Al's Ride Club

Thanks for joining me here and on ROUVY. I started cycling as a way of exercise in 2009. I enjoyed racing for a 50+ team ABLOC for a number of years.

During my cycling ‘career’ , I rode against some of the fastest ex-pros here in the state of Texas. I was fortunate to have a great team behind me. I managed to win a number of events that I entered including many 1 day races and a 2 day stage race. It was great fun and I met a lot of great athletes.

Unfortunately, while training In 2014, I sustained a back injury which sidelined my riding. After some therapy, I returned to cycling, but not competitively. I continued to ride group rides and the occasional “t-shirt” ride, which also was quite competitive. I rode almost every day, taking Friday’s off. My goal after racing was just to stay healthy into my 60’s, 70’s and 80’s!

In 2023, I sustained an injury to my right knee and left wrist. You can read more on another post here. It was because of that injury, that I discovered ROUVY. I did start with Zwift, but quickly discovered the AR of ROUVY and loved it!

Honestly, ROUVY has saved my life! I began in late January 2024 as my motion to my knee returned and got back onto the bike. I started with Zwift, but 2 weeks into it, I heard about ROUVY. I was already getting frustrated with the “game-boy” environment. ROUVY changed all that. However, it was a long road to my recovery. I didn’t start to feel good about riding until about May 2024. Then I took June 2024 off. Since that time, my riding has gotten more consistent and my strength began to come back.

After almost a year now, my strength and flexibility in the knee is almost 100%. I still notice some stiffness and areas of ‘scar tissue’ that I will notice after a long climb or hard effort. Overall, I’m just happy to be back!

Lately, I have made a lot of connections and virtual ‘friends’ on ROUVY and sharing our experiences through STRAVA. You may ask , “why go to the trouble of making a blog” for my fellow riders? Well, I think it’s a great way to stay connected and share our riding experiences.

We all have our stories and love to share them. The virtual ride community is no different.

I hope you will join me on this journey and share your rides with me! I’ll post some rides and stats for fun. Feel free to let me know which courses and challenges you like best.

See you out there!