Cycling is a passion of mine. I love it. Time spent on my Cannondale Synapse Carbon is always worth it.

But it hasn’t always been this way.

I started small. It wasn’t long ago that 10 miles seemed like an eternity and I was happy to average about 11mph. It also wasn’t that easy to get into the sport because the people who were good at it didn’t really make it accessible to others. You see, if you walk into a really nice bike shop and don’t already know what a rear derailleur is and why you need one on your bike then you have a 1 in 2 chance of getting treated like you’re stupid, worthless and generally not a “good match” for cycling. If you can’t ride 70 miles at 18mph then you really shouldn’t join “our ride.” It’s sad too because the people who have the most to offer to someone new to the sport are often the people least likely to offer it.