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Dr Helen Vecht with some of her cycling trophies |
‘It’s no easy ride for female cyclists’
Former endurance rider who suffers from MS tells why women are in greater danger
FOR prize-winning long-distance cyclist Helen Vecht, the thrill of the hurtling around on two wheels is still fresh in her mind, even though she has not been on a saddle for 10 years.
Struck down by multiple sclerosis (MS), the doctor, who specialised in accident and emergency and orthopaedics, walks with difficulty and often uses a wheelchair, but her memories of the rides she completed in the past – including an adventurous trip to the Arctic Circle – fuel her determination to encourage others to take up cycling.
Helen fell in love with cycling when she was 16 while on a biology field trip to the “bicycle island” of Great Cumbrae, off the coast of western Scotland. She went on to win trophies for completing rides including Land’s End to John O’Groats, Paris to Brest and Stockholm to the Arctic Circle.
But MS, which damages the body’s central nervous system, left her disabled and unable to cycle. There is no known cure for the condition, which affects 100,000 people in the UK.
“I suspected I had MS in 1990. It was properly diagnosed in 1997 and I’ve gradually got worse,” she says.
Dr Vecht says she still thinks back to the days when she commuted from Golders Green to the Royal Free Hospital, hitting 38mph on the steep slope of East Heath Road on one of her six bikes (each was specialised for different terrain).
But, always self-effacing, the 51-year-old insists she is not depressed about being unable cycle any longer. Dr Vecht says she is happy to have the time to help other cyclists by working as a campaigner for organisations including the Camden branch of the London Cycling Campaign.
“The stage when I was cycling has passed,” she says “I’ve accepted that and moved on. I feel if you’re disabled and can’t work any longer, at least you can sit on committees and leave the people who like cycling to get on with that. Of course, some people with disabilities get depressed, but I don’t. I’m very lucky.”
Aside from being a fun way to travel, Dr Vecht recommends cycling as a great way to keep fit and prevent diseases such as heart disease. The bicycle, she says, allows people to be masters of their own destinies, while those on public transport are reliant on the system. “It’s also good for the community,” she says, “because there is not enough road space for increasing numbers of cars.”
Dr Vecht became involved in the London Cycling Campaign shortly after its inception in 1978 and remembers the radical days when its members took direct action by altering roads using pick-axes and putting up their own road signs at night.
Campaigns she is involved in include lobbying for tougher punishments for drivers who, because of British laws of liability, currently “get away with murder if they have a good lawyer”.
Dr Vecht says she hopes more and more women will take up cycling, while acknowledging the higher casualty rate among female cyclists.
“Of all the fatalities of cyclists in London this year,” she says, “I think all were females. Assertiveness makes a difference, but you have to question whether someone should have to be so aggressively assertive to have a chance of survival. The style of assertive cycling that exists in Britain doesn’t occur on the Continent because it doesn’t need to.”
Before she stopped cycling, Dr Vecht particularly enjoyed Audax touring, an Italian style of long-distance riding that attracts people from around the world, many of whom sleep in church halls, farmhouses and ditches every year while undertaking the annual Edinburgh to London Audax ride.
“On long rides, I used to have to do a lot of bike maintenance,” she recalls. “Although my hands aren’t so good, I still patch up inner tubes. I suppose I like fixing things.”
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