02/06/2026
*SCHOOLS FOCUS GROUP SPOTLIGHT*
In the May Schools Cycling newsletter we had a great piece written by one of our schools focus group members, Asha Chand. Take a read below! Awesome work Asha :)
Motivation is a bit unreliable, sometimes you feel like you can take on anything. Other days you look at your bike and think “not today”. And if you’ve ever felt that way, you're not lazy or weak, you're just human.
My P/E teacher once told me “you won't always have a positive ‘can do’ attitude but you can always choose to try”. At the time I didn't fully understand it, but overtime I started to realise how true my teachers' words were.
Coming from a big school that isn't really focused on sport, my experience with cycling has been a bit different. Most people around me aren't training every day or talking about races. After school it's not normal to go training after school or push yourself physically during P/E or Sports classes, and a lot of the time it makes it harder to stay motivated. There's no big crowd doing the same thing and no constant reminders to keep going. So for me, cycling became something personal.
It wasn't about fitting in or doing what everyone else was doing. It's been about choosing to show up anyway. There have been plenty of days where I didn't feel like riding, where it would've been easier to skip it. But each time I got on the bike, I was proving something to myself that I didn't need a big sporting environment to excel.
Cycling isn't about always feeling ready, it's about starting anyway, even when you don't. At first, it can feel tough, your mind argues with you and everything tells you to stop. But then you start moving, find your rhythm and slowly, it changes. You stop thinking about quitting and keep going - that's what makes cycling so unique.
"At times it does feel like you're doing it alone. There's no crowd, no noise, just yourself and the road. But overtime, I started seeing it as a strength, not a weakness. Because cycling helped me learn how to rely on myself. It has taught me that progress doesn't need to be seen by everyone else to matter. The effort that you put in, even when no one notices, still counts. And one day, I promise you, it will all come back. The quiet rides and tough moments is where that real growth happens. And the best part is that mindset doesn't only stay on the bike, it follows you through all aspects of life: training, studying and work.
So next time you're not feeling motivated, just pause and think to yourself: “you can always choose to try”. Rake up your courage, take that first step and start. Because you don't need to feel ready to begin, you begin to feel ready. Because in the end, my experience with cycling hasn't been in the perfect environment its been about choosing to keep going in conditions where it would've been easy not too,
And that's what has made cycling so meaningful to me."
