To celebrate 13 years of Cycle Your Heart Out, and the launch of the 'World Heart Relay' I organised an intimate heartful picnic. I held it at the Peace Pagoda in Milton Keynes, England as it's along the 1st ever heart-route I made back in 2011.

​The World Heart Relay is a movement I'd been planning to start for years, but logistics used to always stop me. Thankfully a podcast episode from 200 yrs in the future, enable me to take action!...

Follow Your Heart:
When I discovered the theme for Mental Health Awareness Week 2024 was  movement, I knew I had to create my 52nd heart-route for it in Milton Keynes. What better way to raise awareness than to Cycle Your Heart Out...​

​Follow your heart​
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There’s a beautiful quote by bicycle author & designer Grant Petersen that says;
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“Think of bicycles as rideable art that can just about save the world”.
 I first heard it in Rio, Brazil when I was creating my 27th heart-route back in 2018.
In this post I’ll be sharing a pretty crazy story about how that quote sort of comes true...

Heart-route number 50 is rather different from my other routes, as the idea for it actually came from my future 100 yr old self! Apparently I ended up in the 23rd century, and was a guest on a podcast called ‘Tests from the Future’. Simon and Dirk started their unique show when they discovered they were able to actually send episodes back in time!

It was incredible to hear that the Cycle Your Heart Out movement still exists in the year 2223! An  annual event called the ‘World Heart Relay’ ended up creating millions of heartful cyclists over the centuries, which amazingly led to a more peaceful,  loving world!

Keep reading to find out what the ‘World Heart Relay’ is all about, and how heartful cycling may be able to help save the world...​​

Follow your heart: 
A heart route to celebrate my long awaited family reunion! 

Location:
Loughton, a cute ancient village in Milton Keynes England, and the city where I first gave birth to Cycle Your Heart Out over a decade ago! It's  also one of my favourite areas in the city to find some peace and walk the dog.

Heart Route:
It was thanks to my amazing sister's that we managed to come up with this short but beautiful 4.78km ride in Loughton! The route is also part of the 12km Millennium cycle route around Milton Keynes, a quiet picturesque ride that takes you past the river Ouzel, the Grand Union Canal, ancient villages and the famous concrete cows!

Cycle Your Heart Out:
Meet my mum, she hadn't rode a bike in ages, and had pretty much lost all confidence. She would stop and walk the bike to cross a small road, avoid adjusting the seat to the correct height in case she fell off, and rode the same speed as someone walking. 

But little by little with the help of me and my sister, her confidence bloomed as we rode along peaceful paths, canals and lakes. No rush, nowhere to be, just us and our bikes. We stopped to pick freshly fallen plums, pick juicy blackberries, and to simply admire the horses. The more we rode, the more her fear faded and her smile grew! We celebrated our ride with some delicious Victoria sponge cake and tea at the Grumpy Cook.  

If you have someone you love who is a little hesitant to get back on their bike, here are 2 tips from my mum that helped her get over her fear of cycling:

1. Walk and cycle... Like when you start running, you walk/jog/build up a few mins at a time... 
2. Avoid cycling on hills or in bad weather until more confident 

Spread the love:
To help spread the love around Milton Keynes I gifted a copy of my new book to the wonderful Alchemise Yoga Studio in Newport Pagnell.  Ran by the lovely Wendy, it was thanks to her amazing classes that I first fell in love with yoga over a decade ago. Thanks Nicole for reading my poems in your relaxing cello classes.