How cycling saved my life ....again .... Firstly ill start by saying if I've posted this incorrectly feel free to move it . My first memory was my father taking me to my LBS and buying me a " Vellomos" in 1976 , a single speed kiddies bike. Then in 1979 getting my first road bike a Raleigh 6 speed kiddies version with which I did my first 40km ride at 6 years old . You can clearly see that my dad ( now 81) was really a keen Ryder and loved it that I rode with him . This carried on till I was 25 and then work ,girls , beer and life got me out of cycling . Now you also have to know that I have ADD and that without knowing it , the old man said to my mom he will not medicate me as a kid , rather take me riding. I was not aware that this was the reason but loved every minute. Even the 80km rides before high school , leaving at 3:30 am and the riding in the dark . Thankfully because of my dad and cycling I was able to focus, release stress and pass high school in 1991. Save No1 As time passed in my 20s I always followed cycling but got "stuck in" on building a career and landed up as a resident in a foreign country working in my ultimate dream "Aviation " . Here I met my ex wife and got married in 2007. In 2008 I had a lower back issue ( being 1,9m tall ) doctors say it normal . But I'm skeptical , as the " practice medicine " . As life is, I had the operation , it went really badly and left me with little feeling and sensation in my left leg . To top it all , within a 6 month period I lost my job ( due to being not able to work for 6 months recovering from surgery ) and got divorced. So long story short, back in SA from June 2009 with R500 in my pocket and seriously depressed and gaining weight. I was at home watching Tour de France and the thought came to me " You only felt content cycling " so lets try.. I had to work a while on my balance and recovering some movement in my leg before I could start riding . But in 2011 I bought a second hand Raleigh RC 3000 and started riding again. 2013 was my first 100km fun ride and I'm still going strong. As before cycling came to my rescue , my leg is so much better . No more back pain . I've lost 12kg so far and can do a 3hour training ride once a week while trying to juggle a semi employed situation. Mostly it cleared my head of the job loss , divorce and operation . Save No 2 It's not easy when u really want a carbon road bike and you have to save towards it and it disappears cause of some type of emergency you have but I've realized like the "back and leg" thing , it will take time. But mostly ,I'm grateful to cycling for saving my life again , life is a long road but its a much better from a bicycle seat. If you know someone who is battling , get them on a bike ! Delgado
