Vera in her own words: “My cycling journey really began four years ago when I was lured into riding a tandem for a charity ride under the false promise that as the stoker, I didn’t need to pedal and could just drink prosecco and enjoy the views. This turned out to be a lie, as I had to work very hard, but I caught the cycling bug! A year later I bought my first road bike and joined my local cycling club as a way to build my solo cycling skills and meet new people. During the first lockdown in 2020 when we could no longer cycle in groups, I was forced to plan and follow my own routes and become a more independent cyclist. I also longed for a cycling community, which led me to starting my Instagram page @pedalling.to.and.fro where I wanted to share my love of cycling with others and also to find a more diverse community of cyclists, something I had been missing in real life. I was awarded the Ultra Distance Scholarship aimed at increasing representation of BAME cyclists in ultra distance racing. This incredible opportunity has provided me with the resources and support to prepare me for my first self-supported endurance cycling race this summer. The lack of ethnic diversity in ultra-distance cycling has prompted me to document and share my journey with others in the hope that more women and BAME people are encouraged to give this type of cycling a try. Cycling has given me a sense of belonging. It has also helped me manage my mental health, reduce my anxieties and build my confidence. Getting into endurance cycling has made me more self-sufficient and independent, and taught me how to persevere when things get tough; all valuable life lessons that have been useful both in and out of cycling. My hope is that by sharing my honest experiences of my journey in cycling, that it will encourage others, particularly black women, to have a go at it too.” New episodes of the Tough Girl Podcast go live every Tuesday and Thursday at 7am UK time – Make sure you hit the subscribe button so you don’t miss out. The Tough Girl Podcast is sponsorship and ad free thanks to the monthly financial support of patrons. To find out more about supporting your favourite podcast and becoming a patron please check out www.patreon.com/toughgirlpodcast (http://www.patreon.com/toughgirlpodcast) . Show notes
• Who is Vera and what she does
• Thinking of herself as a new adventurer
• Starting to discover adventure
• Being a member of Women of Colour Cycling Collective (WCCC) (https://womenofcolourcycling.org)
• Working to increase the representation of Black Women in adventure and engineering
• Growing up in Malawi
• Not doing sports or physical activity after her gap year
• Coming to the UK for University
• Moving to Cardiff for a Graduate Job
• Joining a work football team
• Doing a charity tandem cycle ride with her boyfriend (became future husband)
• Starting to cycle commute to work
• Joining a cycling club and buying her first bike
• What to do if things go wrong
• The practical steps taken to overcome worries and fears
• Wanting to do a self supported race
• Looking for a new challenge before her 30th birthday
• Setting up her instagram account @pedalling.to.and.fro (https://www.instagram.com/pedalling.to.and.fro/)
• Learning about the Ultra Distance Scholarship (https://www.cloud9cycles.com/ultra-distance)
• The brilliant start to 2021
• Training and planning for the race
• Having 6 months to go from zero to hero
• Being coached by Alison Wood https://www.veloqi.cc (https://www.veloqi.cc/)
• Figuring out wild camping and sleeping outside
• Food and nutrition and fuelling for the race
• Developing a stomach of steel
• Working with a sports psychologist
• Dealing with negative self talk
• The start of the race
• Celtic or Celtic!
• Meeting Jenny Graham at the start
• Dealing with the rain and the challenge of getting out of the car
• Wanting to complete the race in 10 days and make the finishing party
• Getting warm, getting dry and eating food before making a decision
• Deciding to try
• Listening to your body and making the right decisions at the right time
• Magical moments from the race
• The amazing supporters and dot watchers
• Knowing by day 7 that she would be able to make it to the finish line
• “You’ve not come so far, to only come so far”
• Getting to the finish line and having mixed emotions
• Not reaching her limits and maybe there is more
• Adventure blues?
• Booking in another race ASAP
• Recovery afterwards
• How her body adapted d…
My name is Versi SRI I’m 28 years old I’m from Malawi but I currently live in Wales I’ve been married for a year now my profession is a chartered mechanical engineer working in the water industry outside of work I enjoy cycling a lot um cooking diying and generally just being
Creative around the house I like to think of myself as a new Adventurer so I recently completed my first self-supported endurance cycling race and I’m at this exciting stage of my life now where I think I’m really beginning to ReDiscover adventure and just just finding a new definition of
Adventure and I’ve just got this hunger to be outdoors challenge myself and just share experiences with people I’m also a member of the women of color cycling Collective and in both my engineering and cycling life I work to increase representation of black women who are very underrepresented both areas I loved
How you talked about you know rediscovering Adventure were you adventurous as a little girl were you sporty were you Outdoors did you have um were you cycling on a bike you know what was your childhood like yeah so growing up in Malawi I had a very um playful
Childhood and I guess what I’d consider now to be a Carefree childhood you know I was allowed to roam the streets and go and play with other kids and get Dusty and scrap my knees yeah I remember riding you know a bike when I was
Younger it stopped you know when I was a teenag aor but yeah I’d ride a bike I’d play all sorts of games with friends and at school I played um whatever Sports were available as well so I was always sort of active and and playing outside
With my with my brothers and sisters as well what did you want to be when you were a little girl did you remember back yeah I uh I think I remember always when I was asked this question I’d say I wanted to be a nurse so I was either a
Nurse or an air hostess and I think these are the people I’d come across these are the careers that were available to women and so it just yeah and I think I loved how neatly the nurse is dressed and their uniform so yeah that’s that’s what I wanted to be when I
Was growing up and you ended up becoming an engineer that was a really long title before the engineer but I definitely got the engineer there yes so um yeah somehow things changed as I grew up and went through school um and I ended up uh becoming an
Engineer and not a nurse while sort of doing your engineering and you know going through school um studying to become an engineer becoming an engineer working what I could imagine must be quite um you know sort of a stressful job it might not be might be a very
Relaxing job were you still were you cycling were you involved in Fitness was that a part of your life so not really so so yeah I had um so going back to you know school as I said I played loads of sports and I went to a very sporty high
School so I did play things like hockey and did track and field um and then when I left High School finished my a levels I took a gap year and from there on sport just left my life I just never really did much I went um I came to the
UK for University at that point and I just didn’t join any sports clubs at Uni so for four years of University I did no Sports whatsoever so it so for basically about a period of five years of my life I just I didn’t go to the gym I didn’t I
Didn’t do anything um and it’s only until I started working um five years ago um when I moved to Cardiff for a grad job and someone invited me to join this um work foot B team that I you know started getting back into sports and then yeah where I started working there
A lot of cycling enthusiasts and they they do a charity ride every year and they introduced me basically reintroduced me to cycling and that’s how I got into cycling and I got back into sports about five years ago so yeah so they invited me to this um charity
Cycling ride and at the time I was just um I started to date um this man who’s now my husband but he had convinced me to come along on this ride and I said well I haven’t ridden a bike since I was a toddler I’m not going to ride across
