JULES RICHARDS, 39, started cycling to get fit for a marathon after breaking his back. Quickly progressing to JOGLE and long-distance triathlon, he had to reduce his training time when he became a father and changed career in quick succession.
"I grew up in Cornwall, so surfing and skateboarding were my thing. It wasn't until I broke my back snowboarding in 2001 that I started exercising to keep myself healthy. In my mid-20s, I came out of hospital after having my back brace removed to find I'd got into the London Marathon, so I started training on stationary bikes.
"After the marathon, I got into triathlon, so that's when I bought my first road bike. The following year, in 2008, I attempted the ride from John O'Groats to Land's End with friends to raise money for charity. I worked for an oil field company at the time and the job allowed me to work around my training.
"When I moved to Bristol, I retrained as a personal trainer and my own exercise had to take a back seat, so my training wasn't very structured. After my first child was born, I realised the sporadic working hours of a personal trainer didn't work with family life (I was up at five in the morning, out the door to train other people, then often quieter in the middle of the day, then working again from 5-10pm). I looked for something that would fit better. A client was a deputy head and she said she thought I'd be a great teacher, so it went from there.
"I started my PGCE course when my eldest daughter was 10 months old. I felt that, with a more structured timetable, as long as I knew what my training was going to be and communicated with my other half Zoe, it could become easier. I now work my training sessions around things we're doing as a family - if we're going down to the coast and I've got a long ride to do, we'll take the bike and I'll ride back.
Denne historien er fra March 2023-utgaven av Cycling Plus UK.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent ? Logg på
Denne historien er fra March 2023-utgaven av Cycling Plus UK.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
Air Apparent - Pollution hasn't gone away. It's still there in every lungful, even if we can't see it in the air or on the news. But there are reasons to breathe easier, thanks to pioneering projects using cycling 'citizen scientists'. Rob Ainsley took part in one...
The toxic effects of pollution have been known about for years. 'Just two things of which you must beware: Don't drink the water and don't breathe the air!' sang 1960s satirist Tom Lehrer.Over recent decades, though, pollution has dropped down our list of things to worry about, thanks to ominously capitalised concerns such as Climate Change, AI, Global Conflict, Species Collapse, etc. That doesn't, unfortunately, mean the problem has expired. Air quality often exceeds safe limits, with far-reaching and crippling effects on our health.
No limits
Not every adventure needs to be that epic, says bikepacking Scotland founder Markus Stitz
UNBOUND UNLEASHED
Josh Patterson was one of 34 starters for the inaugural edition of Unbound in 2006. Now, with more than 5,000 riders taking part in today's event, he charts the rise of the most important race in gravel
FOREST COMMISSION
Looking for a goal race in 2025 that'll stimulate the synapses and live long in the memory? You'd struggle to do better than ENID CRV in Finland
15 OF THE BEST ADVENTURES
Featuring Yorkshire, the USA, Sri Lanka and more, here are our picks of the world's greatest gravel races and routes
The stuff of dreams
Ned sings the praises of the Paris Olympics road-race course
"I rode 3,000 miles around Britain on a bamboo bike to highlight our climate crisis"
Recordbreaking cyclist and triathlete Kate Strong, 45, took to the road to raise awareness of environmental issues
FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE
We venture into the hidden gem of the glorious Creuse, one of France's least populated regions
STAR TREK
New tube shapes and carbon lay-up makes the eighth generation of Trek's legendary Madone an aero and climbing bike all rolled into one
GOLD RUSH
With conflict around the world, Paris 2024 was a ray of light. Here are our highs of a mighty Olympics