Bike House helped me cycle 3,500 miles around Britain

At the end of Aug 2024 I had cycled just over 3,500 miles around the coast of Britain in 85 days. 

I have always ridden bikes, but more in the sense of “it doesn’t matter what bike it is, I just want to be outside riding around”. It wasn’t until I started work at Bike House that I started taking things a bit more seriously. Well, actually, I had to as I got absolutely rinsed when I turned up for Friday Morning Blast with a peak, and more of the same when I turned up Mountain Biking with all my lycra on. 

So you could say my love of cycling accelerated when I started working here. I became OBSESSED with it all. I loved getting faster and joining the Friday Morning Blast team and every Friday morning wondering if I can keep up and not get “dropped”. It was addictive and soon I was entering the Monday Night racing events and just wanting to get faster. 

But it didn’t stop there. I signed up to Nat Munns’s (womens only) MTB coaching (Bike Dunedin) and got even more obsessed with getting muddy and trying to make it down rocks in one piece. I also made some friends for life through these groups (Friday Blast, Dunners Stunner, Womens Ride Month). 

Bikepacking is a whole other obsession. I remember going on my first bikepacking adventure with Viet Tieu from work and kept looking at my Strava and wondering how far we’d gone. I was always looking for the end destination and time. I was quick to realise (with help from Viet) that trying to smash QOMs bikepacking isn’t (always) the idea. It was about the adventure and taking it all in - cafes, sights, people. I fell in love. I could explore with everything I needed and do it all on a bike. 

And it clearly didn’t stop there, 3 years later I was sat planning my route around the coast of Britain and I owe it all to Bike House. I had the experts to advise me, the groups to ride with, the community to inspire me and the gear to test. Women’s ride month helped so much over the years and little did I know how much it would influence me and how much I would need from it. From doing a talk on cycling the TA, Michaela's blogs on nutrition and workshops on how to use Komoot.

From people who have been following my journey, you will know that I didn’t just do this ride for fun. I lost my lovely Dad to suicide when I was 17 and it left a very big hole in my heart. For years I was just trying to survive and not really knowing how to fix this hole and questioning how and why I couldn’t fix his. I’ll never know how or if I could have fixed the hole in his heart but I found that by getting outside, being with people and getting others obsessed with cycling -  I was slowly fixing mine. 

So this was my long, painful but also beautiful journey of why and how I ended up cycling the coast of Britain. 

We’re from the UK, Dad’s family are from Wales and we grew up in Suffolk. I realised I knew and had explored more of New Zealand than I did of the country I was born in. 

An important part of the ride was to encourage conversations on mental health, loss and suicide. I wanted it to be a safe space to talk. I had people join me who had also lost someone to suicide, women who had felt like they’d lost themselves, others who were struggling or have struggled with their own mental health. It was incredible how much people (and myself) opened up. I really do think there is magic in being outside/riding a bike and connecting with yourself or others. Bike House showed me the importance of community and bikes and now I just want to keep that going. 

Thanks Bike House.

 

The Bike - Specialized Diverge

Photos 1 and 7 - Stevi McNeill