Wales and do 200 miles in two days and he said to me oh well what if I um what if I get a tandem you know it’s this thing i’ never heard of but he said I could just sit on the back and I didn’t
Have to Pedal but I could you know see whales because I just moved there and I wanted to see the country so naively I said oh sure that sounds that sounds like a plan I can just drink prco on the back and and not pedal this was obviously a
So this this ride happened and there was a lot of you know screaming at me of pedal on the back and put in some power and and a lot of punctures and just it was just a mad Adventure but that’s basically how my cycling journey be
Began in Earnest so I caught the bug and uh yeah it’s just sort of uh grown from then from from there do you know what I’m laughing because how you how it is initially described you can just sit on the bike and just see whales I like I’m
Sitting there and I’m thinking y that sounds really nice like you know just sat on the back of a bike pedaling along quite this like gental sort of um I suppose you could always say a little bit romantic out in Wales on the bike you know yeah I was promised it was like
An Uber service and I was just going to sit at the back and take loads of photographs and and you know sip on some bubbly that’s that’s how it was sold to me and then it’s like punches come on we need power get pedaling like oh my God
You’re in a you’re in a full-on race but caught the bug um but caught the bug for cycling probably not tandem cycling so yeah what was the next step for you how did you sort of progress this passion that you had so yeah I mentioned that
I’d started to play football at work and then the cycling came along and then I I was at a football tournament and had this injury where I tore my ACL and so that was closed chapter and suddenly you know for the year that I was on rehab I
Couldn’t do Impact Sports and uh my physio Rec recommended doing more cycling and so that’s when I started to all right I’ll I’ll give us I’ll give us a go and I um I bought my first sort of bike and it was a town bike and that was
Just to get a to and from work so I started cycling um for a few months and you know just just commuting to work and as the year went on I found I really really enjoyed it and I started to you know hear about and see different types
Of bikes road bikes people doing you know different adventures and things and a year on I thought oh I’d love I’d love to try this sort of road bike and I and that’s when I purchased my first road bike I didn’t want to go out on my own
CU I just terrible directions and I thought I’m going to get lost and never get home so I found a Cycling Club local to where I live and I joined them and so that allowed me to go on these sort of beginners rides and ladies Club rides
And you know we’d cycle for an hour an hour and a half to a cafe have loads of cake and I thought oh this is the dream and basically I did that for a few years um just that sort of weekend um Sunday Club ride with my club until lockdown in
2020 when I then decided to sort of take it up a gear because you know suddenly I couldn’t cycle with these people because we weren’t allowed to cycle with others and I suddenly had to become more independed start to figure out my own rots because I didn’t want to just stop
Cycling because you know I wasn’t able to cycle with a club so yeah so it’s only until lockdown hit that I started being brave enough to go out on my own you know I’d still go out my with my husband husband on the tandem but
Sometimes I’d just yeah I’d go out on my own do a bit of exploring um ride a bit further and grew from there you talked about you know being brave enough and having to to take that step to to Independence do you know what was holding you back well a couple of things
So one was you know if things go wrong what am I going to do you know I never dealt with a puncture had no idea you know how it would fix a puncture you know what would happen if anything broke in the bike and so I always just like
That that comfort of having other people around who could help me fix that and also just for some reason I was always just afraid of getting lost and even though you know I have my phone on me all the time and I can sort of Google directions there was just something just
I was just always a bit nervous about getting the route wrong or maybe ending up on on busy roads and and that sort of anxiety um and which is why I always just depended on other people to to plan the routs and and Lead me you know you
Obviously wanted to continue with your with your site it’s become this passion of yours you really really enjoyed it lockdown happened you needed to take that step to Independence you needed to be brave what did you do were there specific things that you did in order to
Help combat these worries and and these feelings of anxiety that you had well first of all watching loads of YouTube videos asking my husband to teach me how to fix things on the bike so you know I did a lesson every week of this is what
Happens if a Spoke breaks or you know if you get a pun and this is what you can do and then that started to give me a bit more confidence in fixing things but also um having and getting a cycling computer so a Garmin that really helped so you know
I was used to following satav on my phone if I was driving somewhere and now this was just like oh I’ve just got a little bike computer which you know there’s an arrow there telling me where to go um so that helped and also I think just during lockdown there were far
Fewer cars on the roads so it just felt a lot safer to be able to go out and you know you’re not going to hit traffic and congestion and you know not coming across as many angry drivers um and also I think the yeah we were in lockdown and
We’re all you know I was looking for a bit of that sense of Freedom when you’re spending all day in the house and so yeah I just was I need to be out I need to be out and I think that just wanting to be out of the house gave me that
Confidence and allowed me to be a bit more bold and just overcome some of those fears because I knew that being within four walls for me mentally was was worse it was scarier you know I I just you know I sit and overthink things and just get what stressed out about
Things that don’t matter and and I just needed to be outdoors it’s it’s a huge amount of Leverage as well when it’s something that you want to do but actually you know you’ve almost got to face these fears but I love what you Shar because it’s really practical steps
You know watching YouTube yoube videos getting a Garmin cycling computer I mean I know not everybody has a hubby who can give them lessons but you know having the hubby bike lessons is you know super super useful like all of these practical tips to get you out there cycling when
When did you decide that you wanted to take on your own sort of self-supported race had you been entering races at that point or is this sort of a new um a new dream that happened because of lockdown um so yeah I’d never never raced I never done a
Cycling race before I entered this um allra distance race I think the closest I’d come is I’d done one 100 mile sort of fun ride sportive thing a year before that so what happened um you know last year is I you know I set up my Instagram
Page because I was missing the community and you know missing the club and and people and I basically met loads of people on the internet and that were doing all sorts of different types of cycling that I hadn’t come across and I started to hear about these long trips
That people did um you know doing lanen to Jon or GRS and it’s just things i’ had never come across or even considered and I started think oh that does sound cool just like going you know covering a large distance that sounds that sounds pretty cool so it was it started to sort
Of come into the back of my mind as something that I wanted to do and then I started to think I’d love to do a solar Journey you know I’d always been quite independent but then you get in a relationship and you get a bit dependent
And I was like oh no I need to I need to sort of regain that sense of Independence and and believe that I can do things on my own you know CU you know when I whenever I went out with my husband on the tandem War together and
