So – driving home from a business trip today, I get a call from my wife to tell me that the garage has been broken into and two of my bikes have been stolen. Any kind of theft can leave you feeling pretty sickened – especially where some invasion of personal space is involved – like a break in of some sort. Things are even worse when they take something of real value. I don’t mean financial value, I mean real personal, sentimental value.

It’s strange how some possessions  become so valuable to us and the thought that someone else can take them so easily with no real idea what they’ve actually stolen. Anyone who knows me, even a little bit about me, will know how important my bikes are to me… like most cyclists I know really. Bikes are more than just possessions. Most of us have put a long term effort in caring for them, choosing parts for them, and then there’s the memories attached to them, the journeys we’ve made on them. Bikes are a symbol of escape.

However, they can be replaced. The bikes I mean… I can buy new bikes. In fact, I can even borrow them. Within minutes of posting a ‘Stolen Bikes’ newsflash on facebook, it was shared all over the place and I had offers of loan bikes if I wanted to get out for a pedal…. and that’s what they can’t take. If I close my eyes, I can remember nearly every pedal stroke I’ve put in on any bike I’ve ever owned… and I’ll own many more. They’ll also be plenty more memories to come and plenty of opportunity for new adventures. Some things get lost, some things are taken from us, most things can be replaced… always take time to appreciate the things that can’t.

there’s info on the bikes that were stolen on my facebook page. any info would be appreciated.

So, here’s Stuart’s quick guide to managing stress by managing commitment.

I have a habit of over committing myself, taking on too much and being afraid to say ‘no’. This is often because I worry too much about what people will think if I say no… Will they think I’m unreliable? Will they decide I’m not worth bothering with in future? Will they stop liking me? The beautiful irony of the situation is that this usually results in saying ‘yes’ too much, having too much to do and not managing to get everything done. This ends in being unreliable, letting people down, and being stressed about that. It’s a bit of a spiral of terror.

So, first part of the plan: Think before saying ‘yes’. Have I got time to do this, without dropping other things and can I do it to a level that I am satisfied with? If the answer to any of that is No, then it’s better to decline and explain why. People will thank you for it. In order to avoid feeling like I’m letting someone down by saying ‘no’, I try and have a couple of suggestions of other places/people they could look to for help.

That’s all well and good, but what happens when you get that wrong, or when urgent things crop up unexpectedly? It’s time to rationalise your to do list.

1. Make a list – do you have a list? I mean an actual list… it doesn’t have to be in order, I sometimes even use a mind-map. I’m not a particularly linear thinker. The important thing is to have everything written down so you can see what you’re dealing with.
2. Prioritise! Natural instinct is to focus on the big things, there’s always more than one too… so where do you start? Start with the easy stuff. This way, you get to cross stuff off the list early. You’re working around the edge until you’ve whittled it down to the big stuff in the middle and you’ve no distractions left.
3. Delegate! You don’t have to do all this yourself. Are there tasks you could ask someone else to do for you? Perhaps one of the things you’re stressed about is that you might not be the best person for the task… so who is? Go find them.
4. Reduce your commitment. There may be things that actually don’t need done at all. Ask yourself if it will really matter if it’s not done. If there’s a chance it won’t matter, then you can back out of it. ask the other party if they wouldn’t mind if you gave it a miss, or at least delayed it till there’s more time. This can be a massive relief.
5. Get support. This is a biggy… Often, stress and anxiety comes from feeling isolated and unsupported. If you’re now down to the big things on the list and you’re sat staring at it worried about how to go about it, stop and think about what support you need to achieve this thing. Support can come in many forms; extra time, help from someone else, having someone cheer you on, all sorts of things… so think carefully about this. The world doesn’t work by everyone doing everything for themselves… people help each other. Also, it feels good to help someone else, doesn’t it? So, give someone the chance to feel good by helping you.

