Many of you will already know that I'm a keen cyclist. If you haven't seen me ferrying my yoga mats around Oxford atop my trusty commuter,  you might have seen me riding in my club colours on the Cowley Road; attended one of the classes I ran at this year's Women & Bikes festival; read about my broken collarbone, or heard me relate yoga and cycling at Thursday night's class, which have evolved from the cyclist-specific Winter Training sessions I started running back in 2015. (More recently, I have been working on the launch of VeloVedic training retreats for cyclists - our first event will take place over the August bank holiday - you can sign up to our mailing list here.)  

Last month I teamed up with Oxfordshire Youth Cycling coach, Jake Backus, to film a short yoga sequence with the aim to encourage young cyclists to complement their training with some targeted strength and flexibility work. We were very lucky to be joined by two of Oxford's upcoming talent: Florence Wiggins, who rides for the Zappi Junior Women's Team; and Charlie Quarterman, who was recently signed by Leopard Pro Cycling. Both Charlie and Florence practice yoga regularly - you can watch the three of us talk about the benefits yoga can have both on and off the bike here.

We developed this video with youth cyclists in mind, but the sequence can be of benefit to all types of cyclist - both young and old - and if you're not a cyclist, well, yoga is for every body, not just the cycling body, so why not give it a go too!