Middle aged woman on a bike
Is there a time in our lives when we should start to adjust what we dream of doing? Or should we carry on planning big goals with the assumption that we will still be able? This is a question I've been asking myself recently, as I look at what big miles adventures I want to take on next.
If you were to pay heed to the comments below any news article about the Highway Code, the building of cycle lanes, clean air zones, or low traffic neighbourhoods you might think that everyone hates cyclists. In fact, unless you have your head in a bucket of sand, you'd be forgiven for thinking that everyone who isn't on two wheels feels we are responsible for all the ills in the world and therefore all drivers were simply out to get back at us.
I identify as a late-onset cyclist. While I pedalled around the neighbourhood growing up, it wasn’t until later—at twenty-three when I purchased a used department store bike for a cool fifty bucks—that I fell in head over heels in love with the sport.
Cycling sucks. Well it used to for me – it was a self-destructive obsession. I started cycling during a low point in my mental and physical health. I was underweight and had a hip stress fracture due to obsessive over training for an ultra-marathon. I couldn’t run, so I started cycling…..
It’s that time again. The end of the year, and that time when we naturally look back at the last 12 months and reflect on all we have, and haven’t, achieved. It depends on your perspective whether you see success or disappointment....... An optimist might argue that it’s pointless to look back, after all, the past is done and it can’t be changed, we should focus on the future
I don’t know what caused my latest flare up, but once it starts it's a spiralling cycle of feeling dreadful, then feeling better, then a sudden urge to stay close to the bathroom, and then the inevitable hopelessness in knowing that you have little control over what happens when you’re away from your home unless you starve yourself. This is what living with IBD looks like…..