OK, so this is no exhaustive list and it doesn’t always work… but there’s a good few things in there that can be applied to many situations. I hope this is useful to some people… A big reason for writing it down though, is so I can refer to it myself. I may even print it out and stick it on the fridge.

Total distance looks around 450 miles, over 5 days. Leaving Cardiff on Tuesday 18th June and arriving in Edinburgh on Saturday the 22nd, ready for some evening celebrations.

Regarding accommodation though, and trying to keep the costs down, how happy would people be sharing a twin room?

please assume that this would be same sex sharing, unless you come as a pair… Also not going to force the issue and would probably give an option on the registration for a single room… With additional cost.

John, has his own reasons for caring about the importance of mental health awareness, and it was great to talk through the highs and lows of my challenge, as well as look forward to next year.

Stream or download the podcast here, or search for Sofaboy Chronicles in iTunes.

I appreciate that this interrupt next year’s Tour De France, which I know will bother at least two people as they will be in France podcasting. However, this is also the a great time in the cycling calendar to be inspired to ride and also when the public are most inspired by cycling. Anyway… help me decide, cast your vote below and, as always, feel free to comment at the bottom or via twitter or Facebook.

Also, if you’re interested in participating, and not yet subscribed to the mailing list, you can do so by following the link below.

To get a feeling of the route and the elevation and mileage for each day, I’ve mapped a rough route plan out below.

Find more Bike Ride in Cardiff, United Kingdom

Find more Bike Ride in Rosslare Harbour, Ireland

Find more Bike Ride in Dublin, Ireland

Find more Bike Ride in Muirhead, United Kingdom

I may come back to these and alter then slightly, once I’ve done a bit more investigation on the quality of the roads. On the whole though, these routes aren’t too tough, the first day being the hardest, and should provide some epic scenery and a real sense of adventure.

There will be a support vehicle each day, that will also carry the bulk of your luggage. So, the only stuff you need take with you on the road each day will be a couple of spares, some nutrition and some appropriate bad weather gear, in case it turns nasty.

As always, feel free to comment at the bottom if you’ve any thoughts.

Also, if you’re interested in participating, and not yet subscribed to the mailing list, you do so by following the link below.

The logistics of organising this are a fair bit beyond my capability and I’m really keen to make this a success, so I’m going to need to get someone on board to help with that side of things. I can then focus on helping support the participants and promote the whole thing. How’s the money going to work then ? Well, it turns out there’s a fairly standard way of doing these things. There will obviously be a cost for the expenses of the challenge and not everyone taking part will be willing, or even able, to cover this themselves. So, The way around this is to have the costs covered by someone with a vested interest in the success of the challenge… the charities. There will be a deposit for the challenge and then 2 options… either self fund the cost, or raise a minimum amount of money for charity; an agreed percentage of this minimum amount will be paid by the charity to the organisers to cover expenses.

There will not be any profiteering in this and any money raised above the minimum sum will go straight to the charity. Charities do this all the time – it’s essentially paying volunteers to do their fund raising for them. So, with the money sorted, we need a good route, a route that will be enjoyable to ride, that will inspire, that will challenge. I’ve got a few options I’m mulling over just now, but one is kind of jumping out at me…

A Celtic Capitals challenge… Cardiff > Dublin > Belfast > Edinburgh

This would be around a 400 mile challenge, over 4 days. These are pretty long days, but the riding will be glorious and the distance and area covered is enough to really inspire – which is great for fund raising. It would be a tough challenge, but hey…. it’s a challenge! It also ties in nicely with the original Biggest Journey I took on in June – 400 miles from Edinburgh to London. Linking to the 1 in 4 mental health statistic. The more I think about this route plan, the more I like it. This could be epic! However, I need people to want to take part….

so, what do people think? Feel free to drop in comments below, email me, or get in touch on twitter or Facebook. How does this sound ?

Here’s some links to rough route maps and elevation.

