthy. I saw too many firefighters  retire from a dangerous and active working life and let themselves “go to seed” from inactivity. I decided that wasn’t going to happen to me. So I bought a Giant straight bar road bike.

All went well for a while but as happens my enthusiasm started to wane. It was too windy, it was too cold, it was too hot, you know the story. So for a few years my enthusiasm for cycling waxed and waned and I started to put on weight and my fitness declined. I needed some reason to get off the couch and out on the bike. So I jumped in the deep end. I decided to have a go at road bike racing.

I live in the Hunter Valley not far from Newcastle in NSW. The Hunter Valley Veteran Cycling Club hold races every Sunday morning at Kooragang Island just north of Newcastle so I went over to have a look. I was amazed to see somewhere between 70 and 80 riders turn up to race. From youngsters in there thirties to real old buggers older that my self. They raced in 6 grades from A to F based on ability not age. This look like just what I needed.

So out I went and bought an Avanti Cadent road bike. Not too expensive but good enough for me to have a go. As the roads I would be racing on are a bit rough I paid and extra $200 for some Mavic Aksium wheels on the advice of the boys in the shop. They also put the bike on a stand and advised me on the correct set up for myself. Got some fancy lycra gear and shoes and I was ready to go. Or so I thought!

Sunday morning comes around and off I go to Kooragang. Got there early and paid my dues to Cycling Australia for membership of the International Cycling Union, $10 race entry fee and I was chomping at the bit. The race handicapper asked what my experience was and I said “absolutely none, never raced a bike in my life”. Righto he said, F grade. Then my first big mistake. I said “I am pretty fit and am probably better than F grade”. He smiled and said “OK, have a go in E grade”.  

It was a scratch race with each grade taking off separately at timed intervals, each grade being a separate race. Off they went, A, B, C, D, then we were on the line. The starter counted down and then I was racing for the first time in my life. About 15 in the bunch and I was in the middle totally clueless. I had no idea about racing in a big group. I kept leaving a gap of about two meters from the bike in front of me and did not have the confidence to get any closer. I was surprized at how fast they where going, some of these blokes looked older than me and there were ladies in the bunch. To cut a long story short halfway around the second of four laps I got unceremoniously dropped. What a way to start my racing career!

Undaunted I turned up the next Sunday. Went up to the handicapper and said “I think I better go to F grade”. “Already got you there” he said. Bugger knew I had over reached. F grade raced over three laps and to my utmost joy I stayed with them for the whole race, even sprinted for the line. Finished about second last but I was in there at the finish.

Now I have raced about twelve times. I am up there sprinting for the finish every race and have claimed two third places. Won $20 and $10 respectively and I suppose, having accepted prize money, can call myself a professional cyclist. Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would do that!

I am now totally hooked. I have lost eight kgs and am now fitter and healthier than I have been in years. I ride regularly every Saturday morning with a bunch of enthusiasts from Cessnock and race every Sunday morning. I go through withdrawals if I miss either ride. My aim is to win a race in F grade and get good enough for the handicapper to boot me up a grade. Might never do it but I am having a ball trying.

The racing has provided an extra benefit for me. I am a Vietnam Veteran and still have “issues” from the twelve months I spent there. When I am riding my bike, especially when I am racing, those issues become insignificant. There is only me, the bike and the road and the great new friends I am riding with.

So the moral is “it’s never too late”. The couch is your enemy and the bike is your friend. My goals are modest but never the less they are something to aim for. If you are a keen cyclist and want a bit more have a go at racing. doesn’t matter if you never win, just being part of it is enough. Trust me.

Alan Miles.