Travellers’ tales: Cycling is the best medicine

By Cycling UK
A man is leaning against a wooden fence with his forearms resting on the fence, next to a statue of a fisherman in the same pose. He's wearing cycling kit and there's a bike between him and the statue
Martin at the Port William Lifeboat Station
A feeling of things not being right led to a diagnosis of Parkinson’s for Cycling UK member Martin Coopland. But cycling proved better than a spoonful of sugar when he joined his friend Graham for a tour of Galloway

In the April/May 2020 issue of Cycle, I wrote about warm winter winds in the west of Scotland as my friend Graham and I toured to Portpatrick. I enjoyed the tour but I had a feeling not everything was right.

The pedals would not turn easily and my mind found fear everywhere. Then the world paused for Covid. It wasn’t the time to be visiting my GP telling him I was worried about finding it hard to ride 100 miles. Later I abandoned a trip to the Highlands because I could not make the bicycle go.

“There is something wrong with you,” my companions told me. To the surgery. Caring staff and referrals yielded the answer: I have Parkinson’s disease. Cycling is a huge part of my life and it has been significantly impacted.

Luckily, cycling is the top thing consultants recommend to help manage the condition. My left leg is affected: it becomes tense and fights me. But I now know that, if I persist with my ride for 40 minutes, the tension fades. My shoulders become painfully tense, which I deal with by regularly shifting my hands and frequent stops for stretching – or ‘gate yoga’ as I call it.

A man is lying on grass next to a white-washed wall. He is wearing cycling kit and his bike is leaning against the wall. Behind the wall is a lighthouse
Taking a rest at the Mull of Galloway Lighthouse

My lack of dopamine makes me anxious, so going out to cycle, even on familiar roads, is an issue that I have to push through every time. My cycling has become difficult yet always makes me feel better. My symptoms are reduced and the effect lasts hours.

In August 2024, Graham and I repeated our trip to Portpatrick. Summertime brought greener roads but the wind was still present. Graham did the hard shifts into the wind.

I rode behind, eking out my energies, a grateful passenger. We made it to the Mull of Galloway in glorious sunshine, where I took my medicine: a spoonful of cycling.

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