Hearing Your Stories: Catherine Jones
What it's like exploring Europe's Basque Country on two wheels
Morning, friends! ☀️ Today, it’s time for something a little different.
So far in our profile series, we’ve heard entirely from runners. But when I first heard from the person you’ll meet today, she told me that while she does run, her true passion now is cycling — and could we talk about that?
It struck me as the perfect opportunity to open up our series to people with different experiences, who have stories that are a little outside the strike zone of what we normally cover — and that that could be a great thing.
And when I first read what Catherine had to say, I knew she’d be the perfect person to kick off a new direction — I just loved what she shared about growing up in the U.K. and living now in the Basque country that straddles France and Spain, and all the adventures she has.
I think you’ll love her story too — as always, keep in touch and let me know how your running/life is going! — Terrell
So, let’s hear a little bit about you! Who are you, your age (if you’d like to share), where you’re from, what you do, etc.
Hi! I’m Catherine Jones. I’m a freelance writer and editor. I’m 33 years old, I live in the beautiful Basque Country, but I grew up in the equally beautiful county of Essex, in the U.K.
I used to work in policy in London, but I quit and ran away to be an English teacher. Now I write for organisations including the Kyiv Independent, an English-language, independent Ukrainian newspaper. I also run a cycling Substack (Spinning Tales), and work part-time in a bike shop.
What does your cycling routine look like? How many times a week, and how far do you bike?
My routine really depends on the season! I try to cycle twice in the week and then do a long ride at the weekend — “try” being the operative word. In the autumn and winter a lot of rides end up being on the indoor trainer because the Basque Country is very wet and windy.
Rides in the week can be pretty short, only one or two hours, but weekend rides can be much longer. The distance also depends on what kind of cycling I’m doing, and the elevation. You can do way more kilometres on the road than on mountain bike trails.
This spring I was preparing for the Kyiv Half Marathon, so from January to April I was running three times a week and cycling twice a week.
Were you an athletic kid growing up? What are your early memories of what fitness and health were about?
It’s funny, I never thought of myself as athletic because I wasn’t good at the sports we played at school, but actually I always did lots.
My mum was really into sailing — she taught it when she was younger — so I first learnt to sail a dinghy aged about four, and we used to go sailing after school and at the weekends in the summer.
I learnt to ride a horse when I was very little too, and I’ve got lots of memories of swimming and cycling and enjoying it. But I don’t think I ever thought of any of that as “fitness” or something to do to be healthy. It was all just fun.
When I was 11 I started fencing. Someone came in to run a class at my school, and I was good at it because I was tall and left-handed. I kept doing it and by the time I was 13, I was representing Great Britain in the Cadet (under 17) team. I carried on doing that until I was about 16.
Fencing competitively was probably what first made me think about my fitness. I used to do circuit training — it would probably be called CrossFit now! — to build muscle, run a bit for aerobic fitness, plus I went to weekly pilates classes with my mum.
How did you first get into cycling? Was there something that inspired you — like a performance at the Olympics, for example, or a cyclist you discovered by watching them on social media or TV? Or was there someone in your own life who inspired you to think, ‘maybe I can do this?’
I first rode a bike when I was very small, but then when I was maybe eight or nine I had a crash and smashed my front teeth out. I didn’t really pick it up again until I moved to London at 18.
I got a single speed bike and rode it around London for years — I don’t think my legs have ever been so strong! I used to do spinning classes too, which I love, they’re such a weird cross between exercise, a night out, and church.
When I was about 26, I started mountain biking with my boyfriend at the time who used to race Enduro, a downhill mountain biking discipline. I was very scared the first few times and I realised that, if I was going to stick with it, I needed to convince myself that it was something cool girls did — not just my crazy boyfriend!
I started following female mountain bikers on Instagram: Kate Courtney, Jolanda Neff, Rachel Atherton and Tahnee Seagrave, to name a few. I did think they were cool, and they really inspired me. They’re still inspiring me now!
