{"id":177434,"date":"2020-04-10T11:46:34","date_gmt":"2020-04-10T11:46:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/?p=177434"},"modified":"2020-04-10T11:46:34","modified_gmt":"2020-04-10T11:46:34","slug":"tales-of-inspiration-discovering-the-joy-of-cycling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2020\/04\/10\/tales-of-inspiration-discovering-the-joy-of-cycling\/","title":{"rendered":"Tales of Inspiration: Discovering the Joy of Cycling"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cIt was the most empowering and emotional thing I had ever done, women of all abilities giving<\/em><\/strong>
\nit a go and conquering their fears, grinning as they crossed the finish line.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Some of us come to cycling as children and never look back, for others, it is something that is
\ndiscovered later in life or that evolves from casual hobby to an all-consuming passion as the love
\nof the sport has time to develop. For 52-year-old Elaine Plant, her now enthusiastic dedication to
\ncycling was ignited in 2014 when her husband entered a charity ride and she decided to tag
\nalong, riding a rusty mountain bike she had dragged out of the shed.<\/p>\n

She\u2019s certainly come a long way since that first 15-mile trek (that involved a lot of pushing her
\nbike up hills). Despite having done relatively little in the way of sports prior, Elaine is now
\nproudly completing events, winning medals, and even competing in time trials. She\u2019s also gained
\na whole new community of friends and is eager to encourage other women to give cycling a try.
\nWe Love Cycling talked to her about how she developed her skills so quickly, the value of local
\ncycling clubs, and why she thinks everyone should enjoy the simple pleasure that is riding a bike.<\/p>\n

Tell us how your cycling journey began.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Prior to 2014, I didn\u2019t have much time for sports. I have three children and help run our family
\nbusiness. I had dedicated the years to bringing them up, loving it, of course, but never taking the
\ntime out to do things just for me. Although my husband and I had done some skydiving together,
\nI didn\u2019t have much in the way of a hobby. Even when my husband bought a road bike, I was
\nadamant that I was NOT going to ride one \u2013 I mean, just look at the saddle! After my charity
\nbike ride on a very heavy mountain bike, though, I started having second thoughts. Once I\u2019d
\naccepted that a road bike would be much lighter, my husband bought me a lovely Cannondale. I
\nstill remember my first outing; I couldn\u2019t pull the brakes hard enough and he had to stop me at
\nthe bottom of a hill with a junction! I realized it was going to be a big learning curve!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Well, you\u2019ve certainly come a long way in just over 5 years! What role has your local<\/strong><\/em>
\ncycling club played?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

My husband heard about a local cycling club, Bicester Millennium, through a friend from work.
\nHe joined and loved it so, true to form, I was soon to follow! This was a real turning point. I
\nlearnt how to safely ride in a group, how to use my gears properly when climbing, progressed to
\ncleats (fell off a lot). But most of all \u2013 I made friends, I had a life outside kids and work, it was a
\nrevelation!<\/p>\n

How does your current lifestyle and fitness level compare to before you started cycling?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

It is a lot different! Since I started cycling, sportives have been entered and medals proudly
\ngained. I gave time trialling a go last year and have since treated myself to a proper time-trial
\nbike. It was like learning to ride all over again! The moment when I finally broke the 30-minute
\nmark for a ten-mile TT had me in tears, my lovely friends were all with me and were so happy
\nfor me!<\/p>\n

Who are the friends you cycle with?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

We call ourselves the Bicester Belles and we literally do everything together. We are currently
\nsupporting each other through this horrible time and have all planned a holiday together in
\nSeptember (if it happens). This is one of the best things about cycling, in my opinion, the
\nfriendships you make.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

There are a lot of initiatives to get women on bikes. Do you find men and women are<\/strong><\/em>
\nequally represented in your cycling community?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Since joining the club, the increase in female cyclists has been amazing, sometimes in our group
\nrides the ladies outnumber the men! Our club, although still male dominated, has a large female
\nmembership and we are definitely seen as equals. The only thing that still annoys me is the kit.
\nUnless we can get a minimum number of ladies to order a specific item for club kit, then we have
\nto have the male version. Chamois made for men, jerseys with longer arms for men, etc. If you
\ngo into a cycling shop, the kit is invariably for men, sometimes a few pink bits in a small female
\nsection! I\u2019m particularly fond of the work done by VeloVixen though. They provide female kits
\nthat fit all shapes and sizes; it is such a breath of fresh air and even led me to cyclocross.<\/p>\n

