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Cycling helped get Servinder's health back on track
Partner: CTC
Scheme: Community Cycling Champions
Location: Leicester
Servinder has diabetes and high cholesterol. Having to worry about her sugar and cholesterol levels made her feel unwell and very depressed. Servinder said "I’m only 41. I don’t want to die yet. By having all these health issues, I feel as if I'm fighting for my life."
She knew that exercise would help her alleviate her symptoms and had already taken some fitness classes and started swimming, but her brother and son discussed her getting a bicycle as well. Servinder wanted a bike but felt that “I couldn’t get one before I learned to ride it.’
After obtaining a referral from her doctor, Servinder joined the Leicester CTC cycling group. The group provides access to bikes, either new or recycled and train individuals under the National Standards for Cycle Training. Servinder was taught how to ride a bike on the Saturday-afternoon sessions, and a bike was loaned to her to use each time. Having ridden a bike as a child, she got on easily, becoming more and more confident that the bike would go where she wanted it to, and believing further in her own strength to keep pedalling.
Servinder was uncertain about whether she wanted her own bicycle and how to store it safely, so she borrowed a bike and bike lock from the group to take home each week for extra practice. Six months later, Servinder is still cycling and her health has improved greatly. She has purchased her own bicycle and is getting a few more ideas for cycling. “I got some leggings to tuck in my trousers as they were catching on the chain." Servinder also plans to cycle to help her sugar levels in order to control her diabetes: "I cycle every evening if my sugar levels are high to get them down before bed. “When I cycle hard without stopping it will go from 18 to 8.0 in half an hour. "
"It’s the cycling that brings my sugar levels down more than anything else."
Servinder still has concerns that she may have a bad patch by "eating too much around Diwali and Bonfire night." Now that she can have more control over her health and sugar levels by cycling, her future looks much better: "I’m not worried about Christmas. I’ll do the shopping and it will be the right food, and I’ll get on my bike right after the meal.’"
Her cholesterol levels are also less of a worry for Servinder, having dropped from 5 when before she started cycling to 3.9 over the summer. Servinder loves to say hello to other group members when she sees them. She would like more lessons as she isn’t confident on the roads yet, sticking mainly cycling on pavements and in parks. Servinder says “the cycling’s made it better this year. I feel more active and happier if I’m exercising.”
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