Find more Bike Ride in Cardiff, United Kingdom


Find more Bike Ride in Rosslare Harbour, Ireland



Find more Bike Ride in Dublin, Ireland


Find more Bike Ride in Muirhead, United Kingdom

day1 , day 2, day 3, day 4

Take Our Poll
Cheers
Stuart

• Distance – 37% said they were comfortable cycling distances of around 100 miles… However, another 30%  suggested 50 – 70 miles.
• Experience – A stagering 70% have had personal experience of mental distress, and 30% had seen someone they were close to struggle.
• Charity – 90% said they’d be moderately to extremely comfortable raising money for mental health charity and over 80% were moderately to extremely happy about allowing the cost of the challenge to come out of the fundraising total.
• Time – It was a close battle on time away. It was fairly even accross weekend – a week. with around 25% each.
• Location – around 40% of people said they weren’t fussed about where to ride, and the rest was a pretty even spread… though Northern England definitely had an edge.

So what does this mean?..

My current thoughts are; spending a long weekend, riding through some epic scenery in the Scottish Borders and Northern England. One aim of the challenge will be to raise a significant amount of money for major UK mental health charities Mind and SAMH, another will be to challenge the stigma around mental health issues by being open and creating something that will get people talking and inspire hope and courage. Everyone who wishes to raise money can be part of a fundraising team, using an online fundraising platform such as Virgin or Just Giving. There will be a cost for entering the challenge, to cover expenses, though I’m hoping to arrange for a contribution to this from the charities… providing a minimum amount is raised.

For those that can’t manage a few days away, or feel they may struggle with the number of miles involved, there will be an option to take part in a single day of the whole challenge. This day will likely be a loop, starting and finishing in a well populated town or city, with an aim to create a spectacle with real impact.

There’ll be a chance to build momentum and also a real community in the lead up to the challenge. Everyone signed up will get a login for the Biggest Journey blog, to document their own journey. I’m also hoping to build a forum for people to share training tips and advice, as well as just get to know each other before sharing some pedal strokes. I’m really keen to use my experience form Biggest Journey 2012 to support participants, and advise everywhere I can.

Lastly, I’d like to thank all those who have shown an interest in next year’s challenge, so far. I really didn’t know how much there would be, and I’m really touched by how many folk are up for this. My Biggest Journey was bigger than I ever hoped it could be and I’m very excited about how much of a difference we can make in 2013, both with fundraising and also smashing some stigma… and that’s on top of the difference we can make to each other.

You can still subscribe to the mailing list to be kept up to date as the plan starts to come together… so if you’re just finding out about this, get involved!

I was chatting online last night with a new twitter follower, who is currently going through recovery after a nasty cycling accident. She seems pretty focused and p

ositive, which is great… but I know all too well how easily this can get you down.

The road to recovery is a bumpy and twisty one, with plenty of ups and downs. You can feel like you’re making loads of progress and start to see the possibility of being active again on the horizon. But then you over do something, or just have an off day, and feel like you’ve slipped and rolled back down to the bottom of the hill. On the really bad days, you sit at the bottom of the hill, looking at it in despair, feeling like you’ll never make it up and may as well accept that.

WRONG! Stop for a minute, turn around and look back…. down the hill, you’ll find that you’re not at the bottom at all and you’ll see the progress you have made. You’ve fallen down a bit, but you’re further up than where you started. Focus on this. Reflect on how far you’ve come and feel positive about that.

I found that journaling my progress can be a help. It’s tempting at the start to document the injury, and you may need to do this for insurance claims etc, but it’s not all that healthy to dwell on that. You want to be documenting the recovery, the progress you’re making. Write a blog, take wee photos of yourself making progress, or when you’re feeling ‘good’ about things. You could even get really creative and keep a visual diary with drawings too. What ever works for you. The important thing is to note the improvements, so that you can reflect on how far you’ve come when you feel like you’re sliding back down the hill.

It can be a long road, but it’s worth keeping the pedals turning. Stay strong.