Bike Stuff...

The link between exercise and a sense of wellbeing is well established, but recent research suggests that simply riding around on your bike at whatever speed might be good for you.

Riding along on a two-wheeled machine requires your body to make roughly twenty adjustments to its balance every second, and this has the effect of diverting attention away from background issues that might be causing you anxiety. Added to that, travelling along at just ten miles an hour or so gives your eyes and ears a steady stream of new information to process that is rich enough to have the same distracting, calming effect.

Riding a bike, it seems, is an easy way to practice mindfulness without even thinking about it. Scientists have also shown that tinkering with your bike is good for you too; even just giving it a good clean can make you feel better. So why not head out more on your (nice, clean) bike in 2019?

The most enjoyable routes out of Steyning are on the Downslink – down to see the sea at Shoreham or up to the Cat and Canary at Henfield or Stan’s Bike Shack at Partridge Green - but even a ten minute spin up Mouse Lane to Wiston House is great fun at any time of year.

As an old veteran of the road advised me once: ‘You never regret going out on your bike’.  Nick Marks is a Velotech qualified cycle mechanic and National Standard qualified cycling instructor. Fully insured and DBS checked. W: www.adurbikes.co.uk