like riding a bike - (simile) Said of skill that, once learned, is never forgotten.

This week started with some difficulty. For many years, I have been a hockey player, representing a club in Solihull. A couple of seasons ago I suffered a knee injury and I’m not entirely sure I have recovered from it or if I will properly. I makes riding a bike in the next three days after a match uncomfortable. Now that I have made a more pronounced financial, personal  and emotional investment in cycling, I have decided that this season will be my last as a hockey player. It means I can maintain a level of fitness through cycling without subjecting myself to the harsh twisting and heavy impact that is affecting my joints so severely these days on the hockey pitch.

This is a shame. I was a late developer as a child, I would regularly be last to be picked for football and was a pushover in a very literal sense on the rugby field. I always enjoyed sport but wasn’t very good at most of them. While I was encouraged to cycle from a very young age, I got my first mountain bike at the age of 14 and started representing my hockey club at men’s level at 15. From that point, my previously stunted physical development progressed at a less inhibited rate.

This was until, aged 19, I was struck by a car while crossing Prospect Lane in Solihull and I suffered a compound fracture of the tibia and fibula of my left leg. Cycling played part in my recovery  - I got a cheap but cheerful Ridgeback mountain bike a couple of years later, and within five years, I was back training and playing hockey and since then, for about the last twelve years, hockey has come first while, until recently, cycling was regarded as a Spring/Summer activity to maintain a certain level of fitness and some fair weather commuting.

This attitude changed with my recent commitment to cycling all year round and this has brought about this week’s difficulty. A combination of continued injury problems and my girlfriend’s recent birthday celebrations had given me four week’s respite from hockey and I was really enjoying my scenic commute to work. I decided to play one more game of hockey before the mid season break. Mistake. I was not able to ride on Monday or Tuesday this week. This put me in a bad mood at work and generally made me feel somewhat more sensitive to the old Winter Blues. Excercise is nature’s Prozac, after all.

I was determined to cycle this morning, despite my aching knees, which had recovered to a degree. I peered between the curtains at about 7.30am and noticed there’d been a frost. But as I say. I was determined today. I just put on an extra pair of gloves over my usual ones, and I was away.

Riding a road bike in icy conditions is a new experience. I cornered gingerly, maintained a conservative speed and made sure I was going straight when braking. What I had not contended on was the wheel spin when pulling away from junctions. I had stayed in a high gear and when I transferred my weight from a trackstand into forward motion, the rear wheel span a half turn before I started moving forward, my 25mm wide Continental tyres not finding much grip on the back roads of Kings Heath.

I had decided not to take the scenic route. I did not know how much the country lanes of North Worcestershire would be affected, I assumed they would be more exposed and icier. I thought that if I was going to crash, much better to do so where someone might witness it and come to my aid! I decided to travel from Kings Heath to Longbridge via Brandwood Road, Moneyhull Road, Parsons Hill, The Green, West Heath and join Longbridge Lane at the Grovelly Lane roundabout. This is quite a lumpy route but not so hilly that you expect long, grinding climbs. Usually I sprint up the hills and allow the pace built up on the decent to take me a way up the next one. This morning, I was being cautious and didn’t want to attack the hills in this manner. I decided to find a pace I can use for longer ascents as I intend to attempt bigger hills outside Birmingham and outside my comfort zone in 2012.

I am thoroughly happy with this morning’s ride. While it was not very long (10km), it has reminded me that I am able to brave the elements and to break out of a rut when I have reverted to travelling to work by public transport for a few days. I have also learned a couple of valuable lessons about what to expect during a frost, how to handle the bike and react to slips and also how to pace myself for the adventures I’ve planned for the forthcoming year.