2024 – Bicycle Adventure Club Reflections

2024 was always going to be a big year. The year I turned 50. I wanted to write a Bicycle Adventure Club blog post about all the wonderful things that have happened this year. A reflection piece to mark time and achievements. It has been a very busy year. 

On a personal note 2024 started with lots of lovely plans and excitement. Things crashed hard, I’ve had some very painful experiences, doors have been closed but lots have been opened. I procrastinate when it comes to writing. Words should come from a positive place of love & happiness, which would deny the full gamut of my soul, and creative self. There has been love & happiness; but the truth is, I feel far from this. This year I’ve been particularly hard on myself. The highs have been high and the lows have been so very low.

I’m sitting in the low sun of a December morning, reflecting on this year from a very fragile place. I am exhausted mentally, physically and especially emotionally. I want you to know this. Simply presenting an impressive list of achievements would be all Yang and no Yin. As you read on, please bear this in mind if I undersell something, or it feels a little rote. It’s not a lack of love or gratitude, it’s just a lack of me and a wintering lens.

Bicycle Adventure Club CIC

We started 2024 as a newly formed Community Interest Company. This has allowed me to access funding for Bicycle Adventure Club Projects. It has given the club a structure that will allow us to develop community initiatives. 

In January, I submitted a funding bid to the Commonwealth Games Legacy – Inclusive Communities Fund. It was for a year’s worth of BAC activities that would be free at point of use. It was a huge amount of work and unfamiliar territory: and it was unsuccessful. A decision should have been given at the end of March but it wasn’t given until May. I’d been holding dates and working around a project, that didn’t happen, for the first 5 months of the year. The whole application process was frustrating and a huge learning curve. I learnt a lot and it exposed me to a lot of new people, knowledge & opportunities.

One opportunity was to contribute to a small project with Ekho Collective CIC. A Project to expand on their permaculture principle of ‘explore the edges and value the marginal’. Involving the whole community in the land. We wanted people to get a sense of place. Of the land belonging to them and challenging the barriers to access.

This tied in nicely with the exploratory and Inclusive principle of the BAC and I made a short video for them to present the sessions we ran:

Through this project I also made connections with Colab. A social lab, gathering creative people and works to influence the future of Dudley & surrounding areas.

Colab have given me some funding to run a small project in 2025. Using the Bicycle Adventure Club to explore the theme of going out to play. How it connects us to history, the landscape and each other. There will be more information soon.

Club Rides

Riding our bikes together is the very beating heart of the BAC. I always do my best to make them fun, inclusive and interesting. Rides are where we play, talk and laugh.

I feel I’ve neglected the group rides and events this year, there doesn’t seem to have been enough time. The screenshot from Facebook tells a slightly different story. It does not include the personal rides, recce rides, pride rides, expedition rides and a small tour to Norfolk. Plenty of riding has been done.

Birmingham Pride Parade

Birmingham Pride was in May and the first time the BAC had taken part in the parade. It was an emotional experience and a fabulous day. The video says it all:

What’s with all the F%*king Swimming

If you have been following along on Instagram this year, you will be aware I have been doing a lot of Open Water Swimming. Strava tells me that up until the end of June I logged 40 hours in the water.

Five and a half of those hours were spent swimming from one end of Coniston Water to the other on June 22nd. I set off from the southern end of Coniston at 8:40 and by 14:20, I walked out the water at the northern end! I won’t say it was easy – 5.25 miles is a long way when you swim at 1 mph – but I loved every bit of it and held my pace. I trusted all the training, I trusted my body, I trusted my mind, and I trusted the water!

On the bus to the start, there was a lovely suggestion that you swim every mile for someone. So I swam mile 1 for my Mom, mile 2 for my Dad. Mile 3 was for my brother Gary. Mile 4 was for Mary, and Mile 5 was for my Nan. The remaining 0.25 miles I did for myself cause I bloody deserved it!

I have discovered a new level of resilience in swimming this year, something that was waning in my cycle rides. There is a wonderful calmness that comes from constant motion, face down, staring into the inky depths of a cold english lake for hours on end. I felt a sense of accomplishment I hadn’t felt in a while. The swimming continues. I’ve signed up to swim 7.5 miles, the length of Ullswater & plan to host some Ride & Swims in 2025.

Ordnance Survey Champion 2024/25

In April I was sitting on Karon Beach in Phuket, wielding the sorry stick of self-reflection particularly fiercely when I received an email saying I had been selected as an OS Champion for 2024/25. 

I took it as the universe telling me it really is all ok and I reveled in the glimmer it was. Fast forward to July and I’m scrambling up scree slopes, squeezing through rock crevasses and sharing food & fires in the Peak District, with fellow OS Champions from all over the UK. 

This was the life affirming weekend I needed. It was like my dream job, with dream colleagues in a dreamy place. I made some incredible connections with the most inspiring people. I saw new possibilities for the Bicycle Adventure Club and myself. Becoming an OS Champ has been one of the best things that I have ever done and I’m looking forward to future collaborations.

Whilst in the Peak District I took the opportunity to cycle The Manifold Track.

BAC Summer Expedition 2024

In July the BAC drove to Germany & Switzerland to take part in the Black Forest Gravel Rallye! It didn’t quite go to plan, but adaptability is a Bicycle Adventure Clubbers best tool. I was struck down with Covid, and a mechanical stopped David taking part. Ruth & Ineke valiantly cycled 75km/1100m around Schwarzwälder. 