Cyclocross is a big step! How did you get involved?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

My friend who works at VeloVixen, Fran Whyte, is a keen cyclocross rider. Years ago, when my
\nhusband took up cyclocross she tried everything to persuade me to try it. I was too scared, too
\nunfit, not good enough, etc. Finally, last winter Fran and her team had a goal to get a record
\nnumber of women on the start line for a cyclocross race at Milton Keynes. The Belles and I
\ndecided to take up the challenge and, terrified, found ourselves on the start line along with 160
\nother nervous ladies. It was the most empowering and emotional thing I had ever done, women
\nof all abilities giving it a go and conquering their fears, grinning as they crossed the finish line. I
\nwas hooked and bought a cross bike, along with the other Belles and we entered every race left in the season!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

That\u2019s wonderful! Based on the experience you\u2019ve had so far \u2013 do you have any advice for<\/strong><\/em>
\nwomen who might be nervous about giving cycling a try?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

I would say to any lady who wants to begin cycling \u2013 but is maybe too nervous or worried about
\nwhat she might look like \u2013 just do it! Find the joy in the simple pleasure of being out on your
\nbike, reach out to other ladies who enjoy the same thing and challenge yourself to do something
\nthat scares you, the payoff is an elation like no other! Your self-confidence will soar, your skin
\nwill glow, you will tone up and lose weight and you will be healthy and happy \u2013 but most of all,
\nyou will be you again.<\/p>\n

