Slightly weird question, but hopefully someone can give me some tips or share their stories. My father got in a terrible cycling accident a few days ago, he’s alive but in intensive care, thankfully the doctors say he will probably recover but will have to go through some surgeries. Anyway, this event has given me some major psychological blockade and now I’m too afraid to go out on the road (I’m in the middle of preparation block for hillclimb races that start in the early May). I do have a smart trainer so I do ride indoors but it pains me to miss out on great spring weather. Do you guys have any suggestions how to convince my mind to get back on the road?
It’s not a “tip” per se because I am not speaking from experience, but what I would do is to use “komoot” (or similiar) to plot out a course where there is interesting stuff to see and little to no traffic. Reasoning: interesting stuff to see shifts the focus from biking to exploration. Little to no traffic gives you relative safety. I wouldn’t put the focus on training to get you out first. In effect it should get you hyped up to do the trip. Then do more trips and hope the angst eases off with actual doing.
Dear Nik sorry to hear about your dad’s accident. frankly cycling in some countries on major roads is hazardous and if thats your situation I would look at alternatives. For example: off road riding; quiet road routes; organized events with closed roads; cycling holidays and finally indoor training. I wouldn’t give up on outdoors however, there is no substitute for fresh air and sunshine! If you start riding in these “safe” conditions eventually your confidence will return (at least a rational judgement to judge risk vs benefits of each condition) best of unluck! alex