Cycling

Hi All,

I have decided I want to keep fit by doing more cycling. Nothing spectacular you understand (I shall leave that to the Bradley Wiggin’s of the world), I merely intend to trundle gently along quiet tracks, canal paths and the occasional quiet road if I am feeling brave enough.

Actually not as easy as it sounds as I wasn’t blessed with fantastic coordination or an overly developed sense of balance (in a word – clumsy!). I didn’t learn to ride a bicycle until my 30’s (if my then 4 year old youngest son could do it then it was really about time I did!) but I am so glad I finally found the determination to conquer the fear and get on with it, the freedom, the feeling, the wind in my hair, the sense of satisfaction...is wonderful!
So every evening after work and every weekend I look at my bike....shall I go today? Too wet...too windy...too warm...too cold...too tired...too late....haven’t got the right clothes.... don’t have time... But I do realise I need to look after myself better and learn somehow to stop making excuses . That’s the only hurdle I have to get over really so it should be easy....shouldn’t it?

So I hold the utmost admiration for a group of people with RA who recently put in the time and the effort to move towards improving their lives by joining a self management programme run by nurses and patient tutor’s on behalf of NRAS. During a six week programme the group learned valuable skills in managing their pain and fatigue, how to get the best out of their medication, how to communicate more effectively with their health care team and how to pace themselves effectively. One of the benefits of running a group where every participant has the same condition, is that each has a situation and a story to tell that is relevant to every person within the group. Thus the connections made and the friendships forged are bound to help each individual to put into practice what has been learned, the support network can never be underestimated and that is what we at NRAS aim to offer.

Maybe that’s what I need as well....another clumsy nervous cyclist like me who understands how I feel and who won’t let me make excuses as to why I “can’t go cycling today because I......”

If you are interested in a Self Management Programme please do contact me at deborah@nras.org.uk and also let your health team know about it. You can find out more at www.nras.org.uk/help_for_yo... We can’t always run a course as soon as we would like to as we need to have enough people wanting to take part first, but by registering your interest we can see the level of demand which will enable us to undertake the necessary steps to getting a programme off the ground in your area.

Take care,

Deborah Flitter