On August 27th 2022, Boru McCullagh rode away from Herne Hill velodrome, flanked by a cheering peloton of friends and family that would accompany him all the way to Dover.

The fanfare was understandable as McCullagh was not only leaving his job as head coach at the velodrome but was also embarking on a 34,000km journey around the world by bike.

The 23-year-old is raising money for the mental health charity Mind, but the trip is more than just a fundraising exercise. Having struggled with his own mental health for years, he recently rekindled his early love of cycling and wanted to challenge his mind and his body by experiencing a whole new way of living.

Four months in and McCullagh has made it to Vietnam, a third of the way through his journey. We caught up with him to hear how the trip is going, his approach to mental health and cycling and the impact he wants his voyage to have.

Cyclist: What was your history with cycling, prior to this trip?

Boru McCullagh: Cycling has pretty much been my whole life, which is such a boring answer but a truthful one.

I grew up racing with VCL [Velo Club London]. British Cycling [BC] has a programme called Young Volunteers, which is like its version of the Duke of Edinburgh award. You’ve got to do X amount of hours for your club, things like volunteering or helping race organisers and there are different levels, Bronze, Silver and Gold.

Back then, if you went all the way and got the Gold award, VCL would pay for your Level One coaching course. So I was pretty young when I started coaching and for a long time was just volunteer-coaching at the track.

Then there was this corporate session and there weren’t enough coaches. Peter Cattermole asked me if I wanted to help and said he’d pay me for it. I realised, wow, coaching could be an actual job. And that kickstarted the whole thing.

I started off coaching kids, then did my Level Two and carried on coaching at the track. I became head coach and did that for a while before I left on this trip.

Cyc: At what point did cycling stop being a positive thing for you when you were younger?

Boru and Ethan Hayter racing a Madison at Herne Hill Velodrome

BM: When I got to Junior years, I wasn’t enjoying it as much anymore. I didn’t live super-close and to get to Crystal Palace on a Tuesday for the Youth event, it was like a race just to get to the start line from school.

Everything revolved around cycling. So many people were putting in a lot of time and money to helping what they thought was my passion. And for a long time, it was. When that started to fall away, it created conflict and there would be arguments about it.

Boru and Fred Wright in the Madison at Team Champs in 2015

The breaking point for me was at the school games. I was riding with Fred [Wright], Jacob [Vaughan] and Louis Rose Davis and we won the team pursuit.

After we won, my parents sent me texts from the stands, saying how proud they were of me. And they must have said it before then, but I was just like, wow, I had to do so much just to get that message. That was when I realised that I didn’t want to do it anymore.

Boru on the podium taking first place in the Team Pursuit with [left to right] Louis Rose Davis, Fred Wright and Jacob Vaughan in 2015

It was hard to have that kind of discussion, to say that I wanted to stop. From there, I basically went cold turkey.

Cyc: You’ve experienced quite severe mental health issues in the past. What role did cycling play in that?

BM: I always say that cycling was one of the best and the worst things to happen to me. Not long after I stopped cycling, things got progressively worse for me. I was seriously depressed going through sixth form and it had been building up for a while. That’s why I say cycling was a contributing factor because it was just one thing that was weighing me down.

I went into a [psychiatric] hospital for a few months. While I was an inpatient, I was allowed out on Saturdays to go to the track and coach because they could see it was good for me. It was the only place where I felt confident and comfortable.

Mental health, to me, is like a constant conversation with yourself of recognising how you feel. It’s a journey that everyone is always on. It’s not about trying to fix something or solve it, to leave it in the past, because then you would stop learning from it.

Cyc: What was the catalyst in you getting back on the bike?

BM: It was a New Year’s resolution. I hadn’t ridden for years, and I said to myself that I was going to go on one ride a month in 2020. At that point I didn’t have much faith in myself so my thought process was to set my bar so low that I could easily pass it and feel good about that.

I’d been so dependent on people for so long that I wanted to set myself this goal and achieve it, and then go from there.

Cyc: And then you decided to ride around the world. What was the driving force behind that?

BM: Before I started this ride, I was just really enjoying doing longer and longer distances and I think it’s because I used to live my life so fast. I thought I’d be a candle that would burn extremely quickly and then be done.

But now I’m recovered, I just appreciate living life more slowly and trying to live through the ups and downs rather than wanting to get them over and done with as quickly as possible.

I wanted to do something of this magnitude to kind of prove to myself that I can fully rely on myself now. It was also just a desire to get out of London and see the world.

Cyc: Riding 34,000km solo is a big undertaking. How did you think the trip was going to impact you? Has that changed while you’ve been out there?

BM: I’m a very solitary person so before leaving I thought solitude was going to be great. It is, but I also feel so alone a lot of the time.

When I left, I knew I was going to meet my friend Finley [Newmark] in Istanbul, so I knew I had a month in the relatively familiar world of Europe. But once that was over and I landed in Mumbai, it was so intense and overwhelming.

On iOS, you can set where you are in the world as your background, and I did that thinking it would be a great motivator, to see how far I am getting. I got to India, and I couldn’t see the UK anymore. I realised that I was on the other side of the world and I couldn’t see my home, and it really hit me how alone I was.

I still have it as my background because there’s still such a long way to go.

Cyc: Do those feelings ever make you think about quitting?

BM: Yeah, all the time, but I knew that would happen. There are so many times when I’m not feeling good, when I’m having a really bad day and I’m just like, you know I’ve seen enough of the world at this point. But that’s not the point.

That’s why I wanted to raise money for Mind, because then I have to do the bloody thing.

It’s hard to comprehend that it’s going to take a lot longer to do it than I thought it would. I said when I left that I didn’t want to try and rush through it. But when I was riding at the beginning, I was just trying to smash out days to get it done. I’m not doing that now.

I’m in Vietnam at the moment and loving it. The country is so alive, and the people know how to party – and drink. It’s so fun because I’m just learning not to be harsh and strict on myself about this imagined timeframe.

Cyc: What impact do you want your journey to have on the cycling community?

BM: I’m honestly not sure. People have sent me messages saying that the trip has inspired them and made them want to go and do that sports event or raise money for a charity. Maybe that’s what I want people to get out of it, to see a little part of themselves in this journey, to see that something they could do can have a positive impact.

It’s funny though because, when I started all of this, I just wanted to disappear for a little bit, and it’s become this whole other thing. I’m very happy for what it has grown into but at the core of it is still just a kid who wanted to go and disappear for a while.

So many people have also messaged me saying that they went to a local Mind or started talking to people about how they’re feeling and that means so much. I’m an emotional guy, and it just feels amazing to know that people are trying to help themselves as a result of something that I’m doing.

Cyc: What advice would you give to other riders who are struggling to enjoy the sport?

BM: Follow where your heart is and do what you enjoy most. I mean, I’m based in London, right? I see people going out and riding round Regent’s Park at like 5am and, you know, if you don’t want to do that, don’t do it. You’re not missing out on anything.

Recognise what you enjoy and pursue that. And that’s not going to stay the same forever, because people aren’t the same forever. And if your enjoyment in the sport takes you elsewhere, then explore that avenue.

I think there’s a lot of pressure, whether it’s personal pressure or social pressure or wherever it comes from, but you don’t have to prove anything to anyone. As long as you’re confident in what you’re doing, and you enjoy it, that’s all that matters.

Find out more about Boru’s trip on Instagram, and follow his route online.

Boru is raising money for Mind, the mental health charity, and taking donations on Just Giving.

Photos: Finley Newmark