Our Campaigns

#MentalHealthMatters

I think first and foremost mental health is extremely important whenever and whoever you are.

It can have such a massive impact on you, your family and friends, work life etc

I know this because I suffer badly at times and I’m still trying to work out how to live my life the way I want while dealing with it.

The support I receive from family, friends and on social media is crucial in keeping me going.

We aim to bring more awareness to this important subject, hopefully helping people as we go and if people want to talk were here.

Exercise and biking is important as it can help people mentally so much especially if you bike in the countryside while the sun is shining.

It’s proven that exercise, nature and the sun and all have positive impacts on your good endorphins and therefore it keeps your mental health positive.

So having said the above benefits that’s why we try and encourage, motivate and inspire people to get out on their bikes.

Not only have we been raising awareness for mental health but also money through two Christmas charity raffles, our mental health tee and our 2021 jersey which have been extremely popular.

Please don’t suffer alone.

#LetsAllRide

We try to encourage, inspire and motivate people to get out on their bikes through reposts we do so people can see what others are up to.

We try and encourage people also through motivational posts (as you can see from our inspire Instagram highlight).

We organise #TotalSocial rides to try and help people out which also helps with socialising.

We’re also trying to link with bike shops around the country to do monthly shop rides with customers and people in the local area.

And hopefully we can connect with Forestry England to run social rides at their locations through the UK.

All the above is trying to encourage people to get out on their bikes, have fun, socialise, meet new people and while they do that they’ll be helping their mental and physical health.

BIKING COLLECTIVE

Not only do we want to encourage and inspire people to get out on their bikes to benefit mentally and physically through being out in nature biking but we also want to bring people together as socialising, making friends and going out together is another powerful way you can maintain and improve your mental health.

We want people to feel comfortable, relaxed and not judged when going out on their bikes whether it’s on their own, with a few people or a lot.

We want people to come together as riders and not let gender, race, sexuality, religion, appearance, skill level, fitness, background, bike type, bike cost or clothing brand determine who we can bike with, we want people to be able to come together as riders and bike as a collective and not be put as the before “labels” but as riders.

There is always a minority in EVERY group that doesn’t comply and tries to making biking a difficult and sad experience for us but for the majority I would love everyone to be able to come together without worries or anxiety about what they think of their riding, if they’re slow, if they have an e-bike, if they’re female or male and JUST BIKE!!!

The more people feel relaxed, comfortable and no judgment in biking the more people we get into biking, the more people gain the benefits both mentally and physically from it and in turn the sport we love will grow.

We want to become a collective in biking…….. BIKING COLLECTIVE

YOU ARE YOU AND YOU ARE AWESOME

Since starting #TotalMTB I’ve become increasingly frustrated and disappointed with the number of stories I hear about other bikers out there openly judging and putting others down.

Whether it be their appearance, gender, race, disability, bike value, clothing, speed, ability etc.

It may be a minority but a minority is still too many, I don’t understand why we can’t all just welcome, help, encourage and support each other.

Mental health also comes into it because if you’re spoken to in a degrading or abusive manner it often puts people down and they get put off riding for some time if not for good and this is definitely the opposite of what we want.

People shouldn’t have these horrible thoughts in the first place but if they do I hope they think about how it could affect the person now and in the future and decide against saying it.

People say carry on regardless and so people can and I respect that massively but I know myself how it can be and when I’ll out I hold myself back if people are around as I feel like I’m being judged even if I know the people I’m with don’t judge.

This has always been a big thing for me and TotalMTB but recently unfortunately a lot of negative comments about riders colour, gender and size and along with the recent Shimano video with those two incredible Women it’s really got me so passionate about promoting it’s ok to be exactly who you are.

Sadly though I understand that no matter how much we campaign and put messages out there we won’t totally get rid of it.

REGARDLESS of this TotalMTB will ALWAYS welcome, help, encourage and support ALL riders, TotalMTB is a SAFE place for all, we simply want people to get outside on their bikes and have fun whether it be on your own or in a group in turn this helps both your physical and mental health and they should be able to do this knowing they can go out and be confident they won’t be judged or spoken to in a negative way.

So now more than ever I want to promote that it’s ok to bike no matter who you are.

#YAYAYAA

#ProtectOurPlanet

As mountain bikers we spend most our time in the countryside surrounded by nature.

It’s a place we not only love to bike but also helps our mental health dramatically.

So the last thing we want to see is our countryside getting destroyed by litter or other forms of disruption.

We’d like to raise awareness and money for the environment like we have been doing for mental health.

We’ve already started by selling a recycled tee with raises awareness for the planet with a message on the front and all the profit going to Forestry England.

When we can run social rides again, throughout the ride I’ll be litter picking.

In 2022 not only will our packaging for jerseys become recyclable but the jerseys will be raising awareness and money for the environment.

If we can we’ll have jerseys made from recycled plastic in 2022 but it may be difficult with price points.

We’ll keep thinking of new ideas to help out and do our bit even if it’s a small affect globally we hope to inspire others to do the same.