Hi there, I wanted to introduce myself and say how fantastic it is to find a forum like this on the internet!

My name is Pam and I am returning to cycling for fun after a long break whilst I had my 2 kids. I used to cycle a lot up until my first was born and then somehow lost my nerve and it's only recently that I've got back into it. The only trouble is in the 12-15 year gap since I rode properly I've gained rather a lot of weight but I'm not letting it put me off

We are planning on a family ride from coast to coast (UK, not USA!!) this summer and I'm concentrating on getting my weekly mileage up so I can sustain 50 miles per day for 3 consecutive days.

I do have a couple of health-related questions (carrying excess weight, yeast infections etc) but will have a proper read of the forum before I post anything specific