We all know mountain biking can be good for your mental health, but for friend-of-the-mag Aneela McKenna (@mrsgowherescotland), a bikepacking trip through the Outer Hebrides was life-changing. She tells her story in a new film, After The Storm, released today, in the lead-up to the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. You can watch it below.
A few years back, Aneela was at breaking point, after years of discrimination at work. As a Scots Asian woman, bikes hadn’t been part of her life growing up, but her husband Andy had introduced her to MTBing and the beautiful Scottish islands, so she decided to escape her worries and head out on a solo adventure.
It wasn’t easy going – “It was my first experience of having to sleep rough… eat off a stove… midges! I was a city girl” – but Aneela returned from the Hebrides a different woman, with a refreshed outlook and newfound strength. As Andy says: “Thank God for bikes and places like this!”
“This place saved me,” Aneela says. “I came back feeling brilliant, and ready to do something about it, and I did.” She filed a grievance against her boss, set-up the Mòr Diversity consultancy with Andy and began chairing British Cycling’s D&I advisory group. “MTB is what I love, and I just want to make it better for everyone,” she explains.
Filmed by MBUK snapper/tester Andy McCandlish and directed by him and Andy McKenna, After The Storm is a thought-provoking watch that’ll challenge what you’re doing to make the world a more inclusive place. #RIDEOVERRACISM
This film could not have been made without the financial and moral support of Santa Cruz Bicycles, Shimano, Endura, Wilderness Trail Bikes and Hotlines Europe. Thanks also to special guests, MTB stars and diversity champions Danny MacAskill, Eliot Jackson, Isla Short, Greg Minnaar, Nathan and Ruben de Vaux, Steve Peat, Emma Neale, Phil Young, Jenni Gwiazdowski, Manon Carpenter, Lloyd Grose, Frit Tam, Kerry MacPhee, Jo Shwe and Rob Warner.