07/07/2026
I've just cycled around the globe – and a bit further*
*Ten years. 34,206 miles. One very good reason to keep going.
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The Earth is roughly 24,901 miles around at the equator. I know this not because I paid attention in geography class (believe me, I didn’t) but because somewhere along the way – pedalling through early mornings, late evenings, rain-soaked country lanes and sun-drenched summer rides – I cycled past that number without even realising it.
Thirty-four thousand, two hundred and six miles. That's not a typo. That's just over ten years of turning the pedals, one revolution at a time, and it adds up to more than once around the entire planet.
I didn't set out to do that. I set out to feel better. Physically and mentally.
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Where it started
Just over ten years ago, I got back on a bike. It wasn't a grand plan or a fitness epiphany. It was more of a quiet decision – the kind you make when something needs to change and you're not sure what else to try. Cycling had been part of my life many years before, and somewhere along the way it had slipped away, as things do.
The early rides were short. Uncomfortable. My legs complained, my lungs complained, and I'm fairly sure my backside lodged a formal protest. But something kept me going. Maybe it was the simplicity of it – just me, a bike, and the road ahead. No screens. No noise. Just movement.
And movement, it turns out, was exactly what I needed.
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More than miles
It would be easy to frame this as a fitness story – and yes, the physical benefits have been real. But the deeper truth is that cycling has been one of the most consistent tools I've had for my mental health.
There's something that happens on a long ride, usually somewhere around the 25-minute mark, where the mental chatter starts to quieten. Problems that felt enormous at the kitchen table have a habit of shrinking when you're grinding up a hill with your heart rate in your ears. And by the time you freewheel back down the other side, something has shifted. You can't always explain it, but you feel it.
Over ten years, that shift has happened thousands of times. On days when motivation was nowhere to be found. On days when the weather was terrible and the excuses were plentiful. On days when getting out on the bike was last thing I wanted to do. Those rides – the reluctant ones, the difficult ones – often turned out to be the most valuable.
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34,206 miles of what, exactly?
To put that number in some kind of context:
• It's more than once around the Earth's circumference – with over 9,000 miles to spare.
• It's roughly the distance from London to Sydney and back, twice over.
• It's an average of around 3,420 miles a year – or about 66 miles every single week for a decade.
Those miles have been ridden on quiet Sunday mornings when the roads were empty and the air smelled like cut grass. On busy weekday mornings when people in cars are running late, in a rush. They've been ridden in the dark in November, with lights cutting through the drizzle, wondering why I bothered – and then arriving home glad that I did. They've been ridden on holidays, on weekdays before my working day starts, and on long summer evenings that stretched on just long enough for one more lap.
Every single one of them counted.
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What ten years teaches you
A decade on a bike teaches you patience, for starters. Progress is slow and rarely linear. There are plateaus and setbacks, bad patches that last weeks, and sudden breakthroughs that come from nowhere. You learn to show up anyway.
It teaches you that consistency beats intensity. I'm not the fastest rider. I've never raced. But I've kept going, and keeping going turns out to be the whole game.
It teaches you that the hardest part is always getting out of the door. Once you're moving, everything tends to take care of itself.
And perhaps most importantly, it teaches you to pay attention – to the road, to the weather, to the way light falls across fields in different seasons. Cycling slows your perception of the world even as you move through it quickly. That's a rare and valuable thing.
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Still going
Also, it’s important to say thanks to my regular, weekly cycling co-riders. Sean, you’ve been with me since the start, Andy every Wednesday for the past few years too. Also, Pete, James, and others who've been 'regular occasional riding buddies'. And thanks to Clare and the girls for giving me ‘time off’!
I don't know what the next ten years look like. More miles, I hope. More early mornings and muddy back roads and the particular satisfaction of getting out on the bike. More of those moments out cycling when everything quietens down and life feels, briefly, entirely manageable.
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The number 34,206 is just that – a number.
What it represents is a habit that has genuinely changed my life. A commitment to showing up for myself, even on the days when it was the last thing I felt like doing.
If you're thinking about getting back on a bike, or starting for the first time – do it. Start small. Don't worry about the miles. Just go.
The Earth is 24,901 miles around.
You've got time.
I wrote this a few days ago, so the number keeps rising. And here's to the next few laps around the world. And I apologise for the generic image. There was no chance of me posting a photo of me in lycra on here.
Carl D Jones Clare Heighway-Jones