Things broke I be oh can you can you fix that you know I just I just stand aside and let him fix this and I was like no I need to I need to do something and then I also thought I want to do something big before I’m 30 so there were all
These things that were sort of just floating in the back of my head and it wasn’t until I was having this Instagram live chat um with lady called EA glass and you know just about my cycling journey and she asked oh you know what
Are your plans for 2021 and I sort of oh you know panicked in the moment and thought well you know I’ve been thinking like you know at some point in the future I’d like to do a long-distance cycling thing like maybe you know L to J
Gr or the transc you sometime in the distant future um so I just blurted that at the end of this call she then sent me this scholarship that had just been announced on that day which was this ultra distance scholarship and it was targeted at black and minority ethnic
People um and it was basically aimed to introduce you to ultra distance cycling and provide you support and enter you into this this race the pan Celtic race and I thought oh my god I’ve just said this out loud to someone on Instagram live with probably just 10 people
Watching but to me I was like I’ve blurted out to the world that I want to do something like this someone shared this opportunity clearly like I need to do something I need to put my money where my mouth is and literally just went from there so so
She shared that with me and and and someone else did the same day and I thought oh okay this this is a sign I just need to like dive deep and I I literally put together you know an application to this scholarship that very day and and finalized it the next
Day and submitted it I tried not to overthink I remember reading this and it was like this is it’s going to be uh at the time at 2,600 km cyle you know you do it within 14 days and it goes through um England Wales and
Ireland and it was just beyond me it was like and if I’d taken time to process the distance in the ask I probably wouldn’t have applied but I just got excited about other things as well that the scholarship was offering which is a custombuilt bike you know a coach to get
You trained up and yeah and I and I put that in and and then I thought I’m never going to get it obviously like I’m so inexperienced I cycle maybe on a good week 100 kilm a week they’re never going to pick me so there’s no point worrying
And I’ll just forget about it and then fast forward a month later and this is New Year’s day in 2021 and I get this email and it says you’ve won scholarship and I I remember my heart just absolutely just going to the bottom of my stomach and thinking oh my
Goodness what have I done um and was I literally like I’m you know I’m I’m I’m I’m black and dark skinned but I think my skin went completely pale and white cuz my husband said what’s happened what news have you gotten and I and I said this and I I I just couldn’t
Believe it you know I was both absolutely terrified for my life and also excited but also like what have I done um and yeah so that’s how the journey really started so it’s not like I had these Grand plans and you know was going to it was it was one of those
Things sort of talk about you know oh one day I want to do this because you’ve sort of seen it and you know you think it’ll be a good idea but it’s sort of just spiraled you know within the space of a month of me putting in that
Application and then being awarded it um on New Year’s Day and I thought wow 2021 is going to be a very different year for me and then that’s how it started I love like the Serendipity of how like everything you know come together a you know getting on Instagram to share more
About your journey being involed in social media going on Instagram live and then you know putting it out there into the universe this is something that you wanted to do and then you know then this amazing person then emails you and says look check out the ultra distance
Scholarship like and and to be honest like when you said like you get a bike and a coach and the support like that’s incredible for especially for your first sort of self-supported race exactly so I was going to say like cuz I think you know
When I was a saying I’d like to do this it’s something that I think it would have been overwhelming I had no idea how I’d ever go about starting to do the long distance the land ENT J growths or something like that and therefore I think it would have
Taken me quite a long time to get to it because of not knowing where to start but when I saw what was on the scholarship and what was offered suddenly it was like okay you know they’re providing a coach and a bike like there someone who’s going to help
Me figure this out and I think that then brought it a bit closer yeah I mean obviously 2020 was a rough year um and then what an incredible way to start 2021 so to set the scene a little bit more how long did you have to to train
To plan and get yourself ready for for this race and could you just uh remind us of um so it was the TR was what was it pan Celtic race y so I got the scholarship in January 2021 and the pan Celtic race was scheduled for July so I had about 6 months
To go from Zero to Hero um and um yeah so I was set up instantly said right here’s your coach Allison W and you know she’s going to contact you in about a week’s time and you’re going to start your training and at the time I was actually in Malawi visiting my
Family I didn’t have my bike with me and so I was you know continents away from where I live in Wales and yeah my coach is based in London and so she got in touch you know asked me what level of activity do you currently do where are
You at just to know where you know where we’re starting from and started to generate sort of um training plans sort of month by month to start getting me ready and it was things like you know it wasn’t just cycling it was I remember the first the F the first week of
Training she sent me and she said well you’ve got to do strength and conditioning and she had put you know a few exercises there and was doing you know certain number of press ups and and tricep dips and things like that and my goodness that nearly killed me I
Remember doing that very first session before I could even ride my bike and I was sore for a week I couldn’t couldn’t lift anything and uh yeah so it was it was really sort of starting to build me up you know just both on and off the bike
Did you have a goal for this race in terms of what it was that you wanted to achieve were you wanting I I mean I know we joked about going from zero to but were you wanting to compete or were you just wanting to complete did you
Have expectations about what it would be like or were you just sort of uh yeah were you sort of quite goal focused or more just like what am I asking you I’m like asking the same question over and over again um so I want my goal for this
Was to complete it to survive it and to not hate the cying after doing it you know it was just it was just beyond anything I’d ever attempted it was you know it it was yeah it so far beyond anything I’d ever done so my Big Goal
Really was if I can just complete this thing that would be a miracle in itself um so yeah no I had no plans of of competing at all when I when I sort of set off yeah and and how does this race wor work is it similar to that you’ve
Got various checkpoints that you need to go through you need to cover a certain distance between a and b are you what kind of support are you allow were you going to be bivvy or you going to be staying in b&bs you know what was that
Aspect going to be like more of the logistics so the race is self-supported so it means they’re not providing you any assistance and you can’t get any support or help from friends and family you’ve got to use things that are publicly available to everyone else during the race and you make your way
From the start to the Finish um via a certain number of checkpoints in this case there are two checkpoints and in terms of sleeping you know you could bivvy camp or stay at a BNB you can’t you know stay with friends or or that sort of thing so yeah so that was
Another aspect of it so I knew for that this race was going to be physically challenging you know I needed to build my cycling Fitness to do it but there was another aspect which was the the logistics of it you know I didn’t grow up camping it’s not something that was
