Greetings!

Welcome to Bikes and Brains! I’ve created this blog as a result of the ‘Let’s Talk About Cycling and Mental Health event which I curated at Look Mum No Hands cycle café in London on 7th Nov. 2017 I thought it would be a good idea to provide some kind of follow up. If you want to listen to what went on during the evening you’ll find your lugholes will be so obliged over on the Wheel Suckers Podcast courtesy of Alex of LMNH and Jenni of  London Bike Kitchen

The  aim here, primarily, is to provide those who cycle and who have experiences of mental health issues with a space where they might contribute their individual stories. In between will be me offering up my own history, raising a few questions, pondering some observations. I’ll try not to get too self-indulgent…

The idea for the evening emerged, as can often be the case, after a beer or two (me) when I was attending an event at the venue in July where the US racer Ayesha McGowan was speaking to blogger Jools Walker. Jenni Gwiazdowski of London Bike Kitchen was there on podcast duties and I also chatted to Alex Davis who is a stalwart of LMNH team. Ayesha touched on the subject of anxiety in relation to racing – it galvanised my desire to explore the link between cycling/cyclists and mental health (depression and anxiety for the most part). Lots of emailing ensued and by October we had finally arranged the evening. We had such great feedback from the event that I thought it was important to try and keep some momentum going.

I’m planning to arrange another London evening in March and there are plans a-foot for a similar event before that in Manchester in the second half of February. Bristol is another area I would like to investigate putting on an event.