Xani Byrne

Xani is a cyclist and Psychologist from Portobello (Edinburgh’s beach). Xani’s early adulthood was spent pedalling tourists up cobbled hills on the city’s Rickshaws while saving up for bikepacking rides to Istanbul, Athens and Berlin. His younger sister, Alice, died by suicide in 2022 before they could ride on his tandem together – something they’d often talked about. Devastated and unsure of what to do, Xani attended a local suicide bereavement support group and found an abundance of hidden knowledge and kindness. Wanting to find a way to both honour Alice’s memory and share the experience that those affected by suicide develop, he devised a project: ‘Tandem Against Suicide’. This involved an 88-day, 4000-mile tandem bicycle ride around the coastline of Great Britain. Each day he was joined by a different person affected by suicide. Doctors, Druids, Parents, Teachers, Bricklayers, Vets, Partners, Sailors, Police, Sons, Daughters, Acrobats, Cheese-making Farmers and many more. Hundreds of conversations about suicide, grief and cycling followed.

Between riding, planning, falling into a river, losing his voice, getting collected by the Royal Navy’s HMS Charger and scoffing 28 portions of fish and chips, he scribbled down the highs and lows of the journey. The ride eventually raised over £52000 for SOBS (Survivors of Bereavement by Suicide) and PAPYRUS (a national youth suicide prevention charity) and received one of the Prime Minister’s Point’s of Light Awards in 2023.

Xani’s essay My Horses was featured in FREEWHEELING, a cycling anthology published by Daunt Books in 2025