Anxiety and Cycling

Ok so the person in the above picture doesn't look very anxious but believe me, I was terrified at the though of cycling somewhere that wasn't around my street. I've never had much luck with bikes, my clumsiness never really helped either. I've had a few accidents on bikes in the past and so my mind sometimes goes into overdrive and I panic thinking the same thing will happen again.

On top of that, my anxiety causes me to think that any car that goes past me is going to magically combust and kill me, any person I cycle past is going to stick their foot out and cause me to crash, any kerb I go up will cause me to go over the bike handles and land in a broken pile. You get the idea. Fear.

However, yesterday, I wrapped up, kagool'd myself and prepared to ride! I made a bit of a mistake in that I went up a hill less than a minute after I had started cycling. That was not a good idea and I won't be doing that again!

Louis and I decided to cycle to Stenhousemuir, have a look around B&M then cycle back. It was 3.5 miles there and it took us about 40 odd minutes. We had a look around the shop, got a couple things then decided we were hungry and went to Subway.

I used to get subs filled with meat and covered in sauce but this time I decided I didn't feel like that and instead I opted for a turkey breast salad with some ranch dressing and a wee drop cheese on top. It was delicious!

After lunch we decided it was time to cycle back home. What I didn't count on was my ass hurting so much! I really need to invest in a larger seat or a padded seat cover or padded cycling shorts! It's still sore now!

Despite the pain, I only got off the bike and walked with it twice and that was only to cross two roads that I wasn't brave enough to cycle over!

In total we cycled 7.25 miles and it took 1 hour and 14 minutes. I don't know if that's good, average or terrible but I don't care, I did it and that's what I'm taking away from it (plus my aching buttcheeks).

This picture does absolutely no justice to how red my face actually was but this was me a few minutes after we finished. I was just so happy that I did it. I keep saying it to myself as well, "Hey Alana, you did it. And you'll probably do it again another day. You might go faster, be braver go further, anything!"