18 - 24 May 2020 is Mental Health Awareness Week and at Scottish Cycling we are exploring how cycling supports mental health. Women's Development Group member Leanne Farmer explains how putting her bike maintenance skills to good use has helped her through the crisis.
"Like many people who ride their bike everyday, I have continued to cycle most days - a variety of short and long rides with my son and husband during Lockdown and of course, this always improves my current mood. However, after a while it wasn't giving me the fulfilment that I needed. My usual daily life is running cycle tours for visitors to Edinburgh with my company, ''. From the announced Lockdown, all my bookings from March through to October had of course, emptied overnight. (I have a handful of October bookings which I am clinging onto in hope!) I was now left feeling lost and rather empty. I had more bookings for April and May than I had during 2019 in total (my first year of starting my business).
I craved for that sense of purpose and the feeling of helping others find joy through riding a bike.
So, I started servicing neighbours' and friends' bikes which gathered momentum and I soon found myself working on them almost every day. Meanwhile, my fleet of bikes were just gathering dust so I have recently lent out my fleet to key workers as well as servicing bikes. They have included, two Critical Care Nurses in Covid-19 wards, a Cardiologist also caring for Covid-19 patients and two Learning Support assistants in special schools which remain open.
After 8 weeks of Lockdown, I feel I am now at the stage where I feel I am contributing a very small piece of this jigsaw.
Yesterday, I received a lovely message from a doctor who has one of my bikes, to let me know that she is now cycling to work for the first time and is loving it. She is also enjoying cycling with her daughter, age 10 who has raised over £1000 for a Children's Trust by cycling seven miles everyday. For her and her daughter, who rarely cycled before, this is a massive achievement. This makes it all worth while for me!
Stories like this, help my wellbeing and I am so happy to feel I have helped be part of it. "
Thanks Leanne and all the Women's Development Group who shared their stories on Facebook. sportscotland are working with SAMH (Scottish Association for Mental Health), linking physical activity and mental health in a bid to encourage people to continue to reap the benefits of exercise as well as reassure the Scottish sporting network to stay connected during the pandemic #WeAreHere
More Information:
https://www.nhs.uk/oneyou/every-mind-matters/coronavirus-covid-19-staying-at-home-tips/
https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/coronavirus
