Mountains Calling

I love the mountains. That’s not an overstatement. There’s a feeling I get when riding my bike in the mountains which I’ve never been able to fully explain. I just refer to it as my ‘happy place’ – nothing really matters at that point in time and those day-to-day real world stresses fade away.

I’ve been on both cycling and non-cycling trips to the French, Swiss and Italian Alps and Dolomites and it's always fascinating. There’s a feeling of calm, space and awe – which is interesting really, because the reality of being there on the bike can be quite different! You sweat, you hurt, you curse your legs and bike when you run out of gears, salt drys on your jersey and you realise that maybe Alpe D’Huez is a different animal to the local bridge you used for hill repeats. It’s absolute bliss!

I’ve a simple dream to one day live in the mountains and, until that is a realistic possibility, I want to visit as often as possible and share that joy with like-minded people. Which brings us to BikesandMountains.com. Welcome!

I intend to use this site to share my passion for bikes, for the mountains and potentially my photography. I'm no specialist - I'm a UK based, very average cycling fan, working a busy full time job like most other people. What I do have is some useful experience and amazing memories which might be useful, might inspire or might be nothing more than a nice keep sake. It's doesn't matter!

Some of this will take time to build and become the vision I have in my mind, but like Scott Stole once said, “A bicycle ride around the world begins with a single pedal stroke”. This post is my first pedal stroke, so let’s hope I’ve clipped in properly!

Allez! Allez!

#gettingstarted #dreams #beginning #blog #onyourbike #mountains #whyIblog