Suffering not essential

I hope that people aren’t deterred from taking up cycling by your front page claim that cyclists love to suffer (CW Oct 12) — I for one certainly don’t!

After trying a few time trials as a schoolboy back in the 1960s, I decided that it wasn’t for me. The thing was, I already knew about what it felt like to ‘suffer’. Between the age of five and 10, I was subject to vicious attacks of bronchitis after every cold — several of these per year, with two hospital stays due to pneumonia for good measure. The nights were hell — I had to fight for every single breath, and the appearance of our GP in the morning with antibiotic relief was nothing less than a godsend.

Then, at about 10 years of age, I decided to learn to ride a bike, and the improvement in my health was dramatic and immediate — from several chest infections a year to only one or two, rapidly dwindling to none. I fell in love with cycling, but riding those time trials felt just like my illnesses — so that was the end of my brief foray into racing. Cycling, however, became a lifelong pleasure, and I ride just to enjoy it to this day.

Eric Kwiatkowski, email