The Reasons Behind This Blog

   I feel it's only right to use the first post here on the new blog to introduce myself and explain the thoughts and reason for beginning this record of my cycling travels through the fens of East Anglia. Firstly let me say I am no cycling expert nor am I one of those colour coordinated athletic cyclists that you see flying through your village on a Sunday morning, in fact, I'm quite the opposite.

   I'm a 54-year-old lampwork bead maker who moved out here to the fen village of Upwell around 16 years ago now, before living most of my life in the village of Ashwell in Hertfordshire. My work means I'm lucky in the fact I can work my own hours but it also means I'm sitting down for long hours, which is not a very healthy situation.

   Two years ago when I was weighing just over 28 stone, I realized if I wanted to live more than a few years then I had to do something about getting fit and losing all the excess weight. To do this I started by walking every day enjoying the rural beauty that the fens offer, but soon I had the idea of cycling which would mean I could explore further afield than just the village in which we live. To me this was a huge jump, the thought of people laughing as they saw this fat guy wobbling along on a bike was one that played on my mind for weeks, but in the end, I decided my health was far more important than worrying about what others thought. And so I took up the challenge and with the mountain bike placed into the car, I drove out to a quiet fen around 10 miles from my home. There I rode the bike up and down the quiet road until I felt comfortable without the worry of passing motorists seeing me.

    Now I know this will sound silly to some but when your big and spend most of your life hiding behind baggy clothes than to be out on a bike in public really wasn't the easiest thing to do, trust me. I decided my first cycle was to be along a few small back roads in our village and so at 9.30 am(after the rush hour traffic had passed), I set off. Within 30 minutes and out of breath I was returning through the gates of our cottage, feeling rather ashamed of myself and the state I was in. But I did continue and within three or four weeks I had managed a huge five-mile ride which to me then was a major achievement. It was around this time that my wife Yvonne obtained a road bike for my birthday, a beautiful black and red bike which looked like something you see in the Tour de France. It was placed into my workshop and stayed there for a number of months. You see all I kept thinking about was how heavy I was, would the tyres burst if I got on it, would the frame be strong enough to take my weight, etc etc. And so this went on until I had lost the first few stones, by which time I was beginning to feel a little better about myself and once more the new bike was packed into the car and again heading off to my quiet fen.

   Then came the first ride on the new road bike, it was a sunny evening and after waiting until 8pm knowing the roads would be quiet, off I set bent double after the upright position on the mountain bike and feeling a little unsteady, to say the least. But I must say even though it wasn't the most comfortable cycle I felt bloody great when I returned home. Now over the next few autumn months, I put in some long miles and even through the winter I continued cycling most days until I was doing around 15 miles every morning. The weight started coming down, not fast but it was slowly lowering which in turn was making me feel better about myself.

   Now it's mid-summer and I'm six stone lighter with another three to go, the daily cycle is now 20 miles and twice weekly I do two longer trips from 30 to 45 miles each time. On my travels, I now take pictures of any interesting gems of the fen countryside I find and the fen villages I cycle through, these I have been placing on my facebook page to share with friends and most seem to find them very interesting. So it was with this in mind that the idea of this new blog was born and we'll see how it goes. The main aim is to show off the wonderful fen countryside and the many places I visit, from tiny hamlets to the stunning old market towns that stand proudly in the flatlands. Also just maybe watching my journey of weight loss and regaining fitness may help others to do the same, if so I'd be over the moon to know others were improving their health and at the same time are out there enjoying the miles of beautiful country lanes we have here in the UK.

   I will try to update the blog at least once a week and sometimes more, some posts concentrating on a single village or town, others may well show the complete cycle route I've made. But most of all I'll try my best to introduce you all to the outstanding world of the fens, cycling further afield as I go until I hit that magical 100-mile target, which may take a very long time, we'll see.