Road cycling - Motivation to mountains (m2M) - Hello, fellow road bike riders.

Well isn't this a turn up for the road cycling how-to books? If anyone said to me at the start of my cycling exploits that I'd be sat here, typing an introductory blog post that introduced a website all about helping people get into road bike riding... Well... Let's just say I would have been a bit...

...But here we are.

When deciding to build this road cycling-based 'hub', it was never going to be my intention to create a long, self-indulgent memoir all about us, full of tales of how we rose from infants sat on two wheels and two stabilisers to being on the brink of pulling on that yellow jersey – and you’ll be thankful that it still isn’t.

Not just because We’ve missed the Tour De France boat by a good 20+ years or so, but because, quite frankly, who’s interested in our life and all the events that led to us getting on the saddle?

We're hoping you're here because you’re at the start of your cycling journey – whether that’s as a complete novice not knowing where to start, or a rider with a few miles under their belt, wanting to take their cycling to the next level – and you want to avoid the mistakes others make… some expensive, some painful, some hysterical… and set yourself up for the best possible start to your life on two wheels.

So to help you along, we've rewound the clock to our early riding exploits – reliving the lessons, the laughs, the outlandish lycra – and put together what we hope will be a handy resource packed with top tips, community, camararderie, and the occasional attempts at humorous anecdotes. All so you can not only avoid the same dumb-arse mistakes we've made over the years, but enjoy your new cycling life from day one – or whatever day you might be on.

Before we get into it, it’s important to note that this site, and things associated with it, are not designed to prepare you for the Giro d’Italia next year (or any other year!), it’s to equip you with the basic – but incredibly valuable – information you’ll need to get that first 30-to-50-to-70 miler under your belt. And while for some, that distance may seem like the Land’s End to John O’Groats Challenge (LEJOG) to you right now, you’ll be surprised at how quickly you can build up your knowledge, and physical and mental fitness to hit those distances. My personal journey started with a borrowed bike and a nervous feeling in my paunchy gut, but here I am 45,000-plus miles later sharing some wonderful experiences – things we wish we had known at the start of our cycling hobby.

No matter what pace, distance or elevation (riding up hills) targets you’re setting yourself over the next days, weeks and months, we cannot wait to help you achieve your goals – so why not sign up to the M2M Cycling forum and blog...

SIGN ME UP!

... And become part of what we hope will be an amazing road bike riding community, no matter what you're road riding ability.