A big thank you to Elaine for sharing her uplifting story during these challenging times. It is
\nanother testament to how strong the cycling community is and to the fact that we\u2019re all here to
\nsupport each other. Stay strong, stay healthy, and keep riding!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cIt was the most empowering and emotional thing I had ever done, women of all abilities giving it a go […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":177435,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[334],"tags":[4060,4058,3681,1982,2872,4059,398,3590],"global-categories":[3366],"class_list":["post-177434","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-socialising-and-culture","tag-bicester-belles","tag-cannondale","tag-cycling-inspiration","tag-cycling-with-friends","tag-cycling-women","tag-elaine-plant","tag-family","tag-family-and-cycling","global-categories-cycling"],"yoast_head":"\nTales of Inspiration: Discovering the Joy of Cycling - \u0160koda We Love Cycling<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"\u201cIt was the most empowering and emotional thing I had ever done, women of all abilities giving it a go and conquering their fears, grinning as they\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2020\/04\/10\/tales-of-inspiration-discovering-the-joy-of-cycling\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Tales of Inspiration: Discovering the Joy of Cycling\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u201cIt was the most empowering and emotional thing I had ever done, women of all abilities giving it a go and conquering their fears, grinning as they\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2020\/04\/10\/tales-of-inspiration-discovering-the-joy-of-cycling\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"\u0160koda We Love Cycling\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-04-10T11:46:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2020\/04\/qq.webp\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1094\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"729\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/webp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"ondrejfilgas\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Megan Flottorp\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"7\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2020\/04\/10\/tales-of-inspiration-discovering-the-joy-of-cycling\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2020\/04\/10\/tales-of-inspiration-discovering-the-joy-of-cycling\/\",\"name\":\"Tales of Inspiration: Discovering the Joy of Cycling - \u0160koda We Love Cycling\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2020\/04\/10\/tales-of-inspiration-discovering-the-joy-of-cycling\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2020\/04\/10\/tales-of-inspiration-discovering-the-joy-of-cycling\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2020\/04\/qq.webp\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-04-10T11:46:34+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/#\/schema\/person\/9e2e86835e0bb27fb0d57ed5a91e76af\"},\"description\":\"\u201cIt was the most empowering and emotional thing I had ever done, women of all abilities giving it a go and conquering their fears, grinning as they\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2020\/04\/10\/tales-of-inspiration-discovering-the-joy-of-cycling\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2020\/04\/10\/tales-of-inspiration-discovering-the-joy-of-cycling\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2020\/04\/10\/tales-of-inspiration-discovering-the-joy-of-cycling\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2020\/04\/qq.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2020\/04\/qq.webp\",\"width\":1094,\"height\":729},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2020\/04\/10\/tales-of-inspiration-discovering-the-joy-of-cycling\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Tales of Inspiration: Discovering the Joy of Cycling\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/\",\"name\":\"\u0160koda We Love Cycling\",\"description\":\"\u0160koda We Love Cycling magazine\",\"alternateName\":\"\u0160koda WLC\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/#\/schema\/person\/9e2e86835e0bb27fb0d57ed5a91e76af\",\"name\":\"ondrejfilgas\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/02fc81aabb3935fbbc0730be0dad75bfa59dd0ad02d2945f9121c307ebd1bace?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/02fc81aabb3935fbbc0730be0dad75bfa59dd0ad02d2945f9121c307ebd1bace?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"ondrejfilgas\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/author\/ondrejfilgas\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Tales of Inspiration: Discovering the Joy of Cycling - \u0160koda We Love Cycling","description":"\u201cIt was the most empowering and emotional thing I had ever done, women of all abilities giving it a go and conquering their fears, grinning as they","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2020\/04\/10\/tales-of-inspiration-discovering-the-joy-of-cycling\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Tales of Inspiration: Discovering the Joy of Cycling","og_description":"\u201cIt was the most empowering and emotional thing I had ever done, women of all abilities giving it a go and conquering their fears, grinning as they","og_url":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2020\/04\/10\/tales-of-inspiration-discovering-the-joy-of-cycling\/","og_site_name":"\u0160koda We Love Cycling","article_published_time":"2020-04-10T11:46:34+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1094,"height":729,"url":"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2020\/04\/qq.webp","type":"image\/webp"}],"author":"ondrejfilgas","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Megan Flottorp","Est. reading time":"7"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2020\/04\/10\/tales-of-inspiration-discovering-the-joy-of-cycling\/","url":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2020\/04\/10\/tales-of-inspiration-discovering-the-joy-of-cycling\/","name":"Tales of Inspiration: Discovering the Joy of Cycling - \u0160koda We Love Cycling","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2020\/04\/10\/tales-of-inspiration-discovering-the-joy-of-cycling\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2020\/04\/10\/tales-of-inspiration-discovering-the-joy-of-cycling\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2020\/04\/qq.webp","datePublished":"2020-04-10T11:46:34+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/#\/schema\/person\/9e2e86835e0bb27fb0d57ed5a91e76af"},"description":"\u201cIt was the most empowering and emotional thing I had ever done, women of all abilities giving it a go and conquering their fears, grinning as they","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2020\/04\/10\/tales-of-inspiration-discovering-the-joy-of-cycling\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2020\/04\/10\/tales-of-inspiration-discovering-the-joy-of-cycling\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2020\/04\/10\/tales-of-inspiration-discovering-the-joy-of-cycling\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2020\/04\/qq.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2020\/04\/qq.webp","width":1094,"height":729},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2020\/04\/10\/tales-of-inspiration-discovering-the-joy-of-cycling\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Tales of Inspiration: Discovering the Joy of Cycling"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/","name":"\u0160koda We Love Cycling","description":"\u0160koda We Love Cycling magazine","alternateName":"\u0160koda WLC","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/#\/schema\/person\/9e2e86835e0bb27fb0d57ed5a91e76af","name":"ondrejfilgas","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/02fc81aabb3935fbbc0730be0dad75bfa59dd0ad02d2945f9121c307ebd1bace?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/02fc81aabb3935fbbc0730be0dad75bfa59dd0ad02d2945f9121c307ebd1bace?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"ondrejfilgas"},"url":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/author\/ondrejfilgas\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177434","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=177434"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177434\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":177440,"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177434\/revisions\/177440"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/177435"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=177434"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=177434"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=177434"},{"taxonomy":"global-categories","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/global-categories?post=177434"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}