We had an incredible time as we explored Schaffhausen und der Rheinfall, cooled off from our bike rides with a swim in the Rhine all with the wonderful Ineke as tour guide. The drive home took 18 hrs door to door! 

It was a fantastic adventure with very special people. In fact it was so good we are going to do it all again in 2025 in Normandy. 23rd to 28th May – Save the date. You are all welcome and I’ll release a blog post soon with more details.

Mary’s Hip Replacement

3 days after I returned from Thailand in April, Mary went into Hospital for a hip replacement. It solved the ongoing pain Mary had been experiencing but marked the start of a 5 month recovery period. Remarkably by the end of September Mary was back on her bike and reasonably pain free. For this I am extremely grateful. It turns out I am a really shit nurse!

August – and everything after…

August was an odd month; it was a culmination of loss, a reckoning. I lost 2 friends to suicide this year. Grief upon grief was now manifesting as physical pain. I worked, swam and processed my way through it. 

I eventually ended up in A&E where a scan revealed a 15mm blood clot in my left femoral artery. I’d assumed the pain, heart palpitations and headaches were down to perimenopause and repercussions of my mental health, and the helicobacter Pylori I’d managed to contract. I was mildly relieved to have a treatable problem as every test I had been subject to came back as ‘normal’: I swear the doctors roll their eyes and mutter ‘what now’ when I call.

By the end of August, I did the only thing I could. I packed up my bike and spent 3 days and nights riding around Norfolk; on my own, and for myself. No destination and no pressure, in the wide open and under the stars.

September rolled into October, swimming became dipping for the benefit of the cold rather than about distance. Making the most of the morning light and grounding in the cold waters. For my 50th Mary and I spent a couple of days cycling around Belfast and visiting the sights of Northern Ireland, ticking the Giants Causeway off my bucket list.

November brought the dark nights, my first sub 10 °C swim, and a wonderful group ride out to the Smethwick Luminaire. The illumination of Smethwick Galton Bridge as an alternative to fireworks for Diwali. We lit a diva to float out on the canal, we learnt all about Diwali & bandi chhor divas , we ate delicious samosas and were regaled with the tales of Guru Jee. It was a truly spectacular evening.

You Tube

I have filmed most of the rides and outings this year. Consequently, I have a backlog of footage that shames me on a daily basis. I’m sure one day I’ll be hit with the mother of all hyperfocus events and burn through a load of YouTube video releases for your enjoyment. Until then they exist as post it notes on my To Do board.

I have enjoyed the creativity and spontaneity of the YouTube Shorts that I’ve filmed this year. They can be done on the fly and force you to ‘kill all of your darlings’ to achieve the 90 second story limit.

Cycling UK’s 100 Women in Cycling 2024

In December I was named as one of Cycling UKs 100 Women in Cycling, following a campaign for nominations, kindly spearheaded by BAClubber Gill Crofts. 

My Community Champion Bio reads as follows:

Sarah is a lifelong cyclist whose journey on two wheels has brought them adventure, peace, resilience, and connection. They have cycled through harsh winters, navigated the busiest cities in the world, traversed deserts, rebuilt wheels in rainforests, and explored much of the canal network in central England. As a trans, non-binary individual, Sarah is passionate about creating inclusive spaces for all cyclists.  

In 2019, they founded the Bicycle Adventure Club, a fully inclusive, non-competitive community that fosters connection and represents the plus-size and queer communities that Sarah and their friends belong to. Through this initiative, Sarah continues to promote cycling as a means of empowerment and unity for diverse riders. 

When I first set up the Bicycle Adventure Club I thought it would be a really nice way for Mary and I to go on some cycling adventures, indulge my creativity, maybe meet some kindred spirits and live a more active & adventurous life. I never imagined the incredible community that has flourished, the wonderful friends, and how integral it has become to my life and how much I lean on it.

It is a really special way to end the year. I am so grateful to everyone that took the time to nominate me and to everyone that has supported the Bicycle Adventure Club over the years. It has been a privilege to connect & ride with you all. Thank you for sharing your passion for cycling with me and helping to make the Bicycle Adventure Club what it is. 

It’s been a long December – and there’s reason to believe….

There has been some catharsis in writing this. It’s only when I reflect that I see how much time & energy I have poured into the Bicycle Adventure Club. It’s such a lovely space with equally lovely people. 

The BAC is more than led rides. It is a concept. A space & community to share our experiences around cycling so that we can be seen and inspire others. That is what next year must be about.

The people that are left standing with me at the end of my year are exactly the ones that are supposed to be here and I am grateful to you all for your love and support, for the adventures and the rides. I am incredibly fortunate to have too many to thank individually here, but I will in person.

I have so many ideas for 2025 and I’m keen to hear yours but for now I’m going to sign off, wrap myself up and hibernate for a while.

Thank you for reading. I wish you all a very merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. May your nights be early and your sleep and deep and restful.

See you in 2025!

Sarah

x

The next group ride will be on Sunday 29th December – The Christmas Cracker, and the next notable date is Friday 10th January, 11am-1pm where you can come and be part of #PlaytimeDudley and share your bicycle adventures with me.