Hi all. So it's been quite a while since I have been around and just wanted to say hi, I'm sure there are still a load of you here that remember me... hopefully?

Around mid-2015 I stopped riding rather abruptly as I was really struggling with my mental health. I had suffered for several years before that and riding the bike had got me through much of it but I just hit the point where I couldn't balance the highs and lows any more. It really sucked all the joy from the world and cycling was an unfortunate casualty of that. 2018 was a better year for me and although I did try to get back to riding I just couldn't quite recapture the love for it again.

Very early 2019 I had a knee operation and during the recovery, I eat too much crap, drank too much beer and got fat. This was a wake-up call I needed. Feeling better about the world generally but awful about how I had let myself go, gave me something to aim at.

So now I'm back to it, getting the miles in and really loving my riding again... even in this rain. Knocked out a century last weekend to try to gauge where I was at and actually it was fine. So fine I'm considering doing the BB200 again this year.

Hows all you lot?

Welcome back!

It's good to hear from you again!

Hi there. Welcome back. I’ve come onto the forum since you’ve been gone.
Thanks for talking about your mental health. I’m an ex- serviceman and have had my own troubles with my mental health. This year is the fifth anniversary of my recovery from all of that.
Glad to hear you are on the up.
Glad to hear you are on your bike.
Get yourself on the fat fighters thread.
See you around.

Welcome back Composite, always used to enjoy your blog. Good to have you back on the good-ship BearBones

Hello there Neil

Hi Neil,
Good to see you're back on your bike and on the up

Welcome back Neil, good to see you’re back on your bike. I’d heard you were struggling but great to hear you are getting over it and focusing on recovery and fitness.
Entries for BB200 open in a week or so and sell out in a day (I know - wtf!) so make your mind up quickly!

Morning sir,

Whilst we've kept in touch via the social medias and our shared love of mighty fine craft beer it's good to have you back in BB land!

I'm just trying to see if I can make the BB200 work this year so maybe catch you there.....

Good to hear you're on the up. I'd forgotten about your blog It's been long enough since I last read the entries that I''m going to re-read them, they were a source of encouragement/information for me when I started

lune ranger wrote: ↑Wed Jun 19, 2019 10:58 pm Hi there. Welcome back. I’ve come onto the forum since you’ve been gone.
Thanks for talking about your mental health. I’m an ex- serviceman and have had my own troubles with my mental health. This year is the fifth anniversary of my recovery from all of that.
Glad to hear you are on the up.
Glad to hear you are on your bike.
Get yourself on the fat fighters thread.
See you around.

Wotsits wrote: ↑Wed Jun 19, 2019 11:45 pm Welcome back Composite, always used to enjoy your blog. Good to have you back on the good-ship BearBones

sean_iow wrote: ↑Thu Jun 20, 2019 9:17 am Good to hear you're on the up. I'd forgotten about your blog It's been long enough since I last read the entries that I''m going to re-read them, they were a source of encouragement/information for me when I started

Writing the first post of this thread I started thinking about writing my blog again. During the ride last weekend I had a lot of thoughts about how, for me, cycling and mental strength relate to each other. It might be worth getting some of those written down. I have tried to talk about my struggles with others. Men die because we don't talk about these issues as much as we should and if I can play a small part in normalising mental health as a topic of conversation then I think it's the right thing to do. I had considered a post or 2 about why I stopped riding and how it's going getting back to it. Could be a nice way to start writing about riding and related topics again.

slarge wrote: ↑Thu Jun 20, 2019 8:37 am Welcome back Neil, good to see you’re back on your bike. I’d heard you were struggling but great to hear you are getting over it and focusing on recovery and fitness.
Entries for BB200 open in a week or so and sell out in a day (I know - wtf!) so make your mind up quickly!

I was keeping an eye on you on the Highland trail, sorry to see that you weren't feeling it. Good job on the BigBear530 though, that was a stellar effort.

BB200 might be a step too far right now. My head tells me to get some bivis and night riding done again but my heart tells me that I was way under prepared the first time I did one but I walked (hobbled) away with a black badge so what I am worried about?!? I guess a lot depends on Stu's mood when he plans the route.

By the way, Stu what is the allocated time for the BB300?

By the way, Stu what is the allocated time for the BB300?

Not decided yet as the route isn't finalised ........ and I'm always in a good mood.

Bearbonesnorm wrote: ↑Thu Jun 20, 2019 11:04 am

By the way, Stu what is the allocated time for the BB300?

Not decided yet as the route isn't finalised ........ and I'm always in a good mood.

That's what I'm afraid of.

Good to see you know where you want to head to, what you want to do.

Perhaps another go at the Wales C2C as a mid term goal?

composite wrote: ↑Thu Jun 20, 2019 10:59 am I had considered a post or 2 about why I stopped riding and how it's going getting back to it

Would be good to read.

Nice to see you're "back".

Best,

Gian

Welcome back...

Cycling has played a major part in sorting my mental health. It's hard to think of anything negative that comes from cycling...

Keep riding
Keep talking

Take care,

Si

Who are you?
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Only Joking, welcome back Neil

Good to hear you've got on top of your troubles and are back at it. A bit of inspiration there for me.

A new knee last summer and then still unclear heart issues, heart medication side effects(and accompanying exercise ban) has taken its physical and mental toll on me. I'm trying to get going again after at least CAD has been ruled out, but my heart's (ha! That wasn't a pun!) not really in it with the uncertainty hanging over me. Sadly, food has been a coping mechanism.

Still I've managed a 50km hilly ride, so there's hope yet...

I wondered what had happened to you Composite, so many interesting posts you made...

Good to see you back, but anybody can be knocked down and flattened, but 5 stars when you can bounce back again... that is real strength, and proves your strength... an inspiration to others...

Hi Neil, i was only thinking of you after you popped up on my Twitter feed the other day.

Great to hear things are good.

Are you still dabbling in music?

barney wrote: ↑Thu Jun 20, 2019 8:42 pm Hi Neil, i was only thinking of you after you popped up on my Twitter feed the other day.

Great to hear things are good.

Are you still dabbling in music?

Hey Barney! Sadly nothing on the music front. On top of everything else, the studio got robbed. Whilst the equipment could be replaced, we lost years and years of music; so many ideas and so much potential. I took it quite badly at the time and it really drained any creativity I had in that area. I never really recovered from it. On a more positive note I have recently just hooked up again with the guy I was working with then and we have been tune swapping what we are listening to at the moment. He has a small home setup again so maybe we'll have a dabble but it's not like its something I'm planning to do, I'll just wait and see what happens.

Good to see you back on here Neil. Glad that things seem to be looking up for you, it sounds a familiar situation!

Welcome home

Great to have you back Neil.

Good see you back Neil
Hopefully see you out soon.

Also Less beer pictures and more bike ones on Instagram