Meet the riders: Rebecca Nixon, AHMM

AHMM is once again sponsoring this year's REFUEL stops on Knight Frank Cycle to MIPIM. We talk to Rebecca Nixon, Architect, at AHMM, about what she's looking forward to on her first Cycle to MIPIM, and what she's dreading...

Tell us a little bit about yourself:

I am an Architect at Allford Hall Monaghan Morris and have worked here for 4 years, recently relocating from our London office to the Bristol office.

What are you most looking forward to about Cycle to MIPIM?

I am most looking forward to getting to know a whole bunch of new people whilst cycling - the opportunity to meet new people in person over the past couple of years has been limited. I am also greatly looking forward to having a week with a single focus - cycle and refuel!

What are you dreading?

I am most concerned about staying in the Peloton on the hills. At 83kg, I tend to attack small hills with as much power as I can give it. Going into the lowest gear and dragging my weight up hills will be a real challenge. Other than that, I am just really looking forward to getting going! I’ve noticed in recent years that with big challenges, I tend to not worry or even consider how tough things might be and then usually when the challenge starts, I have a dawning realisation, but by then it’s too late and I can’t give up. Day 1 of the NC500 springs to mind, when we started 20km from Bealach na Bà and my first triathlon last year when I was flailing around in the sea off the coast of Swansea.

How have you approached training?

Back in 2019 when I signed up for Cycle to MIPIM 2020, I was cycling my old second hand bike and had only been on a handful of rides longer than my 7km commute. Once I signed up, I bought myself a secondhand Canyon, cleats and cycling clothes (the tightness of which I was very much against at the time). I learnt how to use clip-in pedals, went to my first spin class and cycled in a peloton for the first time. Was I prepared for the ride? We will never know, but perhaps not.

We went into our first lockdown and after a while I escaped a tiny shared London flat to my family farm on the North Shropshire flat lands. I was overwhelmed by a sense of freedom and was clocking up 300km a week on solo rides in the glorious sunshine. At the end of 2020, I moved to our AHMM Bristol office and chose to live in Bath so that I could have the wonderful 24km tree-lined Bath to Bristol cycle path as my commute. I now do that commute 2/3 times a week which has provided a good base training. I have tried to get out at the weekends on longer, hillier rides and although the majority of the other riders are in the South East I have got plenty of friends who have been keen to come on a ride! I also have tried to eat healthier/drink less, but that has proven difficult.

What would you most like to get out of the ride?

Great memories and new friends. As much as the sense of achievement from completing the ride will be amazing, it will be even greater achieving that as a group, so we can all look back laughing and remember the bad times as well as the good.

What have been the biggest changes or shifts you have seen in AHMM over the past 18-24 months?

We have always been good at working together, with the AHMM office culture full of opportunities to share ideas and laughs - so as working from home was thrust upon us, we had to challenge how we could continue working together from homes across the globe. Staying connected took on new forms such as ‘The Inside Story’, a 12 chapter series that shone a light on our current lives through interviews and photos and the ‘3030 Challenge’ where we collectively walked, ran and cycled 30,000km to celebrate 30 years of AHMM whilst raising money for our charity of the year.

How do you expect AHMM to change / what changes do you expect to see over the next 12-18 months?

We have adapted, learnt to be more flexible and are now shaping the AHMM work culture by keeping those things that have enriched our lives and bringing back what we have missed!

Why is AHMM sponsoring the REFUEL stops?

We have a strong community of cyclists at AHMM – some of whom have completed the Cycle to MIPIM before – and as riders ourselves we know the importance of being well fed and watered! Supporting the ride as well as participating is something we’re very pleased to be able to do.

You can sponsor Rebecca here.