York Bike Belles

Elle and Seb (on the left) on a Nature Ride to the Railway Pond

Elle, who is originally from Argentina, has moved from city to city most of her life.  So moving to York in Autumn 2024 at the age of 50, to downsize and for family reasons, was nothing unusual.  However, this time she was also recovering from a stroke due to an undiagnosed hole in her heart.  This had left her with a number of challenges, but especially language difficulties.  As an Academic Editor in four languages and a tutor in Spanish and Geography, this had felt particularly cruel. 

Previous city moves always found her volunteering to get to know the community, but this time she wanted to be a participant.  She came across York Bike Belles’ weekly Nature Rides.  The stroke had affected her direction processing skills and she would often find herself getting lost.  She felt that the rides would be a perfect way of getting to know York, whilst also gaining confidence on a bicycle.  More importantly, she would get out of the house and meet new people, but not be under pressure to talk.  Due to her stroke, Elle was finding conversation difficult, particularly with new people, and she would develop a profound stammer.  

Elle started coming on the Nature Rides in October 2024.  The hour-long small group rides follow local cycle paths and routes from Millennium Bridge.  She enjoyed them so much that she has been on virtually every ride since. She’s even been bringing her son Seb out during the school holidays.

“I can’t tell you how much the rides have meant to me and the impact that they have had on my life.”  When Elle started on the rides, her confidence in getting out and interacting with people was at an all time low.  With each week’s ride, Elle found that her confidence in meeting people and talking to people slowly grew.  “There was just so much out there that I wanted to do but didn’t feel that I could.  It took a long time to build my confidence to be able to do them.  So just arriving and seeing smiling faces and people happy to see you. On a bad day… you just don’t know the impact of that.” 

“The rides fill a niche; they are one thing that fits if you are not ready to be social for whatever reason, and then give you the confidence to become more social.  If you want to be more chatty you can be, or you don’t have to be.”  

As Elle’s confidence in interacting with people grew, she began to feel that she could try other things.  “I would stop and think – no I did that with Bike Belles, I can do this. The rides were a really successful first step and now I do lots of other things too but I always come back to the rides.  I owe them so much.”

It wasn’t just interacting with people that Elle became more confident with. The rides helped her start to mentally map out York and get around the city.  She began to piece together how routes and places were matched and could be used to get to other places.  “It made me feel at home in a new place.” Her bike is now her main transport around York and she feels confident to cycle in any weather. “I barely use my car anymore.”  

Another long term change for Elle has been around mindfulness and cycling.  A Nature Pause to connect with nature is incorporated into every weekly Nature Ride.  “The first time that we did mindfulness I thought, this might be a bit weird! But it made me stop and take notice.”  Then she found herself doing it whenever she cycled on her own rides.  Now she and Seb practice mindful photography together at the weekend, sometimes revisiting nature we have noticed on the rides. 

As Elle’s language skills continue to slowly recover, she is hoping to be able to teach people how to read.  She would also love to volunteer for York Bike Belles, to give something back to the organisation and support others. She now knows first hand what a difference simple, regular bike rides can make to a person.