For the last 10 years or so I have spent the vast majority of my time riding bikes, fixing bikes, or thinking about when im next going to ride bikes. Bikes have been my job, my therapist, my social life, how I met my partner, and how I spend most of my time.

Ive had a few back problems recently culminating in being told to give the bike a rest for a couple of months, and am actually feeling suprisingly cool about it. I’ve been trying to reframe it as an opportunity to re-evaluate whether its actually healthy or wise to put all of your eggs in one basket. Whatever your hobby/lifestyle is, it seems smart to have some kind of a backup plan for if you’re unable to do that thing for any period of time (or even ever again). I’ve spent much more time walking, reading, playing guitar, and seeing freinds than in a ‘normal’ month, and thats actually pretty nice. Sure I feel gutted when it feels like everybody is out riding except me, but actually just leaving the lap top and the Instagram alone for a bit and sitting down with a cup of tea and a book seems to be solving that suprisingly well so far.

You might have read my previous post on the Dales Divide… that was a big source of excitement and motivation through the early part of this year and its dissapointing to not be able to start. I’m keeping it on the list as one for next year, and may try and find a similar challenge for the back end of this summer depending on how the body is doing.

Right now the plan is to keep on stretching and taking it easy, trying not to get too grumpy, and looking forward to getting back out on some adventures as soon as I can. One things for sure this off bike period has given me tons of motivation to get the miles in as soon as I can, and I’m sure i’ll have a renewed appreciation for them.