A Brief Look Back
It’s just over a year since I started up the Bikes and Brains Blog and admittedly the posts have been a bit sporadic as I’ve juggled writing, organising the occasional evening, the day job, the riding, and the fluctuations in my own mental wellbeing. This is still a work in progress… it’s just that the progress is at a slower pace than I’d planned. What I’ve achieved so far is in no small part to those who have so generously contributed guest posts. I tip my hat to their willingness to write about their own experiences so honestly. I hope that reading these may have resonated with your own life, or perhaps given you some insight into the experiences of someone close to you. Feelings of isolation and loneliness are often unwelcome bedfellows to depression, anxiety, and the like. I hope that the feelings and thoughts in the posts here have lessened those a bit.
My warm thanks to: Jo McRae, Lesley Pinder, Emma Cooke, Mildred Locke, Graeme Willgress, Geoff Waugh, Anna Dingle, Robin Sheeran, and Stefan Puno for their posts. Also to Alex at Look Mum No Hands, Holly and colleagues at Rapha Manchester, and Krysia and co. at The Bristol Bike Project for hosting Bikes and Brains evenings. My gratitude to the contributors Adele Mitchell, Jools Walker, Bruce Karsten, Roann Ghosh, Tom Hill, Jules Sprake, Christine Evans, Eleanor Jaskowska, Ian Walker, Chris Taylor, and to Rebecca Charlton for providing hosting duties at LMNH.
If you ever want to contribute to the blog then give me a shout, or if you know someone who might like to please encourage them to get in contact (have a look at the ‘Submit a piece’ page for guidance). I’m also hoping to arrange more evenings in 2019 so keep an eye out. I’m happy to take suggestions for places to hold them.
I have mixed emotions about this time as one year slips into the next. Like many who are all too familiar with anxiety I find planning for the future somewhat… challenging. I also feel a slight sense of loss at those amazing moments I am leaving behind – the change of year seems to box those up, pushing them a little out of reach. Still, this temporal compartmentalisation does provide encouragement to move forward.
Whatever your 2018 has been, I hope that your 2019 will be more, better, perhaps just different. May the wind be at your back and the gradient in your favour. Best wishes, Sarah. London 31/12/18
Bikes and Brains 
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