Member Profile - Lisa Colombo

Lisa has been an active member of the Phoenix for over 30 years and until recently was the club's secretary with many years' service on the committee. She has developed the club website and blog and keeps the results and competitions tables up to date for us.

 

What’s your bike ownership history or what do you currently ride?

At last count there’s over a dozen bikes, a couple of tandems and a trike.  Unfortunately all of them require at least basic maintenance at the moment and since life dumped on me I don’t have the room to do the maintenance nor even find or access the necessary tools/parts from wherever they are stored.

None are modern, whizzy or especially lightweight, but they include the custom built race bike that I persuaded my parents to buy me for my 21^st birthday instead of jewellery – and which still sports the chainset that my club friends bought me for that same birthday. 25 years on it holds the enduring memories that a 21^st birthday present should.

How did you start cycling?

I liked riding my bike as a kid and did some moderately adventurous stuff – at least by my parents’ standards. My English master at school rode a bike and he was a member of the SWLDA, so he introduced me to the world of clubs and organised cycling in my early teens. I started with the Family Section, but was dismayed to find that although they were friendly enough they seemed to meet outside of the advertised gatherings and I felt excluded, so I tried the Cheam & Morden Section and never looked back.

What made you join Kingston Phoenix?

In the summer of 1982 I went into Richmond Cycles with my parents to buy some ‘proper’ cycling kit. They asked if I had ever considered racing, to which my answer was that I was a “confirmed tourist”. By spring 1983 I had made friends in, and joined, the Kingston Phoenix - because of the link to the Cheam & Morden - and when they all rode the Medium Gear 25 it was natural that I should do it with them. I didn’t give a second thought to riding a 25 as my first event.

What has been your most memorable cycling experience?

There have been many, so it is difficult to pick one. I have especially happy memories of cycle touring all over Italy; of a tour in Scotland where the group fell out with each other and went our separate ways for the day – I remember a beautiful sunny day all alone in the wilds of Scotland and the feeling of freedom of being all on my own and self sufficient, with everything that I needed with me in my panniers. I have many strong memories of riding and helping in TTs as well.

And then there’s the night of the Great Storm in 1987, it was a Thursday and a club night, riding home with a roaring tailwind, it was obvious there was something different happening that night. We went to Crockham Hill Youth Hostel in Kent two days later, a trip which required a lot of cross country travel as we navigated the bikes around roads blocked by fallen trees.

What has been your worst cycling experience?

That tends to be things like being knocked off the bike, something that fortunately hasn’t happened often in 30+ years of riding. I spent one Christmas on crutches in the late 80s when a car came out of a side road and hit my leg. Having things thrown at you from moving cars is not pleasant either, it happened once riding home from club many years ago, when the same car kept buzzing me, and also more recently riding from the car park to the start of the Consolation 25, a few years ago, when someone threw a full 500ml bottle of water at me from a passing car – you could see the ridges of the bottle in the resultant bruise on my backside.

Pete’s funeral rates as something of a best/worst experience too, it was amazing having so many people turn out for the procession, but it was his funeral...

What cycling / sporting achievement are you most proud of?

Again, so many to choose from. Finally completing a 12hr on the tandem with Pauline Casey for 220 miles rates highly – as a pair we were much better than the sum of the parts – even though beating the then Comp Record of 236 miles proved a lot harder than we imagined. Winning a Tandem 100 against actual competition is another – I have a trophy for that! I am also pleased that I managed to beat Pete in a race just once when I did 209 in a 12hr to his 202.

What are your plans for the rest of this season or next season?

No plans for anything. Life has taken away all my plans, hopes and dreams at the moment. I just need to get through this dark time and hope that there is a new life awaiting me after.
When anything bothered Pete he always went off on his own on his bike – I could never have imagined how painful that would become for me now that I can never go for a ride with him again – so even that has been stolen from me as an escape from my current problems.

Unfortunately not riding brings fatness & unfitness which makes group riding hard – it’s going to be a long and difficult return to life when I finally get the chance again.

Do you have any particular cycling or sporting heroes?

I loved Miguel Indurain, but was he on drugs too? – the whole drugs scandal has soured me somewhat on pro sport. Not so much because they were taking drugs, but because of the whole hypocritical action of the governing body that claimed to be trying to do something about it – and now we know they weren’t. I can understand the mentality of the riders – in the closeted world of pro cycling events if it’s something everyone else is doing then it doesn’t seem like cheating, or even doing anything wrong - but I don’t condone it. I also hope that my experience of amateur TTing is correct, that very few try to cheat by using drugs.

Sum yourself up in three words.

I am me.