Part of my culture this was completely foreign I’d never even seen a bivy bag until this year and so I then had to you know in in those six months learn a about being selfs supported being able to sleep out in the middle of nowhere in
The wild being able to Camp find food um find water and all these things and preparation for for the race were you supported in that in that aspect as well was your coach able to provide support or is it unfortunately with things like bivy and sleeping outside is actually as
As much as it’s great to talk about it you’ve actually got to go and physically do it to experience it so I wasn’t necessarily support so my coach would say to me you know make sure you you’re you’re carrying all the bags and things like that from early on when you go on
Your rides and and things like that but I had to that aspect I had to take the initiative and you know decide right we need to learn this you know so I had to do a lot of learning and again this is where um you know I was quite lucky um
To have my husband who’s done grew up camping and he’ done some bivvy before so I had those initial steps were taken where I remember going out on our first bivvy trip in April where he was going to I borrowed a bivy bag from his brother and slept out sort of did some
Wild camping um I remember waking up with abs with ice on my bivy bag cuz it was still quite cold for April and thought oh my goodness like this just feels like I’m sleeping in a body bag and and and the dumb trucks just going
To come here lift lift me up and put me in the back what am I doing um so yeah and and just you know figuring out how to go to the toilet when I’m out on the road how do I you know feed myself and things like that
That’s all stuff I just I had to research and yeah and that was through you know Instagram and following people who’ done um you know ultra distance cycling finding out what they’re talking about and and looking into it and yeah just loads of things on the internet
Yeah I mean because you’re going to be covering some really big distances on that ride and some people talk about especially with endurance racing it’s a case of like getting the fuel in but being able to consume enough calories and eat while you’re on the bike and
That’s obviously a little bit of a technique with regards to like your your food and your nutrition I mean to Hest I always think this is sounds quite fun during training because it’s like oh you can just try loads of different things and see what you like and see what you
Didn’t like what were you finding that worked well for you yeah so that’s a really good question nutrition so that’s one thing my coach from the very start said nutrition you need to train your body you to find what your body likes you know to avoid this GI distress as a
Gastrointestinal distress and things like that so she you know would s suggested things I said oh she know some people who eat you know eat would survive on pork pies or and I just I’d write this down I’m like I’m going to try that so previously
Um when I went when I did my sort of short rides I would live off of Snickers bars you have a yeah I’d have a Snickers bar you know the bottom or top of a climb and that would do me all right but with this as soon as I started doing some longer
Rides doing you know 100K um training rides I soon got really sick of them I was like I don’t like Snickers anymore I’ve eaten them to the death what am I going to do now and I just I tried the pork pies so Pork Pies worked for a
While until I got sick of them as well when I when it came to the race but I just experimented with initially um those sort of energy OT bars I know I did I knew I didn’t want to live off of gels just cuz they just I just didn’t
Really enjoy them and I didn’t think they were sort of sustainable source for a long trip so I try to stick with as much real to as much real food as possible so yeah i’ try and have proper meals having sandwiches and I most of the time actually I made things at home
So I baked flap Jacks you know and made peanut butter and jam sandwiches to take on rides and you know when I saw that these agreed with me didn’t have any issues I just allowed myself to be flexible actually so rather than sticking to one thing that I absolutely
Love you know I’d heard from other people’s experiences that you soon get sick of things so you need to be able to take draw your energy from various sources so when now I went out on training rides I I’d go to little and just like raid the shelves of any
Different types of foods and snacks see how I got on with those and then try a different set the next time or you know keep keep ones that I really liked because I knew that when it came to the event as you’re you’re you’re traveling across the country the shops change and
What’s available changes and so I couldn’t get myself sort of addicted to one type of food I needed to develop a stomach of Steel basically to eat all all sorts and and that’s what I did um and I think that worked quite well in the end because you know I I ate all
Sorts of things in training and and just did the same during the event and and I never had any sort of any Tammy issues I think there’s a couple of things there it’s uh it’s a great word like being flexible because actually you know there’s no point getting if you can’t
Have a certain gel or a c you know your specific protein bar or whatever it is and that can end up like stressing you out thinking well I can’t eat X Y and Z if you’re just like flexible have fun with it and also real food is so
Powerful I mean the Snickers does make me laugh because I remember when I was when I was on the appalation trail there’s this video of me and I think it was like maybe half 7 in the morning and I just needed C calories and I remember literally in eating four Snickers in
About 3 minutes I wasn’t I was hardly chewing like choo choo swallow choo choo swallow and it was purely because they were like look they’re 250 calories of Pop I wanted to smash down 1,000 calories and and like people’s comments were just like that is so disgusting but
It’s just like but it’s you just need you just need the energy absolutely so how did you feel about the the planning and the preparation was everything coming ready for July were you feeling you know physically ready mentally ready your stomach sound you know solid so no
Issues there which is great what about you know the the mind and the body yeah so physically I was you know I could see my body change I mean that was the fittest I’ve ever been and it was exciting you know I could see my body get toned and just like become the
Strong woman I was like what is this so that was really good other things in terms of preparation so I was always I always knew the mental side of things that would be for me the toughest I just had no idea how I was going to prepare
For that how do you mentally prepare for something like this and I was again really lucky um early on through you know because I share all my sort of Stories on every training ride how I was feeling you know so the good days and the bad days through my Instagram this
Lovely lady um Kelly KY got in touch and she’s a sports psychologist and she said I’ve just seen your post and I you know finished my masters and I’m I’m you know looking for you know get get get experience would you love for me to do
Some sessions with you and just you know have a chat through through sort of sports psychology and I thought absolutely I’d love that so she offered me sort of um some free sessions just to talk through you know my mental approach to it you know where I was at what are
My fears you know what do I do in times of stress and just help give me the tools which was absolutely just the best thing so yeah I remember you know meeting her for the first first time and and and chatting through and and realiz soon realized that for example I’m a big
Negative selft talker you know when I was doing my rides you know I think the moment I see a hill I’m telling myself oh you know you’re never going to make it up that you know without walking you’re never going to do this and I’m just constantly
Telling myself these things and so we recognized that and she started giving me tools of like you know changing that to positive selft talk and other tools like visualiz visualizing things visualizing things going well you know visualizing things not going well and what would you do in those scenarios and