Later I got more into gravel and road. The pro cycling teams are a real inspiration. I’m a big fan of athletes like Puck Pieterse and Pauline Ferrand-Prevot who compete across different cycling disciplines.
How has your interest in cycling — and, by extension, fitness and health — evolved since then? Do you bike farther, or faster now?
Cycling is such a huge part of my life now, it’s hard to believe I only really started a few years ago! I have three bikes, a cycling Substack, and I work in a bike shop.
But honestly, the biggest thing, and the thing that surprises me the most, is what I am now capable of on my bike, both in terms of distance and skill.
When I first started, a 30km bike ride felt like a lot. Last summer, I cycled 1,200km from the Basque Country back to the U.K., cycling over 100km every day, carrying my tent and all my stuff, and I absolutely loved it.
On my mountain bike, I can now ride trails that I remember thinking I would never, ever even want to ride when I first saw them. It sometimes blows my mind how far I’ve come — though I’m really still not particularly good!
What do you balance your cycling with? Do you have a family to take care of? Kids, parents or other relatives or loved ones? If so, how do you balance all of it and still make time to bike/care for yourself?
I don’t have children or caring responsibilities so I am super lucky to be able to organise my time largely around my own whims. Of course, sometimes I don’t quite manage to balance things anyway!
Is there anything you’re especially proud of that you can point to your cycling and say, ‘this helped me achieve ______’?
My dad died about six weeks before I was meant to start my cycling trip from Spain to the U.K. It very nearly stopped me going — there was so much to do, I hadn’t trained in the way I wanted to, and I was worried about how I would feel.
But in the end I decided to go anyway, and it turned out to be exactly what I needed. All that time on the bike really helped me process my emotions. It’s not so much an achievement, but it’s definitely something that cycling helped with in my life, and I am proud of myself for going even though I was scared.
What have you learned about yourself from your cycling journey? Is there anything that’s changed about you since you started?
I’m naturally quite an impatient person, and that doesn’t pair well with a) starting a new sport as an adult, or b) doing any endurance sport.
Learning to mountain bike was very frustrating for me to start with. But I stuck with it, and I got better, slowly but surely. I’m now more confident that if I can’t do something, I can learn how to.
On longer rides, and particularly in races, I find it very hard to pace myself. I want to go fast from the beginning and I can’t imagine I’ll run out of energy, until, of course, I do. I’m gradually learning that slow and steady wins the race (or at least finishes it with a bit less drama).
Where would you like to go with your cycling? Is there anything special you’d like to achieve — like, say, biking a particular amazing place in the world, or a particular distance?
There are so many places I would like to cycle!
In terms of long-distance road or gravel rides, I have plans in the works to cycle Corsica from North to South, and to cross the Pyrenees from the Mediterranean back to the Basque Country. The Atlas mountains in Morocco, the Balkans, and Kyrgyzstan all look amazing too.
For mountain biking, there are a ton of bike parks I still need to get to in Europe, but I am actually dying to go to North America. I would love to go back to Colorado for mountain biking, and to visit Whistler one day.
What keeps you going? Especially if you’ve been doing this for a while — do you ever get bored with it? How do you find new things to motivate you, to keep you going?
There are always new places to go on my bike. I like to give myself a challenge every year, instead of a New Year’s Resolution.
Last year I did what I called the Txakoli Txallenge — trying a different kind of txakoli, the Basque lightly sparkling white wine, every month — and this year I’m operating the Trail Centre Taskforce, which means I’m inspecting (visiting) every trail centre here in the Basque Country.
When I was running, I started having to drive myself to new places to keep it interesting. The feeling of adventure and exploration is very important to me.
Look back at yourself when you were a kid, maybe say 10 years old. Remember how you felt, what you thought, especially what you thought you were capable of back then. If you could talk to that kid now, what would you say?
Enjoy being a child. Just keep playing, keep exploring the things you’re interested in. No one knows you better than you do, so try to stay tuned in to how you feel and what you want.
If it’s not fun, what’s the point?
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