Nadia: human owner of bikes

Hi, I'm Nadia. I live in Luxembourg and work as a freelance translator. In theory I could say I've been cycling all my life - I started at four and used bikes pretty extensively for transport and fun when I was growing up. But then I had a very unhealthy (and drunken) phase in my 20es and early 30es. I did "rediscover" bikes when Vélib' was introduced in Paris in 2008 (and rediscovered Paris at the same time, from a new vantage point. Ah, bikes. ❤️ Ah, Paris. ❤️), but I only really obsessively got into cycling once I stopped drinking and then became a health nut from 2014 onwards (via a running detour, which I had to abandon when I fucked up my Achilles).

First I had a hybrid called Roger, who I used mostly on roads, until I met my bike buddy Chris on one of these rides and he got me into MTBing on the South Downs (at this time I was still living in Brighton, UK). From there I bought my first road bike Milo (RIP), then replaced my hybrid with Ziggy, a full suspension Giant MTB, and got Karl as a shopping/everyday bike. At this point I was still running as well as cycling, and was doing moderate distances (1500-3000 km/year).

Things got a bit out of control when I moved back to Luxembourg. First I upgraded my road bike to carbon (Melusina) and did extensive road cycling, then in January 2020 I bought my beloved Saša and in September of the same year started cycling with Tristan. 2020-2023 were my most bike intense years, with 11-12k km/year. Most of this is in and around Luxembourg, my excuse reason being my old cats preventing me from going away for too long. But to be honest, I also don't feel a need to. Luxembourg is such a varied place and cycling is such a great way to discover every single corner of it (aided by the fabulous Wandrer) that I don't feel I am missing out. Tho, I admit, the few bike trips in Belgium, France and Germany I did do with Tristan have also been great.

Apart from cycling I do strength work and yoga (and enjoy it, most days 😅), and I've also started running again, keeping below 10km tho. I used to be creative - sewing, drawing, stuff like that, but mostly I don't have time for that now. I'll get back into it once I can no longer cycle! Which I hope will be a long, long way off...