Playing it out and just all these different um tools to just and putting things into perspective I think at that point I realized you know because this was my big this was my big challenge you know this was my big 2021 Challenge and in my head it was like if I don’t finish
This race or if something goes wrong that will be the end of me like I started putting this whole thing on this this pedestal like it was the be all and end all like it was life death you know thinking oh my gosh if I if I fail you
Know I’m going to have to disappear and and yeah recognizing all of that and having someone to talk that through with and putting things into perspective and realizing actually yeah what am I doing what is my brain doing and so those weeks of basically I was I was
Essentially exercising my mind as well you know so you know I do I do my my my my bike rides and things during the week but I also made sure I took an evening a week just to sit down write down and and just understand how does my brain work
You know on that last ride what was I telling myself know was I grumpy when when this happened and how did and how did I respond to things like that and that really um I think that that made quite a difference because I used a lot
Of those tools as well when it came to the actual race other things that I forgot to mention that was um adding so so I mentioned that the scholarship came with the custom was going they were going to build me a custom build bike but with Co and everything things got
Quite delayed so I was meant to go for a bike fit um and get you know measured for it in January but things didn’t open up till about April time and I went for this and you know various delays in the bike industry meant that I actually
Didn’t get the bike that was suited for the race until the week before the race so so you know I had a bike that I’d been riding but it wasn’t you know it didn’t have the right it wasn’t the right size didn’t have the right setup um didn’t have the right equipment I
Needed certain things like a Dynamo Hub and and just you know um things that would allow me to carry things on the bike and be and be um sort of self-supported so that was a stress leading up to the race where I was in this situation where I’m thinking oh my
Gosh you know I signed up to this and I got the coach and I also you know was hoping to have the bike as a big part of this but I don’t have it and we’re now a week a week from the race which thankfully it did it did turn up but it
Was also managing managing that stress in the leadup to that and trying to be positive and being you know trying to think of the things that I could control and what can I do with what I’ve got and make the most of that so that was all
All part of the drama let’s continue the story so take us to the start of the pan Celtic I’m saying that right aren’t I pan Celtic everyone says a different yes some people say Celtic I say Celtic but Celtic Celtic no actually no but Celtic sounds better that’s that’s something so
Um take us to the start of the pan Celtic race you’ve got you know the brand new spanking bike with all the toys you’ve had it for a week now but your mind is prepared you’ve you know incredible tips especially around the selft talk your toolbox is full and V
Full of visualization and you know changing your perspective and you know all of these amazing sort of mental tips and tricks that you’re using so what was it like getting to the to the start line did you feel ready oh did I feel ready I don’t know if I ever I’m I’m constantly
Like most people suffer from that imposter syndrome so you know you know a month before the the race I thought yeah I’m doing all right I feel all right and then the weeks before I you know I started following loads of other people doing the Race on Instagram and I
Started getting super intimidated by all these you know middle-aged men who’ had loads of experience doing this and they’ve done loads of races and I thought oh my goodness what am I doing I’m the least experienced person doing this I think I’ve sort of overreached
Here um so yeah I was I was quite nervous going into it and I remember you know the day before the race when I had to go to registration um I was just really nervous and there was the option to camp on the site where the race was going to
Start but I remember opting for an Airbnb somewhere else because I just I just knew that I think you know if I was around people and all the races out my nerves would just like you know Skyrocket yeah so but but I went to the to registration and met all these people
And everyone was super friendly and actually it was a really love atmosphere and and there were other women as well there which was lovely to see one of whom was Jenny Graham who’s a you know around the world cyclist record holder and she was super chatty and super
Friendly and that really it really put me at ease and I I started to get excited about the race starting um and coming back the next day so yeah turned up on race day and the elements were against us as is often the case um here in the UK
It was absolutely pouring so um um my husband drove me over to the start and I remember sitting in the car and the rain just it was turned up to like 11: basically and it just the heavens opened and I thought to my oh I can’t do this
Like I can’t start this race completely soaked I hate being cold that is one of the things that I just struggle with I can’t get out of this car how am I going to how am I going to race in this um yeah yeah how did you race in it because
Like I would struggle to get out the car like oh my God like I’d be shaking and just like that’s that’s mental resilience right there like opening the car door and stepping out into the rain yes so I remember sitting in the car and thinking wow the challenge starts here
Like you know I thought the challenge would start in 2 three days whatever says you know that’s when you reach that sort of point you know where you’re struggling but it started there and I sat in the car for a good 15 20 minutes
Just like I I I can’t get out and then I was like right you know what we just it’s not going to stop raining I just have to step out and there are other people in the same situation so I’ve just got to get out and I I got out the
Car took my bike out and walked over to the near the star point and there was this sort of gazebo and all the other races were huddled under it shoulder Tosh shoulder just trying to stay out of the rain and we’re all just laughing we’re absolutely soaked like just in the
Short walk from the car to the start I was wearing water my waterproof jacket but everything else was completely soaked through my shoes everything was completely wet it was sort of you know it was unexpected downpour so even the wet weather gear that most of us brought
Was more summer wet weather gear this was like this was like winter rain but it was just a good laugh it was just a bit comical the start of the race got delayed again because of the rain they tried to wait for for it to die
Down a bit it it didn’t um and eventually we were just set off into you know just just go cuz otherwise we’re never we’re never going to set off and and yeah and I thought at the start you know what like this is not the ideal start but it means hopefully that this
The worst this is the worst of it you know this is the worst of weather got we’ve got the bad weather and if I can get up get out of the car and still start then I’m all right I’m little did I know that the following days that it
Would actually get worse and worse to the point where I was Absolut you know borderline hypothermic and one of the days but yeah so got going um you know hundreds of other people I think there was about 140 people taking part in the race we’re on the road you’re chatting
To people you all have these high hopes and excitement for the journey ahead you know everyone has different Ambitions so for me so at this point when the race the race had been cut down to about 2,000 km or 1,240 miles and my plan was to complete
That uh By the time of the finishing party which they had on the on the 10th day so I was hoping to do this in 10 days so averaging about you know 124 miles a day in that time I always want to go back to the mental side of the
