For Amy, this isn’t about fame or finishing first. It’s about pushing personal limits, showing that ordinary people can take on extraordinary challenges, and raising awareness about mental health.
She started cycling at 25
Growing up in England, Amy was active, but not on two wheels.
“I learned to ride my bike when I was five, like normal, but I didn’t really ride much,” she says. “We used to go on a family bike ride maybe once a month after school, but I was more into swimming and dance classes.”
Later, running took over, but it wasn’t a healthy relationship. “I did a lot of running in my teenage years,” she says. “But with running, it was always like a way to burn calories. It wasn’t healthy.”
Cycling didn’t come into the picture until she was 25, and it came at a difficult moment.
A bike that changed everything
Amy was working as a mental health nurse when she experienced a breakdown and had to leave her job.
“I just was really unwell,” she says. “And then my husband, Kyle, randomly just bought me a bike. I never asked for it, but he knew I loved being outside. He thought if I got a bike, I could go out for longer and it might help me get more happy again.”
It wasn’t a race bike, just a basic model from Halfords. She started riding short distances with her dad, who had always enjoyed biking but not in any competitive sense.
“My dad’s the kind of person who rides in a T-shirt and shorts, no cleats or anything, just normal shoes. But he rides hilly rides,” she laughs. “My first ride with him was like 40 miles with loads of hills in the Peak District.”
Those rides, casual, quiet, and free of expectations, were exactly what Amy needed. Unlike swimming or running, cycling wasn’t tied to competition or pressure.
“Cycling didn’t have pressure attached to it,” she says. “Swimming felt pressured, because you were competing. Running was unhealthy for me, it was about burning calories. But with cycling, it was just me and my dad. It wasn’t about speed or distance. It was just a day out.”
Falling in love with distance
Not long after she started, Amy found herself drawn to longer and longer rides.
“After about six months, my dad said he always wanted to do the North Coast 500, the 500-mile loop in Scotland,” she says. “We did that together, and it felt like my mind cleared. I just really fell in love with it there.”
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While Amy dabbled in crit racing, it didn’t click.
“I got up to Cat 3, and I was going to try and get to Cat 2, but I just wasn’t enjoying it,” she says. “It felt pressured, and I didn’t like the idea of crashing on the corners. I’m not about that crowd. I like the endurance. I can go at my own pace, be in nature. I’m still pushing my body, but in a different way.”
She quickly moved from casual rides to solo adventures. One of the first was cycling home from a family trip, 190 miles in a day.
“We had the caravan, 300 kilometres away,” she remembers. “I just said, ‘I’m going to cycle home from there.’ I had my running belt with a pump, and some snacks. No Lycra, no cleats. And I did it.”
That ride lit a fire. “From then, I was like, right, let’s see how much further I can go.”
Proving she wasn’t a quitter
At the time, Amy was still rebuilding her life after leaving her nursing career. The feeling of loss ran deep.
“I’d been at uni for four years, got a master’s degree to be a nurse, and I was a nurse for three years,” she says. “And then that all just went because I was too unwell to carry on. I had to leave my job. I was just teaching swimming at the time to get a bit of money, and I didn’t really have much. I just felt really worthless, like a complete failure.”
Cycling offered her something else, a way to prove something to herself and others.
“I wanted to prove I can do hard things,” she says. “People thought, ‘Oh, you left your job because you couldn’t cope,’ but it doesn’t mean I’m weak. That’s one reason I do my challenges; I’ve got this thing about not being a quitter. That caravan ride was just after I left my job. We went to Wales to find some calm, and I thought, right, I want to prove I’m not a quitter.”
Cycling to inspire
Over time, cycling became more than a hobby to Amy.
“I started documenting my rides. At first, I didn’t want photos or videos, I was embarrassed. But then I thought, if I can help one person by showing this, it’s worth it.”
Today, Amy’s built a following as an endurance cyclist and advocate for mental health. But she’s quick to point out she’s not chasing fame.
“I’m not a pro, and I don’t want to be,” she says. “I ride my bike because I love it, and I make videos because I want to inspire people. Someone once messaged me and said, ‘You’re not an influencer, you’re an inspirer.’ I thought, yeah, I like that.”
Amy’s biggest challenge yet
This summer, Amy’s biggest adventure yet will begin: riding the full 2025 Tour de France route, plus all the transfers, a total of over 6,300 kilometres in 30 days, with two rest days, starting one week before the pros.
“There was a time when I didn’t want to be here anymore,” she says. “The bike is a big reason that I still am.”
Next week, we’ll look at what inspired Amy to take on this massive challenge.
About Amy Hudson
Amy Hudson is a British endurance cyclist and mental health advocate who fell in love with cycling just four years ago. Since then, she’s completed challenging ultra-distance events, including the North Coast 500, a 24-hour time trial, Paris-Brest-Paris (1,200 km), All Points North (1,000 km), and Land’s End to John o’Groats — a classic end-to-end ride covering nearly 1,400 km across the UK. From overcoming personal struggles to chasing the limits of endurance, Amy now shares her passion through her YouTube channel, Instagram, and Strava, inspiring others to set big goals — no matter where they started.
