Cycling and fighting mental health issues
Alan Kinnear, a British Cycling Ride Leader, is preparing to take on a challenge, combining his love of the bike with two other gruelling disciplines in his own special triathlon.
After his life was changed by a diagnosis of depression, anxiety and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) in 2012, Alan has used cycling to help him regain control of his life and drastically improve his confidence.
Rewind a few years, and Alan’s battle with the symptoms of depression threatened to take over his life as the symptoms worsened in line with his emerging OCD and anxiety. Alan had reached breaking point. The first shoots of recovery emerged with an initial diagnosis, which helped paint a clear picture of his situation for the first time. With dwindling confidence and motivation being noted factors of the illness, exercise was prescribed as activity which could positively contribute towards Alan’s mental state.
Although he’d been a regular social cyclist throughout his adult life (and become more and more involved in Social Cycling Groups), Alan knew that making the step up from casual rider wouldn’t be easy. To help focus his mind and concentrate on a goal, Alan set his sights on cycling challenges as markers along the way. Responding to the challenge of day-to-day training requirements would help Alan get out there on his bike, build his confidence and motivation, one ride at a time.
‘I remember saying to myself, “I’m going to climb this mountain, and build up towards 30, 40 and 50 mile rides from there,” and I’ve since cycled a Coast to Coast Challenge,’ Alan explains.
And with such an achievement under his belt, Alan is now looking to the gruelling Lakeland Triathlon – raising funds for mental health charity Mind – as his next challenge.
‘While I was feeling the physical benefits of cycling and my confidence was being restored, I saw the opportunity to take it further and undertook the British Cycling Ride Leader course.’
The course, along with his ability to help others through cycling, gave Alan an added shot of confidence, with an added side-effect on his delighted daughter.
‘Cycling helped combat my depression, giving me the motivation to push myself, and I led some shorter rides through the park, much to the enjoyment of my daughter, who now loves her cycling with her dad.
‘As my confidence grows, I’m able to get more out of my life, whether through the enjoyment of clearing my mind on a long ride, or through cycling with friends and family. I even found that mapping and planning routes helped too.’
‘My big hope for the Lakeland Triathlon is to raise awareness of mental health issues and maybe even help someone else learn from mistakes I made in hiding things away. I hope that telling my story may just help someone else talk about their own mental health.’
If you, like Alan, have a story about how cycling has helped you overcome physical, emotional or mental challenges, get in touch and tell us about it!