Challenge because I know being cold it’s just something that I absolutely hate and yeah being cold being wet being damp dealing with the you know probably the wind it is the UK after all and then you know you’re you’re having to push your body you’re almost feeling hypothermic did those negative did that
Negative selft talk come back or were you able to manage that I was able to manage it to a certain extent so I remember this was day two of the race and it started raining even more and the temperature dropped you know was less than 10° and you’re sort
Of in your summer kit and you know I cycled in this sort of pouring rain for hours constantly you know doing that positive selft talk and keeping myself encouraged and I I cycled in it for 5 hours but the heat was just completely draining out of me and at that point
There weren’t enough climes to keep me warm there always be a short climb and then a descend to strip all the energy away from you and after hours in this and trying to be positive you know my body itself was just giv I couldn’t I got to a point where I couldn’t shift
Gears because my hands were completely Frozen cold and I was struggling to to pull in the brakes and then and then I started to think well my my my safety is at risk now and that really made me panic and I remember yeah thinking I
Just need to get to a town and I was cycling for hours and there was nothing around um at that point and I thought I just need to get a town to a town somewhere and I’ll regroup and you know if I get you know something warm just a
Meal or something maybe that will help so yeah I remember making it into this town and just I saw this beastro uh restaurant that the first thing I saw and I put my bike outside and I walked in and at that point I couldn’t even talk I was shivering and crying and abs
Miserable and and the receptionist there looked at me she thought I’d been in a crash or an accident couldn’t understand I was just trying to explain I’m like really cold and they really they helped me out they sat me down they put loads of blankets on me and gave me tea to
Sort of warm up in that moment I thought I I I can’t get back on my bike I this is I’m miserable I can’t I can barely break and absolutely drenched and it’s cold outside and it’s it’s it’s evening and it’s even it’s getting even colder and I can’t even you know Envision
Sleeping in a bivy bag again for the second night yeah at that point I didn’t think I didn’t think of giving up because I think I took to heart one of the tips they gave is never scratch at night I thought I can’t make any decisions whilst I’m cold and miserable
What I need to do is get warm so yeah at this point I remember calling the race organizers and just checking the rules with them you know could I take a taxi to a hotel because that was again a service House of anyone could use and
And then could I come back to the exact same spot the next day and continue on the race would that be all right and they said yeah that’s fine so that was my plan was right I book myself a hotel where I can get my things dry have a
Sleep and then I’ll decide in the morning whether or not I’m going to continue on this journey um which is what I did so at that point I i s of spent an hour at this beastro still trying to get my temperature up and trying to warm up and being able to
Speak coherently and then got a taxi and got to a hotel you know had a shower and I started to feel better already got a pizza and even felt even better um but but still I wasn’t sure I was like I don’t know how I’m going to feel in the
Morning I I honestly don’t know but I’m just going to wait till the morning I can’t decide but I woke up early the next day and I thought you know what the least I’m going to do is just go to that same spot that I you know stopped
Cycling at start to pedal and see how today goes if it’s another downpour and it’s a miserable again maybe I won’t make it through the day but I’ll just try and so that’s what I did and and I got on and that day went far better and
And and suddenly I you know I cycle for six seven more days after that and made it to the Finish there’s so many lessons in that because it’s making these right decisions at the right time in terms of recognizing your body that you’re cold you know your fingers are cramping
You’re not able to to break properly and actually safety is is really important especially if you’re starting to you know to to Panic or get scared with it then to be honest I think sometimes in those situations like I would just be like I’m going to have to throw money at
It I’m going to have you know find accommodation yeah get dry get warm have a shower and pizza is obviously an amazing out um sleep on it and in the morning everything’s different and you continued on um I mean I was going to actually what your biggest challenge is but I
Feel as though that’s sort of like it can’t have gotten any worse from that so so let’s flip it what was one of the biggest like highlights one of those magical memories those special moments that you experienced um during the race um oh there’s so many Oh
Yay yeah so so what the first few days were tough I mean so after that second day you know with the terrible rain the next day was all right and the day after that the rain came back but suddenly I was like well I went through this two
Days ago I survived it I’m going to survive this so I I’d already started to sort of get stronger in that but for me it was that so you know traveling across the country seeing loads of beautiful places which is you know one of the reasons I love cycling is just enjoying
The scenery and seeing the Landscapes and that’s something that constantly brought joy and that’s what got me up you know at 3:00 or 4: a.m. in the morning to get back on my bike and and watch the sunrise and and and moments like those but but some of the things
That absolutely literally brought me to tears is people who came out and supported and Dot Watchers so you know one of the challenges going into this for me was I’m I’m a team sport person I’ve always come you know played football played hockey and I you know
Cycled on the tandem I love doing these things with other people but I wanted to do this on my own but at the same time you know loneliness and things like that was always a worry for me but during this ride I never felt that because there was always this there was this
Community of people who were either watching your Dot and would come out on the road and you know bang their pans and scream your name and as I went through some of the areas where I had friends like Bristol and Cardiff people join me at 5 6: a.m. and and this
Surprised me the side of the road and cycle alongside me it just made me feel absolutely loved and and just those moments really just catching up with friends you’ve not seen for a while but they’re watching you you they’re sparing you on um that really kept me going
Absolutely love that and also yeah just getting to the checkpoints that I didn’t think I’d make it to and I I’m like wait I’m here it was just so yeah there was there was just so much that brought Joy so cycling with others just knowing that people were out there rooting for you
And just enjoying being out and seeing the country and yeah and the times just recognizing actually I’m quite lucky to be able to to do this I’ve chosen this I’m out here just like traveling across the country eating loads you know having loads of ice cream as I as I cycle my
Bike yeah when did you start to believe in yourself when did you start to think do you know I’m I’m going to finish I mean not that you weren’t believing yourself during the journey but when did you start to think oh my God yes I I am
Going to finish this I am going to cross that Finish Line when did that happen or is it quite close to the to the end before it was like oh my God yeah so I think it was day seven you know I finished on day 10 and it was on day
Seven after going through the second checkpoint so there were two checkpoints and then the Finish after the second checkpoint I thought okay like I might actually survive this I might actually make it to the finish and I think partly because I’d come so far and it was that
One of my mots is like you’ve not come this far to only come this far I was like I’ve I’ve covered such a distance there’s no way now now that I’m just going to like throw that all away I’ve got to finish and also yeah the fact
That I’d done you know 2third of it already and then I I started to believe I’m like okay I’ve now got two-thirds of this race to sort of look back on and know that I’ve done I can conquer this and and finish this no matter what happens I think it also helped because
