Has it really been over 18 months?

I can't believe it has been that long since I last posted on here. Time really flies when you start to edge towards crumblyism!

Since I last posted, I reached full pensionable service with the police so I did the right thing- retired! Not before I had found other employment though. I cast my net far and wide and was offered a job as a caretaker/ janitor/maintenance bod at a Special Educational Needs (SEN) school in Berkshire.

A number of positives in this job- a) I still cycle to work. b) After 5 years or so of driving a desk and developing the expanded waist line to match, being on my feet most of the day has slimmed me down good and proper. c)The school, the students and the staff are great to work with.

One of my first jobs was to get the schools fleet of donated BSO's into a useable state and initiate a once weekly lunch time bike club. As a result, a number of older students are riding around on cheap MTB's, BMX's and upright trikes. I have also managed to raise some funds to obtain a couple of hand trikes and an ICE Adventure recumbent trike.

I have got to say that the change in career has been a breath of fresh air and I love going to work again. I continue to work part time at the local bike shop Saddle Safari and do one day a weekend, sometimes two as a sales droid and minor repairs fella.

As a result of this job I have attended some excellent trade shows, taken part in some events providing start line support and met some fantastic people. One of the good moments recently was when ICE came to the shop with their demo fleet. This included their legendary Full Fat trike which I got to play with for a little while (are you watching Coastkid?). A number of folk asked why anyone would want such a beast. My answer the them was "If you have to ask the question, you will never understand the answer". ICE (Inspired Cycle Engineering) make some fantastic machines. If you want fast, they've got the VTX. You want versatile, they've got the Adventure. Quick but versatile? The Sprint. And now we're back to the abslutely nuts- the Full Fat. Whatever you want ICE have it covered. I now have to convince my wife that we have room (and funds) for a Full Fat of my own. This could take some time......

Just a taster of the last 18 months- two years of The Secret Cyclists life. Hopefuly I will be a bit less tardy in future. Keep on riding folks.