Every now and then the 'not so hot' bits of life have a funny knack of getting in the way of the things I love. Like cycling just for the joy of being on a bike. Not doing it because you have to be the best at it and smash all the goals, or because there are deadlines to be met for a project you've got to work on is something I lost sight of quite badly. When the memory of hopping on the saddle and just cycling the hell out of a weekend with no agenda feels like a distant one, it's time to reassess and re-connect.
Also, when something like a mini-stroke comes along, it forces you to wake the hell up... and to stay woke.
I'd actually started writing this blog post before that health-hiccup. Although scary, it's been a strangely good thing (even if it has slightly derailed the original flow of this post). It's making me re-assess enjoying life with a bicycle even more than I did when two weeks ago, I got back on the saddle and reclaimed #CoffeeCycleSaturday. There is no grand plan to those days other than to go for a ride, have some good coffee and food and see where the day takes me. Getting back on that vibe was brilliant.
So what was so good about that day? The fact it turned into an unplanned day of laughter, bikes and friends for a start. Me and The Boy headed out with no real agenda on a drizzly Saturday morning. We ended up in Rapha Spitalfields having coffee and catching some of the Strade Bianche with one half of Little Wheels and onenine9teen. Then we hopped on our bikes, found some interesting walls and did an impromptu photo shoot. After that, me and him decided to ride to Crystal Palace and check out Tandem Ciclo Cafe - a collaboration between our friends Terrone and Mario Presi. More coffee was consumed along with some tasty and much needed lunch. And then we went home.
The simplicity of that Saturday served as an excellent reminder as to why those kind of days cycling around the city are so good for the soul. There was no reason for them to stop other than letting life, stress and other stuff get in the way. That needs to stop, and more of these kind of days need to be my "normal" again. Now, that's something I'll gladly be popping on my agenda again... so here's to being happy on a bike for the love of cycling.
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