As I said my intentions were to finish the race and so there wasn’t that added pressure of like trying to race it or trying to you know do things in a certain time so I knew at this point I was like you know what if anything happens any big Mechanicals I’m going to
Try and find a solution and and I’m going to get to that Finish Line whether it’s a month from now or whatever like I remember because I before I left I booked so much time off work because I wasn’t sure I’d finish it in the a lotted time but I was really determined
That I will finish this thing and so I I just thought come what may I will make it across that Finish Line what was that like when you did cross that Finish Line ah it was is mixed emotions actually the whole race you’re sort of like you’re
Picturing the Finish Line I want to finish this you know and to get to the the end and I know that I’ve done it but I started to get into the rhythm of the cycling day in and day out and that sort of just life on the road that I remember
The last day I was actually quite reluctant to go to the Finish like I was a bit it was a bit Bittersweet and I thought no this this journey can’t be ending I just savored the last sort of 20 km and I was just quite slow and I
Remember I didn’t even realize I was in third place for women at that point until someone came past me cuz I was just absolutely just chilling and like in instagramming and eating ice cream yeah you know I’d been joined by a few dot Watchers chatting to people um
When I got pasted and ended up as as a fourth woman home but I I was really I was relieved and I couldn’t I couldn’t believe it still that I’d just done that but at the same time I was a bit bettersweet I was like oh like wow I I
Could have actually continued I I got to the end thinking I could continue which is which was something I was not expecting to feel at all going into it you know I thought I would get to the end I’d collapse over the Finish Line I you know I’d burn my bike
And and move on to something else but how exciting to go through the highs and the lows but also to get to the end to know that actually you could continue with which is just showing the that you haven’t reached your limits yet yeah so I think that’s the thing so I thought
Yeah so that’s where I at is for me this is the biggest challenge I’ve ever taken on and so yeah there were points in that particularly related to the weather because that’s always been my challenge where I was always broke me but I don’t
Think it ever did like it never got to a point where I thought I’m quitting and so I got to the end having finished it and I thought wow wait like I could do more so so that was a bit of a a strange feeling getting to the end and realizing
That maybe there’s there’s more I can challenge myself with you know this wasn’t the thing that broke me because I thought I’d be completely broken by the end of it did you have any Adventure Blues afterwards you obviously a massive massive challenge you put a huge amount
Of effort and work and and training into and then you know an incredible 10 days and then poof it’s it’s over were were you okay afterwards so it’s been two weeks since the end of the the race and I silly enough I don’t know if it’s
Silly or smart but I’d agreed to do another race week a week and a half after when I was due to finish this other race it was this a gravel race so I knew that as soon as I finished I had something else to do in a week’s time that I had to
Recover from which is I was like how am I I’m very silly cuz that’s probably not enough recovery time for my body but it was sort of an anticipation of like that low so I’ve I’ve not had maybe I’ve not had the time to get to that low yet so
You know you know a few days ago I was you know up traveling to to do a a gravel bike race which is my first time doing any off-road activity and also I think again I’d heard and spoken to um a lot of people who’ done these races I
Remember speaking to the likes of Emily Chapel and having a chat and and hearing about you know that dip that you have after things like that and I’m such a planner I’m like okay I’m going to try and like avoid having that again maybe there’s no way to avoid that but I sort
Of made plans of oh I’d love to do a more casual relaxed trip in the summer so I’ve got loads of plans now of more chilled cycle bike rides with with friends and family I had plans of things that that I’d neglected in the house I
Thought o I can’t wait to scrub that bathroom wall and and and just all these other activities which were sort of fell on the Wayside and in the months leading up to the race because I was so busy training So currently I am just keeping busy around
The house so much just doing all these different things that I’ve not really had that dip yet but who’s I don’t know it might come along but I’m also now like sort of got itchy feet and thinking oh my gosh I need to I need to find
Something some some other activity to do it’s you know it’s it’s a really good tactic a lot of people do it you know book something else so to almost that you don’t sort of fall off um fall off a cliff it’s like actually you got something else to look forward to but
You also mentioned about you know did you have enough time to recover and I’m just interested you know how was your body physically afterwards were you you know were you back riding again pretty pretty soon did you feel stronger at the end or did you feel pretty broken
Putting my body through that for that period of time my body started to adjust it gave in you know so day three or four you know my body is like all these aches and pains but by the time I cross the finish line um you know besides having
Things like Saddles SS I felt all right my body was different to when it started I was I I didn’t realize this at the time that your body can put on so much water weight so my body reacted to this endurance challenge by retaining a lot
Of water so at the Finish Line I couldn’t fit into my genes that were brought to me at the Finish because I was about 5 kogs heavier than I was 10 days before that having put on so much just everything was bloated and so that was my big
Worries trying to get my body back to what it was but I got back on my bike two days after that again um my coach had recommended that I just don’t stop abruptly that I sort of recover from it and sort of taper taper down from the
Event so yeah I was able to get back on my bike on sort of gentle rides do two hours a day or two after that and I was perfectly fine and I did that every other day so I was really surprised I think I owe it to the training to be
Honest it was that conditioning that my body had sort of had trained for it and that it didn’t it wasn’t it wasn’t too much of a shock going into that and and so my recovery thankfully hasn’t been you know I’ve not sort of been cames and
Just like my feet up and not able to move I’ve actually yeah been able to be as active as I was before that and but whil not pushing myself too much so I am still taking it relatively easy because even though I might not feel completely
Wrecked I recognize that my body and my muscles and things probably do still need to recover so I’m still eating loads to replenish those stores energy stores in my muscles and and things like that and did that bathroom wall ever get scrubbed nope I’m I’m too too busy eating I’ve
Come back with the appetite of an adolescent boy I’m just constantly I’m cooking and eating a lot of the time because I I love cooking so it’s just an excuse and and yes so I’ve just been using this as an excuse to to keep eating that that to
Me is self-care putting yourself first you know it’s definitely looking after yourself and you one of the things that you did as well is you you mentioned about you know initially starting your social media to share more of your journey and you have shared all of the
There’s a lot of Stories on there so people can see the the Carnage of the rain and the the Delight of the finish line and also the the swollen face and face and ey from the from the water attention but where is the best place for people to follow follow your future
Cycling Journeys where should they go so through my my Instagram account which is I just call my diary basically so my account is at pedaling to and fro um and that and that’s where I just document the ups and downs and thrills of my my
