Keep Riding - Owen Blandy

https://www.rapha.cc/stories/we-all-h...

Cycling is many things to many people. For some of us, it is everything, an endless obsession. For others, it’s a smaller something, a partial presence. The one thing we all have in common is an ever-evolving relationship with riding. For all of us, cycling comes and goes, ebbs and flows, sliding somewhere on the scale from constant compulsion to infrequent friend.

We’re all at different stages on a journey, and we all ride for different reasons. We ride to get out of the house and into the world. To meet old acquaintances and find new friends. To the middle of the city or the middle of nowhere. It’s a time to be put to the test, to be your best or to enjoy hard-earned recovery and much needed rest. We ride to get away, to find space. To go nowhere in particular or to a single, special place. Lost in our thoughts, we find solace from the world. We reflect on what’s done and what is still to come.

For Owen, life today is simple. But it hasn’t always been that way. From professional kitchens to high-rise office blocks, his early career was played out in high pressure environments where a perpetual pursuit of progression took its toll. Under pressure at work, cycling became an outlet for Owen. Training early in the morning before work and racing nearly every weekend, Owen’s traits on the bike reflected who he was off it – he was living a fast life but not a full one.

Then came a turning point, which would bring Owen closer than ever to his family and provide him with the perspective he needed. Last year, he quit his job, moved out of London and moved out to South West England. Just as cycling had mirrored his personality years earlier, so it reflected the shift in Owen’s mindset. Now working once more as a chef, Owen rides slower but sees more. He still has his reasons to ride, they’ve just changed a little over time.

We all have our reasons. What are yours?