Not Today!

It is almost a year since I wrote (Clipless Pedalling) about having to stop clipping into my pedals when cycling. I remember feeling a sense of taking a backward step when it happened. Something I didn’t want to do but at the time, I felt that I had little choice. My right foot would hover above the pedal and I could cycle miles before I could manage to clip it in. At the same time, my balance was harder to maintain, starting off was challenging and fatigue a regular companion. Parkinson’s had got the better of me which is never the desired result. The benefits gained from the increased efficiency of being clipped in were lost ten times over by continually trying but failing to clip in, and so, I dug out my flat pedals, sturdy shoes and cycled to Barcelona without clipping in.

Since our return from Barcelona, I needed a little time apart from my bike. A couple of weeks turned into a couple of months and then autumn set in and before I knew it, winter had arrived and bad weather cycling has little appeal to me. I have unwritten rules which determine if the weather is sufficiently good enough for me to get my bike out and get pedalling. These are based on past experience when I thought my enjoyment of cycling might overcome the adverse weather, only to be proved wrong. So, if there’s heavy rain, if the temperature is lower than 6c or if the wind is stronger than 17mph, then my decision is made for me – I’m not going out on my bike. It seems like most days over the past six months have delivered one or more of these criteria to dissuade me from venturing out but the last six weeks have seen spring very gradually and intermittently emerging and my desire to get on my bike re-emerged too.

We have seen some lovely days and I’ve been enjoying getting back on my bike and cycling with friends. For the first of these rides, I got my bike out of the shed, checked it over, inflated the tyres and switched the flat pedals I had left on my bike for my clipless pedals. I hadn’t tried clipping in since it proved too difficult last year but I didn’t need to. I could sense that I would be able to do it without any significant problems and that was exactly what happened! I cycled clipped in again and it felt great. My balance was noticeably better, starting off much less of a problem and fatigue a more reliable and slightly less intrusive companion. The connection between my slightly wonky brain and my body has improved considerably since starting new medication. I try not to take things for granted because Parkinson’s can take them away in an instant but equally I’m so encouraged by my ability to clip in again. I realise there are times when something may not work but it doesn’t always mean ‘forever’, it might just mean ‘for now’.

I realise that Parkinson’s stamps its presence on each of us differently and over time, it will inevitably, prematurely stop each of us from doing some of the things we enjoy. It has been so uplifting, to be able to return to doing something which I thought I had lost the ability to do forever, that I’m sharing my experience in the hope that others in a similar situation, with the right treatment plan, may be able to return to doing something they thought might have been taken away from them forever and that they might experience a similar joy too. One day, Parkinson’s may once again take from me the ability to cycle clipped in, but today is not that day!