Cycling life oh I love it and I’ll make sure I put the link to your Instagram account in the show notes so that people can find you and follow along with your future Adventures but ver before we go I’d love for you have the final words of
Wisdom final words of advice for other women out there who are thinking oh do you know what I want to take on like a solo unsupported ride take on you know a bigger challenge which is going to take them outside their comfort zone what advice would you have for them after
Your experience so the advice I’d have for other women out there is I’d say sign up to something and then figure out how you’re going to get there I think don’t wait until you you feel prepared before diving into something because more often than not you never get to
That stage I know I wouldn’t have um and so sign up for that 5K run or that 50k bike ride or that marathon and I think that will provide you with a motivation to start working towards it um I think nothing lights a fire under your bum
Like a deadline so I think sometimes we do need to give ourselves more deadlines so yeah just just sign up for something and I think I’d also add another thing is be honest with yourself about whether you can’t do something or whether you don’t want to do something so having
Done this challenge quite often people I hear people say oh no I I can’t do what you’ve just done and I think that that’s not true there’s nothing particularly special or talented about me I’ve just made the decision to do something and it’s okay if you don’t want to do
Something but don’t mix that up with not being capable of doing it like don’t tell your brain and don’t tell yourself that you can’t do something oh absolutely ver thank you for being so so inspiring and sharing more about your passion and joy for cycling it’s been
Absolutely amazing to speak to you and I can’t wait to follow along with all of your future cycling Adventures oh thank you so much Sarah for having me on this podcast and just yeah being able to share my story with everyone I hope that it resonates with someone and and and
Someone decides to go sign up for Something hey tribe I hope you enjoyed the episode with Vera what an Absolut inspiration and I hope she’s encouraged you and inspired you to to get on your bike and to sign up for a new challenge or new adventure it is never too late to take on something like this and like ver
Said at the end as well having a deadline is incredibly powerful so sign up for that race that you’ve been wanting to do do it now do it today don’t DeLay So I didn’t actually introduce myself at the start but my name is Sarah Williams I’m the host of
The tough girl podcast and the founder of tough girl challenges which is all about motivating and inspiring you while increasing the amount of female role models in the media during that conversation ver talked about chatting with Jenny Graham so for those of you who don’t know Jenny Graham is the
Fastest woman to cycle around the world which she did in 124 days so Jenny came on the tough gold podcast on November 26th 2019 and it’s a phenomenal episode well worth listening to and I’ll just give you a little bit more of a background about Jenny as well so Jenny
Is a Scottish Ultra endurance Adventurer she has smashed her way into the Guinness World Records by becoming the fastest woman to Psy around the planet in 2019 she cycled over 18,000 mil over four continents through 16 countries completing the trip solo and unsupported to prepare for that challenge Jenny
Raced some bike packing routes including the Arizona Trail 750 the Highland Trail 550 the Caron Loop and the Yorkshire D 300 and completed a winter leog in 4 days so during that podcast episode Jenny you know obviously introduces herself we learn more about what her life was like growing up in the
Highlands of Scotland how she got into cycling how she got into the outdoors she also talks more about the adventure Syndicate which I’ll go into a little bit more detail as well which she goes into detail about you know why she wanted cycle around the world and also
That big question how do you turn this dream into reality she talks through that year of preparation sponsorship money life out on the road staying focused day after day really really fascinating um podcast episode so well worth listening to and I talked there as well I just mentioned the adventure
Syndicut and I want to give Adventure Syndicate a shout out so if you go and check out the adventure Syndicate they are the adventure syndicate.com but let me tell you a little bit more about their mission their vision and their values so their mission is I’m just
Going to read this straight from the website when they talk about like our mission so we understand the physical and emotional benefits that traveling self-supported by bike in outdoor adventurous environments can offer a person and we want to share this understanding with as many people as possible we hope that by telling stories
Of Adventure big and small we will contribute to the shift of away from societal attitudes whereby wealth status power and exclusivity have the highest value moving instead towards mental and physical well-being Community collaboration inclusivity and diversity we recognize that the people we target will have their own unique set of
Emotional practical financial and cultural barriers and we aim to address as many of these as possible via planned initiatives to make our activities and message accessible to as a diverse a range of people as possible they talk about their vision and let me just read
That out to you so the vision is to challenge societal perceptions of what it means to be powerful and successful by providing a platform that shows the strength of collaborative and Cooperative approaches to physical challenge instead in doing so we hope to affect a shift away from the traditional
Perceptions of these often undervalued traditionally labeled female attributes that are so often associated with weakness and reveal them to be in the best way to create strong Fair Healthy Communities as opposed to creating environments that benefit individuals who Shout loudest we hope this way of being will transcend the
Outdooradventure world and seep into the political business environmental environmental sustainability and educational worlds too and the things that they value economic and cultural inclusion diversity collaboration Community the promotion of well-being sustainable travel and our impact on the environment so if you are passionate about the outdoors and you’re passionate
About cycling then please do go and check out the adventure Syndicate they’ve got an incredible team they’ve got loads of different Adventures there’s a Blog there’s a podcast they’re currently doing match the M source to see and there’s also events Etc um happening through that website they’re
Also on um social media I’ve also spoken to a few of the members of their team so obviously we’ve chatted with with Jenny Graham for the tough guard podcast we’ve also SP spoken to Kate RS she’s been on the tough guard podcast so Kate’s undertaken some incredible Adventures to
Raise awareness and explore more about the impacts of the climate crisis biodiversity and sustainability and she has cycled from Columbia to Cape Horn along the spine of the Andes on a bamboo bike and pedal from T Texas Texas to Alaska following the spine of the Rockies again a phenomenal incredible
Episode and well worth listening to so please do go check out the adventure syndic go follow Vera on Instagram and follow me on Instagram and if you if you’ve enjoyed this episode then please do tell one friend about the tough go podcast because it could Inspire them
And who knows what that will lead to so thank you again to all the patrons and supporters there’s no advertising or sponsorship of the tough podcast it’s all supported by you The Listener and to support the tough guard podcast you can visit patreon p a n.com tgir podcast and
Sign up monthly or annually you can sign up in Euro Sterling and us and female patrons who support at the $5 or4 level every month are invited to join the Clay’s Facebook group the tough girl tribe but wherever you are whatever you are doing give it your all give it 110%
Get after it go for it believe in yourself because I believe in you take care lots of love and I’ll speak to you soon Bye