Try now. Don’t look down. Ride fast.

I’ve always loved cycling. I learnt to ride without stabilisers before my 4th birthday. I had a Raleigh Pavemaster and I bombed around the paths at our radburn estate in Coventry. I cycled loops. The inside stabiliser wore-out faster than the outside one. To the point that it wasn’t stabilising me. In fact it was destabilising me. I thought it was helping when it wasn’t. I worked it out when I had to corner the other way and couldn’t lean as far. As soon as it registered why, I slowed down, I started to wobble. I rocked from the worn-out stabiliser to the other one. I rocked some more. I slowed down further. I rocked even more now and tried to steer or at least regain my balance by steering. No joy. I stopped. My Dad came out to ask if I was okay. I explained what was going on. He got his spanners and took off both stabilisers.

Try now. Don’t look down. Ride fast.

So I did. I was fine. I could ride with no stabilisers. Not looking down was the key. If I didn’t look down I didn’t think about my missing stabilisers.

I loved riding my bike. I rode through my teens. I lived in a village 5 miles from the nearest town. So I had to. I didn’t ride at University at first. Bradford was too hilly and too small. On my placement year I moved to London. I worked in Camden in a transport and sustainability consultancy. I took my bike. I lived in Muswell Hill so the route in was up Highgate Hill, down Archway, right at the big roundabout then through Kentish Town into Camden. The first day of work I cycled in with last year’s placement student, Liz. It was terrifying. Riding in London back then was terrifying. Only 1% of trips were by bike. There were no cycle lanes. Cars weren’t used to bikes. I looked at Archway Road and said to Liz “Really? Down there?”. Yep she said, you’ll be fine.

Try now. Don’t look down. Ride fast.

So I did. I was fine. Riding fast is the key as you travel at the same speed as the traffic. This is safer. This allows you to move with the traffic rather than get in its way.

I got married. Rode a lot in my final year. Yep, that’s right I got married in my final year. Sure, that’s unusual. But the heady speed of love cannot be slowed. You’ve just got to follow your gut Try now. Don’t look down. Ride fast.

After graduation I planned the cycling network for Bradford in the very early 1990s. I cycled everywhere. Not looking down. Riding fast. I then met a couple of older chaps who cycled off-road at Shipley Glen and over the moors. So I joined them. One day we cycled up a green lane called Sandy Banks. It was steep up and made of sand. It didn’t look like I would make it. I expressed my concern. “You’ll be fine” they said. “Put your weight over your back wheel but not so much that you tip (useful advice), then try now, don’t look down, ride fast”. The key here was weight distribution. I tried it. I balanced my weight between power and steering. I didn’t look down, I rode fast. I shot up that hill.

When I taught my eldest to ride in the park in Saltaire I got her to count. “1,2,3,4, 1,2,3,4”.

“Try now” I said. “Don’t look down, ride fast”. The key here was feeling the bike, feeling the balance. It took me back to when I learnt.

I’ve cycled since. We’ve taught my other three kids to cycle. Same advice.

Try now. Don’t look down. Ride fast.

Through all this I’ve worked in many places but my last employed role was in 2001. I was the sustainability person at Asda. I hated it. I left. We planned to emigrate but it never happened. No job. Sold our house. Three kids, soon to be four. I had to think of a plan. Start my own business. But how?

Try now. Don’t look down. Ride fast.

That business went well for ten years then I started another. It was tricky. I chose the wrong partner. I wobbled. I stopped trying. I looked down. I didn’t pedal fast. I nearly crashed.

Start again. A smaller lighter bike. A gut instinct. Try now. Don’t look down. Pedal fast.

Like, really fast.

When you wobble. When you want to change direction, it is tempting to slow down. This is when you can wobble. This is when you pop on the stabilisers of the big job, the reassurance of mediocrity, the cycle helmet of familiarity, the tricycle of stability. You pull your brakes. That’s all good. But it slows you. Then a year or so later you have another wobble. Then another.

The things is that when you have a wobble the best way to pull out of it is speed up.

Don’t look down. Ride Fast.

Want to learn how?

I’ve done more than my fair share of wobbling, squeezing my brakes, not trusting my gut, placing too much weight over my back wheel. This workshop takes that learning and helps you move one.

FOMO — the fear of moving on. This workshop is designed to help you move on, to help you make a decision by understanding why you keep grabbing the brakes, to understand what is holding you back, to understand what is keeping you small.

Spread over two half days over Zoom the workshop is 23rd and 24th July.

This is what people have said about it:

‘A great safe place to explore what’s really holding you back from achieving the next step in your life, and to be honest with yourself about where you want to go. Emotional and challenging but with a big dose of fun and warmth.’

“Become empowered. See yourself at face value. Appreciate all you’ve become and what you’ve acquired. And in the process, meet the fantastic Mark and beautiful souls who want to be more true to them than anything else”.

“If you are stuck, feel alone or want to have someone to hear and understand you, if you are looking for a safe space where you can be vulnerable, if you want to grow and want to learn from the inspiring personalities that Mark attracts for the course, please don’t hesitate to join the course. I am deeply thankful to Mark, his wife Nic and the brave group of attendees who worked on themselves. It felt like a year’s worth of therapy work done in two days.”

“Incredible. Mark and Nic are wonderful guides, providing a safe, open and welcoming environment to explore and discuss your fears. A bit like therapy, everyone could benefit from this no matter what situation you’re in. If you’re on the fence, do it — I genuinely can’t understand how anyone could regret it.”

“This is coaching delivered by someone who genuinely wants to help you make a difference to your life.”

“For anyone who is at a cross-roads, who is terrified of the next part of their life and how it is all going to turn out, please book onto this workshop! I felt the fear melting away as the day went by and it really and truly gave me a new outlook on life. Often, we know fear is holding us back but don’t know what to do about it. Seriously, thank you”.

And this is how it made people feel

“Very empowered. I was surrounded by likeminded people I admire who became powerful by showing vulnerability”.

“I feel incredible”.

“I feel like a new person. I have an appetite for my new life like I’ve never had before”.

“Calm, powerful, ready”.

For more detail and to book click here: https://the-ape-store.myshopify.com/collections/workshops/products/online-fomo-fear-of-moving-on-course

Try now. Don’t look down. Ride fast.