Like most people, I rode as a child but then lost that when I hit my late teens. As I child I roamed all over the place – as far as going to see my elder sister over 11 miles away – a long way back then! I had two bikes growing up; the first was a handed down Raleigh, complete with hard tyres and hand painted red and blue by my Dad. Being one of seven, things like bikes were always pretty much second-hand hand me downs! I desperately wanted a Raleigh Shopper around the time I was 14. My Dd said I couldn’t have one for Christmas, but if it snowed in June, I could have one for my birthday on 23rd of that month. You can imagine my joy and his shock when it actually snowed on 2nd June (thank you, weird British weather!). My Dad was true to his word and a metallic olive-green Raleigh Shopper arrived, complete with white basket on the front and white saddle bag in the back. How I loved that bike! (Side bar – I only recently found out that my elder sister, who lives in the family home, only threw it away a few years ago!!).

Anyway, cut to 2006 and I was a committed runner. A friend in my runner group was getting married in September 2007 and announced to us that he wanted to do an Ironman Triathlon for his stag weekend. I don’t know who was more surprised when we all said yes, him or us! So the Winter of 2006 / 2007 found me riding after a hiatus of about 22 years…. It was my first ever road bike and was a Giant TCR Composite in black and blue and cost me £750 on the road. An amount that I thought was huuuuge. Little did I know. Now, with the benefit of hindsight, I know it was a terrible bike and no wonder there were many tears as I tried to train for a 112 mile Triathlon bike leg! I could not understand those people who had bike parts all over the house and the whole 1 +N thing. If I tell you that several years ago I got rid of my dining room table and chairs so I could hang my bikes on the wall indoors, well, I think you can see how much that attitude has changed!

It’s a long story, but doing that triathlon in 2007 led to a bit of a swerve of career, that lead me to working in event management for triathlons and anything swim bike run related. And this lead me to being on the Alpe D’Heuz. At the time, I was riding a Trek Equinox that I had “rewarded” myself with after completing the Ironman in September 2007. Arguably, I should have got it before the event and not after…. Anyway, at the time, the company I was working for sponsored a Tri team with Planet X TT bikes. The Equinox had an aluminium frame. Myself and the two guys I was working with decided we would have a race up Alp D’Heuz. They told me I would never win on a TT bike and an aluminium one at that. They were wrong! The deal was that they supplied me with a Planet X Stealth – carbon frame – if I won. I did. And they kept their word. It’s unlikely that I will ever ride that bike in anger again, but I love it so much.

It has seen me through Ironman Lanzarote, Challenge Roth, various shorter distance tris and a healthy TT career, culminating in winning the Ladies Championship for the North West.

Along the way, I have “gathered” the long term lone of a BMC SLR01, Cannondale Synapse, Giant Hybrid, Whyte Gravel Bike, hand built carbon mountain bike (which is for sale, incidentally – it’s a 29er), and whilst I was living in the Netherlands, I bought a 1980s Dutch bike to get around which I brought home with me and served me well for several years! I’ve learnt about cycle racing, have a hideous amount of kit, can bore anyone to tears with my cycling rambling and have a long list of events and routes still on my list; cycling along the old Iron Curtain, from the southern tip of Spain to the northern tip of Norway, across Canada – did you know there is a dual use pathway across the whole of Canada whereby you can cross the country and never need to go on a road? And then a myriad of routes in Britain. I’m a huge fan of bike packing and can’t wait to retire so I can disappear, just me and my bike, proudly wearing my St Piran kit across the world. My goal this summer is a relatively simple 62 mile route around the Isle of White. Richard – I’m coming at you for kit!!

Anyway, when Richard asked me to write this, he wanted to know what cycling means to me and where I found St Piran. This last few years I have been waiting for shoulder surgery and am waiting to see if whatever is going on in my spine is a temporary crumble, or an actual life changing thing. In the last 18 months, this has stopped me riding as much as I want to. So, right at the moment when I need to ride, I can’t. Because I am sure I am not along in using it to manage my mental health. Not that appreciation of MH was even a thing when I started using it for that! I miss it hugely and frequently pat my bikes hanging on the wall as I pass them (just me??). I came cross Richard and St Piran on Linkedin. I liked the low-key element – it was clearly based around love of the bike and the people and not a corporation with the ability to throw millions of dollars / pounds / euros at it. And those teams have their place, of course! Cycling the pointy end is undoubtedly changing, but I feel that Richard keeps hold of the grass roots. And I have a soft spot from grass roots!

Meet Emma Tilston