So I took young Reuben for his first proper ride at the weekend. And, seeing as he seemed to have such a lovely time, I’ll let him tell you about it:

“I was so excited to be going out for a long ride! I’ve spent lots of time just commuting, and that’s ok, but it’s not much fun. Not compared to the promise of a Proper Ride at any rate, even if Aidan said this wasn’t going to be very long. (I have a feeling he might say that too often.)

“We set off on a bright, sunny day. Aidan had already done the parkrun before we set off, which I was annoyed about, because it meant we had a late start and it made him slow, while I just wanted to keep going faster and faster. Unfortunately we couldn’t really, becasue we were heading north along the coast, and the wind was coming from the north too; I kept wanting to change to the middle or top chainring, but Aidan wouldn’t let me and we stayed in the bottom range for most of the way out.

“We stoppet to take some photos; Aidan took some photos of the scenery, and also my portrait - very exciting, although I wasn’t feeling at my most photogenic with panniers, a saddle bag and lots of lights all over my handlebars! We rode past a big crash; I was very glad we weren’t involved at all, as all those cars and the fire enginie were much bigger than we were. It meant we had to take a slight diversion, but that was ok, as it gave me a chance to practice climbing hills.

“We took another slight detour away from the coast road to go through the Carnfunnock country park. There are some funny names around here! The path was reasonable, and it kept us away from the smelly cars on the road (although there weren’t all that many).

Further up, we stopped so Aidan could have some lunch; he’s so greedy! When we stopped, he also said he could see Scotland and the Lake District, and mountains with snow on them, but I’m not sure I believe him. Shortly after that we turned round to head back. This was much better - we had the wind behind us! It was very exciting, feeling the wind through my spokes for the first time; I almost went up to top gear at some points! By the time we were back in Belfast, Aidan seemed pretty tired, but I would have like to go much further. Maybe next time!”