I had a great break a few weeks ago in the beautiful My husband and I decided to take our bikes with us so we could explore the forrest on two wheels rather than four. We stayed at a great self catering farm called Church Farm run by a lovely couple with the friendliest dogs and beautiful horses.
We started our bike tours on our first day from the Peddalabikeaway Cycle Centre using the easy family route. We soon became horribly lost as the signs posts on route pointed both ways so was a bit of a lottery where to go, suddenly a different coloured sign post appeared so not the easiest route to follow. (note to self make sure you have a map to refer to don’t rely on signs).
Having got completely lost we tried to find our way back to where our car was parked. I took a short cut down a track to avoid the road and unfortunately hit some gravel, my front tyre argued with this gravel as I tired to turn right and as a result I fell off with the bike toppling on top of me. I must admit I was quite shaken up and knew I was in for some prize bruises. My husband was a little concerned as I looked a bit pale due to the shock of falling off. We managed to find a cafe near by to rest up for a while and have a cup of tea.
I have to admit that I was very nervous about getting back on my bike, my mind started to spin into overdrive playing my fall over and over in my head. My body hurt in several places, thoughts were racing round my brain and the fear was certainly beginning to take hold. I started to feel a bit light headed and then realised how shallow my breathing was.
It was great to feel that all the effort put into meditation and mindfulness practice was effective and snapped into my head. I started to follow my breath in and out to stay in the moment and within a few seconds I felt a little more centred and more able to get back on my bike. I was not out of the woods, literally as well as metorphorically, as I knew I was vulnerable and it would not take much to spark off the fear factor.
My husband set out on what he thought was the best and quickest route back to the cycle centre and I followed behind. We found ourselves on a rather dangerous B road with a heavy traffic load consisting of car drivers, big lorries and coaches all inpatient to pass us, all this while trying to avoid pot holes and drain hole covers.
I could feel the panic and stress begin to rise and was aware that this was distracting me when I needed to stay focussed. I found the rhythm and motion of the wheels and peddles good to focus on as it helped me to stay within the moment especially if I started to become nervous. The therapist in me acknowledged that I was in an agitated state and the fear of falling off again was a high probability in my mind. Every so often, where safe, I stopped, centred myself, aknowledged my fear, followed the breath for a short while and then continued on my journey. These mindful techniques certainly helped me to cope in this situation and it was good to put them in practice in a very real situation.
Did we get back to the Cycle Center? Well, yes eventually we did, however via a rather extended route. Having cycled for what seemed ages we reached a built up area where we stopped and asked a nice gentleman how far the Cycle Centre was. His expression said it all. With a look of sympathy he told us it was eight miles in the opposite direction. My poor husband looked crestfallen I had followed him in all good faith and we were eight miles from where we needed to be.
I realised that mindfulness was helping me so much even though I was tired, shaken and in pain, I just accepted the situation. I actually thought it quite funny, my husband is well known for getting himself lost and I had followed him without question and here we were eight miles away from where we needed to be. The solution was simple I would stay with bikes and he would get a taxi back to the centre and then come and get me with the car.
This was certainly a bit of an adventure with some good insights at the end of it. Staying in the moment was very helpful in a stressful situation, it helped me to focus and deal with the situation moment to moment. I was tired and vulnerable so my emotions were likely to be out of control, however because I was in the moment and focused I was able to be realistic and problem solve. In the past I would have probably have called my husband all sorts of things. It can’t have been easy for him when he found me on the ground with a bike on top of me. He then had to focus and find our way back to the centre. I think mindfulness helped me in that I could be objective, take the full facts of the situation in a realistic manor and make decisions based on the moment and not on the what if’s.
Yes I did land up with a few nasty bruises and a rather twisted thumb and it certainly could have been worse. My what if’s did not happen so why even waste time and energy going there? We had a great holiday and I did go out successfully on my bike again, I was a little weary which was understandable, however I acknowledge the emotion and carried on focussing on the moment and the joy of being outside in nature on a sunny september day.
