off in a few months and it absolutely did and I started to cycling everywhere not just lectures but to see friends. Did use caution so obviously if I was going out for drinks, maybe not cycling and definitely got caught. Because in Bermuda, because it’s a bit further south like, it gets dark quite consistently throughout the year. But obviously here it gets dark really early. I remember a couple of times getting caught cycling to uni and then realising it was like pitch black at four o’clock. And then like having a harrowing cycle journey home in the dark without lights because I didn’t know it was gonna be dark! [laughs] So that happens. But I guess for me cycling was just a way of getting out in the fresh air. Getting to where I need to be without spending money, but also being healthy, and fast forward seven years, that’s still the case. One hundred per cent! [laughs]

## [Transition]

Susan: I think the thing with cycling it is that you can go cycling all day and it’s like a day trip. It’s like you’ve had, you’ve had a day out in the country, you’ve gotten away from everything. And especially what I found at the time... whoopsie... Especially at the time, I found that if you’re out of the house all day, you can’t do all the stuff that you feel you ought to do or need to do, and it gets you away from it. So, I suppose that was more... one reason why I got into cycling, and I was cycling... They were a friendly group, but it was all men. And so there’s, they were nice, but a little bit patronising. [laughs] Quite a bit of mansplaining. [laughs]

Dulce: When you joined the club, had you been cycling for a while?

Susan: Um, so let me see. So, I... No, no, no, no, no. So, I just, I suppose I’ve not thought about it... no, I hadn’t really actually tried cycling anywhere at all on my own before I joined them. I just turned up one day with what I thought was a light, fast bike, which was a really a heavy hybrid with front suspension that was too big for me. And I cycled with them. And it was the most... I can’t forget that 30 miles, it was the most painful 30 miles.

Dulce: Were they all on carbon bikes?

Susan: Yeah, some. Yeah, on the road bikes or so. I mean they were on faster, thinner tyres, you know, and stuff like that, or so. And especially with a bike that was just too big, because when I bought it from the bike shop, I bought it new. And I just bought it how... They didn’t really advise me.

Dulce: I was gonna say. Isn’t that what bike shops should do?

Susan: No, no, they were just selling a bike. I wouldn’t recommend that bike shop to anybody, I never do now. And like when I got on it, and I was riding it. And I didn’t know any different because obviously growing up as a kid, when you ride, when you start off with a bike, it’s too big, because the expectation is that you’re going to grow into it. [laughs] So, no, I rode with them for a while. But then after a while it was starting to like get to really boring stuff like Ordnance survey maps, and start working out different routes in it. …But that was a nice little adventure, trying to plan your different routes and stuff like that as well.

Dulce: So, how did you then get into, like touring in different countries?