The road to hell is paved with good intentions, so the saying goes. Maybe the same can be said for the road to cycling fitness. Whether we’re planning to get out on the road or maybe get online for a virtual ride, sometimes life gets in the way.
That’s certainly what happened to Michèle Linton’s cycling. For years she would escape her difficult marriage with long rides around some of Scotland’s most beautiful places. “He became a very hard person to live with, so my cycling was my escape from that,” Michèle explained from her Ayrshire home.
Cycling isn’t a recent thing for Michèle, she’s been on two wheels most of her life, growing up around the town of Innerleithen, in the Scottish Borders, cycling was one of her two passions.
“It was a combination of cycling and horses, because I had a love of horses but my dad cycled, and from when I was a wee toddler, that was when I started cycling. I was up to all sorts with my friends on bikes and stuff.” However, adulthood brought Michèle more challenges than most, illness affecting her ability to exercise.
Michèle’s husband died in the autumn of 2025, and late in the year she was back on the bike, starting with a tentative 10 miler, but hoping to build up to some of those longer rides and has already entered the Doddie Aid ride, in support of MND.
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