Slow Cycling Champion

Barely had I unpacked from our Northern Ireland trip when I had to head up to Glasgow for the Cycling Scotland conference, where some of you might have gathered on Twitter, I won an award:

Congratulations to @sallyhinch on becoming the Cycling Champion of the Year

— Kim Harding (@kim_harding) October 30, 2017

(my favourite response on Twitter to the announcement was “over what distance?” “Five years”, I suppose would be the most accurate answer …)

Anyway, it was nice to be recognised even if I feel a bit of a fraud as so many other people do a hell of a lot of work too. It did mean that I then had to work out how to cycle back up the hill from the station with not only a large glass weight* but a bottle of prosecco, a bag of chocolates and a rather delicate looking little pot plant. I feel certain that a real cycling champion would have managed but in the end I had to give the pot plant away to a good home. My shiny new pannier otherwise rose splendidly to the occasion though, and the chocolates certainly helped…

Cycling champion award loot

After a lovely couple of weeks off, and an energising and interesting two days (not something I would have said about the Cycling Scotland conference back in the day when it was usually a bunch of men in suits reading their powerpoint slides to you), I am hopefully now refreshed and ready to get back into the campaigning saddle for the next five years…

* As someone on the night commented, “Typical cycle campaigner, even when you give them an award they moan about it.”