Riding my Electric Bike gave me back my Sanity
So I am 50 years old as I write this,’ the last 5 years of my life have been very challenging, I lost my business, my dad the girl I was seeing and my health all in the space of 18 months.
This was a very stressful period and all those things happening at the same time seemed to bring on this health issue.
I developed a skin condition, which I can say now is better than it was, but can affect my eyes and means sometimes every blink hurts, it’s called blepharitis
I was no longer able to work as it was totally debilitating, I was signed off work by my dr who did not know exactly what the problem was at the time, I was self-employed, and after 6 months I was called into an interview, I answered some questions and was deemed fit for work and told to sign on, I lost all my benefits, I lost everything even my websites as I had no money for this, building websites was my income at that time.
I had no means of income, and could not do my proper job as even though they said I was fit to work I was not able to do anything as I was in constant eye pain, even 5 mins at the computer was too much.
There was a time when I was on the phone with someone from the benefits, who told me my condition doesn’t sound that bad and there will be no more support, the whole system has let me down which I had paid into for 25 years at the time, and this still annoys me even now to think about it.
I went into a very severe depression it was the worst time of my life, I will be honest it did cross my mind ending it all, there seemed very little to live for at that time, I didn’t even know what was wrong healthwise.
I was lucky when I met a new dr totally by accident who actually listened to me and used my last bit of money to pay for a private dermatologist who said I had a skin condition called rosacea and helped me get it under control, it took about 18 months of visits, I slowly regained my life bit by bit.
I was struggling badly mentally after this and just laid on my bed most days, I needed to get out of it somehow, so I started to walk a little which helped and was trying to think of ways I could work without making my condition worse.
I saw Uber eats and there was this delivery app maybe I could do this as I used to like cycling but had not cycled since I was 16
I saw on the internet there were these electric bikes now, I thought I wonder if I could get one of those and use it to deliver food, this would at least give me a small income and I would be outside not sitting at home feeling sorry for myself
I was lucky that I told my Granma I was thinking about doing this, and she said I will give you the money for a bike, which I was very grateful for, I realise this is a very lucky thing as not many could have this support.
I found one for £1000 a Moscow 48v I had done so much research I knew the bike inside out.
I started doing Uber eats at lunchtime just 3 days a week and slowly building up I did not make a lot of money but I did make some.
This is what kickstarted my love of cycling again as it helped my mental health to get out there and explore Sheffield, It helped me focus on the job rather than my problems.
Then as I got better I bought a fat tyre bike with the money I saved, now having a mountain bike that was electric was fun but fat bikes are the ultimate, once I got this bike I was totally hooked.
After a while, I started using it so much that I was getting all kinds of wheel problems and punctures and realised there is a real lack of support for these bike owners
This is why this site exists, I had problems getting tubes and tyres and tyre liners were not quite a thing.
I set up this site at the beginning of the lockdown, In 2020 it was awful at first and I did struggle to find products to sell and still now struggling.
However, if you reading this I must be doing something right 🙂
If your having a tough time mentally I would suggest you try cycling on an electric bike, normal cycling is fun but it is very physical, most people who are not fit are not going to enjoy this kind of cycling
Electric bikes help you bridge the gap in your fitness, and you can go on massive rides as I have done, I used to do it all on my own too, but unfortunately still a lot of snobbiness in cycling about maintenance and if you have an electric bike you will be called a cheat at some point, just take no notice and focus on your own journey, as those people won’t know what you have been through.
Thanks for reading and please message me by all means if you have any questions you may want to ask about the site or cycling and please share my site with others