'Cycling Saved My Life': MyWhoosh Big Ride Challenge rider, Elaine Scott on her driving force

Cycling can mean a multitude of things to each of us, whether it’s feeding a competitive urge, keeping the weight off or pure exhilaration, but few can argue it’s good for our mental health.

Elaine Scott has been cycling for around seven years, starting after her then partner, a time trialist, took her to a race in the Lake District. “What I noticed was women my age taking part,” she tells us from her home near Dumfries. “I thought, maybe I'm not too old at 40 to take up cycling. So I went and bought my first bike just after that, and it just sort of snowballed from there."

Until that point, since her mid-20s, Elaine had been suffering with poor mental health and credits discovering the bike as a major factor in restoring her health.

“I don't say it lightly, I think to a certain extent cycling saved my life. It helped me get out of that spiral, it was depression, anxiety, anorexia, at points I had suicidal thoughts. But you get to the stage you think, I can't live like this anymore.

“Then cycling came along and it gave me a new perspective on things. You know, even after a bad day you can just jump on your bike and have an adventure.” And it was the rigours of riding that soon saw her beating the anorexia.

“I realised that it's like a car, you have to put the fuel in if you want to get somewhere,” Elaine explains. “I remember coming home from work, I’d just started cycling and there’s this hill I just couldn't get up, and then one day I thought I’d just eat a banana before I go, and I actually managed to get up the hill. I just wasn’t eating enough.”

And now she rides a lot and will be known to many of her fellow Big Ride Challenge riders for her regular posts and photos. Whether it be on the lanes around Dumfries and Galloway of the local tracks and trails on the gravel bike, never on the indoor trainer, Elaine is out there most days, come rain or shine.

When the MyWhoosh Big Ride Challenge began she was among the first to hit the 5,000 mile target. “I’ve actually got a letter from Cycling Weekly and one of the little badges. With it being lockdown year I think I did 15,000 miles, these days I’ll probably come out somewhere between six and 8,000 miles.

“At this time of year I try to average between 150 to 200 miles a week, but I have to be careful because cycling can become a bit of an obsession, and I find it more difficult not to cycle than to cycle. My partner does get quite frustrated at times. You have to find the balance and not obsess about it.”

It’s not all been plain sailing though. A blood transfusion after menorrhagia (heavy menstrual bleeding) forced her off the bike, and then, last year she was hit by a car, writing off her gravel bike. That hit her confidence, she’s not been out with Dumfries CC since. But she’s back out getting the miles in, and even collecting her beautiful, new Liv Devote turned into an adventure.

“I picked it up and the rain was like a monsoon, I got to Dalbeattie, I got stuck at the traffic light and then it starts thundering and lightening, so just as quick as I could got to the public toilets and hid in there!”