Falling Back in Love with Riding — My Way Back to Joy
For so much of my professional career, every ride was measured, scrutinised, analysed, uploaded, compared, and shared. Numbers ruled everything. My value as a rider - and if I’m honest, sometimes as a person - felt tied to power files, race results, and whether my training session hit the exact targets on the screen.
At one point, I stopped riding with people altogether because my training was so specific it didn’t allow for company. Riding became work. It was what I did, not who I was.
And then, somewhere along the way, I realised I’d lost the simple joy that first got me onto a bike.
Letting Go of the Computer
These days? I don’t ride with a cycling computer at all.
One of my favourite rides recently was with my dad - the person who first introduced me to cycling, riding the quiet roads of Canberra side by side when I was little. We cruised along at an average of 16 km/h. We looked at each other, laughed at the number, and kept drinking our coffee and eating our cake. No pressure, no analysis, no comparison.
Just joy.
It reminded me of something I’d forgotten: your pace doesn’t define you. Your numbers don’t define you. The ride is allowed to simply feel good.
Why Slowing Down Feels Like Coming Home
For years, I believed the only “real” ride was one that built fitness, sharpened race form, or served a purpose in a training plan. Without meaning to, I let the data dictate everything - including how I felt about myself.
Riding slower gave me space to breathe again.
When you slow down, you see more. You look up at the sky. You notice the trees. You hear the wind. You talk to the person riding next to you. You finish the ride feeling fuller, not emptier.
And the most surprising part? You start to reconnect with the reason you fell in love with cycling in the first place.
This Is Something I See Especially in Women
I hear the same stories from women who ride our bikes:
- “I’m done chasing numbers.”
- “I just want to feel good on the bike.”
- “I want to ride at my pace, not someone else’s.”
- “I forgot how much I loved this.”
Women juggle so much - work, families, community, hundreds of tiny invisible responsibilities - and sometimes the bike becomes just another place where expectations are heavy.
Letting go of those expectations can be transformative. The joy returns. The confidence returns. The freedom returns.
A Bike Should Support You — Not Pressure You
Hosking Bikes was built for exactly this.
I wanted to design bikes that feel incredible when you want to push, but also feel welcoming, stable, and comfortable when you just want an hour of peace. Light enough to feel fun. Strong enough to feel confident. Considered enough to feel like it was built for you.
Your bike shouldn’t tell you how to ride. It should give you permission to ride how you want to ride.
Your Ride. Your Pace. Your Joy.
Falling back in love with riding isn’t about being slower or less serious. It’s about remembering that cycling is yours. It always has been.
It’s the feeling of rolling out the door and thinking, I get to do this. Not because a training plan says so. Not because a number demands it. But because riding makes you feel alive.
If you’re ready to rediscover what the bike can be for you - I promise, it’s still there. Sometimes all it takes is turning the computer off and looking up.