Just before Christmas I wrote a blog regarding my mental health and hoped that anyone reading it could find a connection and relate to my experiences and feelings around the festive period.
My main aim was to put “pen on paper” so to speak and get the thoughts which were all jumbled up in my head, out onto paper (a computer) to somehow make sense of it all. The byproduct of this exercise was that there have been several individuals who contacted me directly and shared some of their experiences and thoughts.
I guess the main lesson about telling my journey is knowing that someone is always listening or watching somewhere – and if this blog somehow helps alleviate their stresses and worries, or just lets them know they are not alone in their struggles, then that’s good enough for me.
I’m not going to go down that road that someone will misconstrue as “virtue signalling” as I don’t think that way, I think I’m too long in the tooth to try & explain myself to a random stranger on the internet if they really have no investment in my life, but I also know that I would cringe for several months if I ever thought someone close to me thought I was being a virtue signaller!
In short – I appreciate the comments and feedback from December 🙂
Since my last blog Suzy & I disappeared to Belgium between Christmas and New Year to take in some of the Cyclocross races that are in plentiful supply over this period. After having our official Christmas Day dinner on Christmas Eve I was asked to take Suzy’s mum’s husband home – the car wouldn’t start! The “depress the clutch” switch wasn’t working so the car was a dead stick – not bad for a 6 week old car! With that our Belgian trip was in the balance – we called RAC and they told us they’d be a couple of hours, then a couple of hours later they said they’d be a couple of hours…and so on until we were told at 2am on Christmas Day they’d come in the morning.
We were called at 9am Christmas morning to be told the no-one was available and we’d have to wait. After a few choice words over the telephone a local recovery garage were sent out and it was confirmed the car wasn’t going to Belgium and this had to be dealt with by the dealership – clearly not possible on Christmas Day!
Suzy’s mum stepped in and offered us her car and so off we went on Christmas night towards the Eurotunnel to start our journey. We stayed overnight in a hotel near the Folkestone terminal before heading across the pond on Boxing Day morning and straight to Gavere – the first of our Cyclocross venues. This was a complete mudfest so bringing along our hiking boots was a the best decision made! After moving around the course and then watching the World Cup event in a few different places, and after having my first of many portion of chips and mayonnaise over this period we headed to our first stopover – De Tiende Schuur – a great AirBNB purpose built modernised shed for want of a better explanation. We had stayed here last year when we visited Antwerp for New Years’ Eve, but only for one night, so this time we stayed for two nights as it was so good. The hosts remembered us and were as accommodating as ever – and the continental breakfast was absolutely amazing.
Day 2 in Belgium and we were off to Loenhout for another Cyclocross – this time it was a “Exact” event – just a different competition within the cyclocross season and here we watched the usual suspects knocking chunks out of each other, just as they had 24hrs previously. Suzy & I had our Beccles Triathlon Club Big Bobble Hats on so there were friends and family back in the UK trying to spot us on Eurosport or Discovery+ – which they did several times!
The next day was a day off from sports and we moved our stay to Brussels City Centre at a Holiday Inn. Cheryl’s car had done us proud and it never missed a beat over the last few days, we parked the car up in the basement garage at the hotel and there it stayed for most of our stay as we used public transport as our choice of travel.
Over the next few days we took in the sights in Brussels, this included the Christmas markets that were still open, the comic-book tour of the city where we were constantly looking up and seeing huge murals with comic-book themes that were painted on the side of buildings wherever possible, and generally eating & drinking in every vendor possible. Suffice to say, along with the “frites & mayonnaise” at the cyclocross events, I definitely put some timber on over this stay.
We also took in Diegem Cyclocross – a nighttime event where Belgians were getting drunk and most had no interest in the fact the worlds’ best riders were competing within inches of them.
New Years Eve saw Suzy & I go to The Atomium in North Brussels to watch the midnight firework display, not before we randomly found an awesome restaurant where we both had a huge rump steak (me) and salmon steak (Suzy) and drinks for a grand ol price of €50!
Public transport was free on NYE so we popped on the Metro and headed for the display after our meal – at one point we were packed like sardines on the train and I did wonder about simply just walking home. But somehow we got back to hotel with little issue.
New Years Day and we were off to Cyclocross no.4 – the Sven Nys GP – a purpose built course made by the ex World Champion himself. As Belgian public transport takes a day off on NYD we had to depend on Cheryl’s car for this one. We also took along a great guy called Will – we met him on the train platform on our way back from Diegem and got chatting. In a very weird twist of fate, Suzy used to work with his brother! What a small world.
