[Music] I love riding [Music] solo that little bit of me time the peace amongst the chaos but most importantly the quiet in a world that's full of noise nowadays it's so difficult to pull ourselves away from the computer from the TV or from our phones now I like many of you are culprits of this whether it's at home in bed or even out walking the dogs but the one place I feel totally free and away from all of that is out here on my bike inhaling the beautiful fresh air in the middle of of nowhere
and just enjoying the surroundings I genuine believe that the bike is the perfect portal for this kind of [Music] experience those that know me know that I'm incredibly social I just love people but cycling has actually taught me to be comfortable in my own head in my own company and in turn has allowed me to take on Mammoth challenges like cycling for 24 hours on zwift twice and riding 575 km on gravel on the old chalk way but where did it all start it was on these rows back when I was 17 I've ridden many
many many hours on these lens and that's actually where the love of cycling grew it wasn't out racing it wasn't the camaraderie or this success It All Started From Here My Passion actually came from this kind of riding now before I bore you with my love story to cycling why should you try solo riding what are the benefits and I'm hoping by the end of this video instead of being a weekend group Rider you might just sh in some of those solo rides and you're not going to regret it [Music] riding on your own allows
you to set your own goals it gives you the freedom to push your own limits whether it's testing how far you can ride or how fast you can ride or tackling a climb the possibilities are endless I love having no restrictions on what pace I ride at I can ride how slow or how fast I like like I get to choose the pace and I'm not getting dictated by anyone else now there's something so freeing about that there's something addictive about being lost in your own thoughts just focusing on the rhythm of the rid it's
almost meditative and it kind of offers that opportunity of self-reflection and uh problem solving but I think for me most importantly it offers an opportunity of mental relax ation in this world that's full of noise and constant distractions and it's so fast paac this is something I think we could all use a lot of while working at gcn for the last 6 years I've always been trying to think about how I can be more creative or how I can think of better ideas and in all honesty my best ideas have come when I've been out
on my own riding my bike I feel like I haven't got the constraints of everything around me and I can just think clearly so all that time Runing on my own in the middle of nowhere did actually help me out when it came to ideas now Connor will definely testify for this but it's fair to say I'm pretty competitive there you go I've said it and a group setting I'm the one that wants to be on the front I want to be pulling the hardest I want to be the last man standing and I also
want to be the first to the cafe y absolutely but on your own all that goes away there's no competition no group dynamics to worry about no Pace to sit at you set the tempo and guess what you orchestrate the [Music] ride yes as I mentioned earlier gcn has sent me on a few epic challenges where my limits have been being pushed to the point of uh actually crying a few times whether it's standing on top of a volcano or attempting record attempts from L's end to Jon o groos none of this would have been
possible without a strong mental resilience and riding solo teaches that it allows you to push through those tough moments it allows you to push through when the going gets tough you've got fatigued legs or like I am you're trying to power up a steep climb it teaches you perseverance and that is incredibly important I genuine believe it's a skill and a strength that is massively overlooked [Music] [Applause] [Music] now it won't come as a surprise to you and me but we're all managing stress we're constantly looking at ways where we can reduce our stress level
so we can become happier and healthier and being out alone in nature gives you that mental break when you're focusing on the rhythm of the ride being out alone allows you the calmness it helps you the stress levels and it helps you boost your mood it's like hitting the reset button on both your mind and your body if you're in the mood for a long slow ride or you want a fast-paced short ride whatever ride it is you can do it you don't have to worry about anyone else you have the freedom to do what
you want to do so that being said how many of us actually cycle alone now I did see a study back in 2020 from cycling UK that shows that 60 % of us choose to cycle alone where 15 to 20% like choose to cycle in groups and in all honesty I know that cyc in groups is really popular in big communities but cycing alone is convenient it's really easy to go out and do you don't have to choose to organize group rides or all the baggage that comes with it you can go out and just
enjoy it I think the main takeaway is that we all enjoy personal [Music] freedom I really hope you enjoyed that video and it's tempted you to get out on your bike on your own and feel the benefits because there are so many if you enjoy this video hit that thumbs up button and let me know in the comment section below if you are a solo Rider and I'll see you in the next video
