For decades the Waikato woman has suffered from depression. Her condition deteriorated after suffering two traumatic brain injuries while doing what she loves most, cycling.

Soon after being named as part of the New Zealand long distance triathlon team, she was knocked off her bike in 2007 out on a training ride. She spent several years in rehab then began lecturing in sports nutrition and sports psychology. 

In 2020, tragedy struck again. While out mountain biking with friends on a track she’d ridden many times, she crashed and was airlifted to hospital. 

Five years on from that serious accident, like many brain injury sufferers, Miriam is still managing the after-effects – the fatigue, the headaches, the slow brain. 

But Miriam isn’t one to wallow. She’s always looked on the bright side of life and she’s happened to find her happy place – ironically on a bike but at a much slower pace. 

It started as a return-to-work plan, a business called Cy-Co that involves a three-wheeled 300kg coffee cart on a standard 350-watt motor electric bike, complete with full-sized coffee machine. 

Only able to ride about 10km with the coffee bike fully loaded, Miriam ventured out three days a week for two hours at a time from her Cambridge home.  

“That was all my brain could handle. I couldn't talk to customers and make coffee at the same time. I had to rest for a day and a half to recover from a shift.” 

Today, Miriam works up to seven days a week, both out of necessity and the joy it brings. 

She can be found outside the local medical centre, the school or the domain at Karapiro. She’s even loaded it onto her custom-built trailer and gone as far afield as Taupō and Rotorua for special events.  

“I’ve ridden the coffee bike over 4000km in the almost four years I’ve been trading,” says Miriam.  

“Living with a brain injury is very frustrating and everything is harder, but nothing is impossible.”

Combining her passions for coffee, bikes and people is her silver lining, she says. 

“It has also launched me into life of me being happy, just being the quirky person that I am, doing a quirky thing and connecting a community along the way.  

“The accident, and subsequent Cy-Co, has brought out the best in me and I have never been happier. I've met some fabulous friends, I've met my amazing other half and I have a huge Cy-Co family who support me enormously.” 

Miriam is also big on supporting others. She is often fundraising for her two main causes – brain injury awareness and mental health awareness. To date she has donated more than $5000 for tot Brain Injury Waikato, Cambridge Riding for the Disabled and Cambridge Life Skills. 

She openly talks about her battle with depression since her late teens, and the eating disorder she was diagnosed with while trying to do her PhD and be a solo mum. 

“I have been on and off antidepressant medication since diagnosis back in the late 90s and definitely needed help after the accident. When you are stuck at home unable to make sense of the world nor do any simple tasks the mind has a lot of time to think and overthink. 

“Thankfully I have learned good coping mechanisms over the years, and regular help with an amazing psychotherapist helped me return to ‘normal life’.” 

Physical activity is one of those coping mechanisms, starting with walking, progressing to park runs and eventually back on a bike. 

“I always felt better if I could get into the forest for a mountain bike every now and then and reset myself in the green space. There is nothing quite as healing as being active in nature.” 

Initially, there was trepidation about getting back on a bike, especially on mountain bike trails, but Miriam was determined to show her son (now 15) that fear can’t control your life. 

“I am so lucky to still be alive that I want to make the most of every opportunity and moment that I have and that means doing the things that make me happy, of which riding a bike is near the top of the list.” 

These days when Miriam isn’t on her coffee bike, she is back exploring mountain bike trails (leisurely), and the Great Rides, Hauraki Rail Trail, Waikato River Trails, Motu Trails, and Whakarewarewa Forest Loop to name a few. 

“Rolling down a beautiful gentle single track in Rotorua is thrilling and joyous. Getting to the top of a climb almost anywhere in New Zealand is immensely satisfying and often jaw dropping with the views on offer. I just love riding a bike.” 

• To get back to nature and escape the busyness of life, start planning your next Great Ride.