Will met us at out hotel and we travelled the 45mins to the circuit, went our separate ways and agreed to meet at the end at a designated point. Again the racing was full-on and recent rainfall definitely made this one the muddiest of our trip. We actually positioned ourselves on a difficult corner with several ruts under the mud and definitely got some great action shots of professional riders getting a bit muddy. More frites & mayonnaise and we were off back to our hotel. We said goodbye to Will who was homebound the next day and promised to keep in touch.
The last of our Cyclocross events was on the French/Belgian border, literally on our way back to the Eurotunnel, so we had booked a hotel nearby the night before. This unfortunately was the worst hotel of our stay and it’s safe to say we won’t be staying in this chain again. It was like the Ryanair of hotels – your room was cheap but everything else was extra!
Nonetheless, we made the best of it and then headed to our last race of our stay – Koksijde – a mostly sand-based event that sat on the side of a military airfield. Again, more frites and mayonnaise and other fried offerings by the events’ catering facilities and a few different viewing positions and that was that – our trip came to an end.
Eurotunnel were their usual selves and delayed our crossing by nearly 2 hours due to “can’t be arsed” customs both French and then British. The frustration was clear to see as pretty much every other motorist was looking as cheesed-off as each other. I do wonder how “Le Shuttle” can promote their 34-minute crossings with pride but fail to tell customers about the 120 minute circus beforehand! Anyway – moving on.
So here we are – 2025… New Year New Me…
I tend to not fall for that kind of stuff – I guess the reality is if people would really want to change their behaviours or lifestyle, they could do it at any point in the year – not just January 1st. But each to their own – if it gets them off their sofas and into an active lifestyle, at least for a few weeks, then so be it.
The down side of our trip to Belgium and being packed into a Brussels Metro Train with 200+ other people is that I caught a virus and have been suffering from it since our return to Blighty. So much so my GP has given me two courses of steroids and some antibiotics to shift the damn thing. I think I’m definitely over the worst of it but the delay in getting back to training has put me on the back foot in my 2025 campaign – it is what it is I guess.
I’m back to going to the gym Monday to Friday, splitting up my workouts into differing body parts. Adding into the mix a bit of rowing, ski-erging and kettlebell flows and I’m burning off a few of those unwanted “frites & mayonnaise” calories from a few weeks back.
I’ve literally just started swimming again which means almost learning from scratch and getting back into that comfortable state I need to be doing before thinking about getting quicker. In reality the time it takes in training to just get a few seconds in the water, I’d rather just invest the time in my cycling to get more of a benefit and time improvement.
The biking has been steady post-virus and again I’ve only just started working a bit harder in recent days. I did go out last week on a 90 mile solo ride and was quite surprised I didn’t suffer as much as I had expected so that’s got to be a good sign. I also rode an organised event at the weekend – I avoided the faster group that would start later and joined in on the steady group. As it turned out the faster group started only a few minutes after our departure, not the 30mins later as stated and caught our little group at about 20 miles in. I latched onto the group and despite the occasion surge was quite comfortable holding my own.
I had no intention of setting the pace – after all, it wasn’t my group and was quite happy to sit at the back but after some gesticulation by some riders I was asked to “come through” and so I did.
With that, some riders took offence I was even riding in their exclusive group and they attacked the group I was in with about 15 miles to go. From there the group had been blown to pieces in ones & twos all the way home. I was quite happy to see them riding off into the distance – after all, my comeback from the virus would put pay to any serious effort on my part – and I rode back to the event finish mostly solo, back into my Zone 2.
There I met some welcomed friends who had set off shortly before I had and we reminisced about the old days and then went our separate ways. Oddly there was no sign of the fast group or riders at the finish – to ride the events’ exact route and then not to finish it and acknowledge the volunteers who organise the event seemed pointless. But it is what it is.
A few weeks ago, Suzy pointed out a Podcast by Mel Robbins that was labelled as “Let Them” and I listened to it – it’s quite relevant in so many ways over recent weeks, months and years even.
The idea is to let people just do whatever they want to do, and also “Let Me” just get onto what I need to be getting on with. I wouldn’t say I’ve been triggered by certain peoples’ actions but I would admit that I am very aware of the games certain people play and I sometimes feel the need to be the person that calls them out on it. But recently, I’ve just “Let Them” play their games. And I’ve just “Let Me” just get on with things that are important in my life. Maybe it’s a combination of counselling, living with a life-changing injury and being forced to review my life choices but it’s safe to say I’m a lot more chilled than the person I was a few years ago. The person I was is almost a stranger to who I am now.
This “Let Me” philosophy, “It is what it is” mantra and “it says more about them than it does you” quote have paved the way through recent weeks and I hope to continue the positivity these quotes provide.
Onwards!!!
