Cycling in Exosyms

In this vlog Sacha tests her new exosym legs as she attempts to cycle from the UK to Spain. The goal is for Sacha to pick up an award for the Flight of the Swans documentary, which has won Best Nature Documentary at the 34th Mountain, Nature and Adventure Film Festival.

But how will the legs manage? Will the first day of difficulties scupper the whole trip?

#exosyms #ProstheticProgress #diariesofthehumamswan #humanswan #flightoftheswans #conservationwithoutborders #sachadench

‪@HangerNews‬

hi my name is Kath and I’m the creative director for conservation Without Borders this is my boss Sasha Dench and she is the CEO of conservation Without Borders otherwise known as the UN Ambassador for the convention on moratory species or more dramatically the human Swan which she was named after she flew from Russia back to the UK tracking the migration of Buick swans next up was the round Britain climate challenge with Sasha flying around the UK to highlight climate Solutions but days before the end of that expedition in a freak accident she fell 150 ft and while she broke a lot of Bones from her jaw down she somehow survived despite many operations to put her back together and 6 months in hospital she was determined not to let injuries deter her from out on Mission so against the odds in 2022 she set off with a team to follow the Osprey migration from the UK to Africa living out of vehicles and Tents she sat off in a wheelchair and came back walking and with amazing results and stories to share in this Vlog we share some of those stories and take you behind the scenes of Life of conservation Without Borders been a pretty spectacular afternoon watching them this is we go and the incredible people we meet along the way while Sasha provides updates on our mission her recovery and showcases life on the road me I have spent most of my time in Zambia trying to work with five cats and Wildlife that also doesn’t see borders also hopefully I’ll be able to Showcase some of Africa’s incredible places and people following a successful speaking tour in Kumo Sasha was determined to see what else she could do with her new exos sim legs so when she found out that the flight of the swans documentary was up for an award in Spain a plan formed how about she cycled there not only will it give her better strength and muscles and fitness but it will also Test the full capabilities of her exos Sims after getting the agreement from the team in Seattle who made and fitted her EXO Sims she hit the road but will she managed a journey ahead will her EXO Sims be up to the task and will the first hard day just be too much to take happy Earth Day I have spent it recovering from the last speaking and film tour and preparing for the next which has involved packing our bikes for a long Expedition cu the next film Premiere is in Northwestern Spain and we’ve decided to cycle all the way there it’s 18800 kilm from here uh all the way to Spain it’s partly for the planet but it’s partly for me this is it day one wish us luck [Music] Sasha was the first major Hill that we almost overcome we’ve almost come to the end is that what you mean at the first big hill it’s still a little bit slopy upwards here but not it looks more gentle well let’s say it was a ferocious start to the trip chagford where we live is on a on a side of a hill and so everywhere out of it involves a steep down and then a steep pop and we just got one h of a steep pop it’s only maybe 100 m to the end so the road has thrown three massive Hills at us in the first hour and I have no idea if I’m going to make it to we haven’t really got a choice actually we’ve got a so I can’t believe though that I’ve actually got myself up those three massive Hills but uh so day one has been the day of type two fun so far but uh if we make it to Plymouth it’ll be amazing oh no I should have been going fast cuz here’s another Hill no another one this is [Music] boring we’re almost in Plymouth but there was a slight issue uh it all of a sudden there’s a little wobble in the in the writing and my pedal fell off let’s see if I can uh if I can reattach it again but that could be an issue okay where are we going now you walking no cycling but I’m will be keeping an eye on the on the pedals more than the road I think so we’re just 10 mil out of Plymouth and and the cycle route went through this uh long uh tunnel it’s pretty [Music] cool here we are in France great sleep for me not so great for Paul but lots of little muscles I didn’t even know I had a aing my back my thighs my knees my stomach yeah fingers crossed I need to get a few kilometers today I [Music] think I’m lying down in an onion field my back is killing me but straightening out usually makes difference so I’ve had my second major wobble of the day just could not go any further maybe got 2/3 of the way out this hill and it just kept going and going and going and I have no energy left um so I’ve actually ended up stopping at a uh section of the road and French people keep stopping to check if I’m okay and if I need to be taken anywhere it’s pretty nice what else did you notice about French the French oh yeah they stop to let us cross the road yeah when you they they stop to let us cross the road even on a really busy road there was one section where I had to go from a standing start to um up over a lip onto the road and um that’s probably the worst I’m worry about starting with the first pedal cycle if I get my access Sims um in not the right spot they can get caught in the pedals and I can’t feel exactly what it’s caught cuz it’s all carbon fiber um um I get a bit wobbly anyway so uh there I was thinking this is terrible and uh yeah people kept stopping to let me pass it’s 3:00 a.m. the morning after the first pretty hard-going day of cycling in France I went to bed and I’m going to be honest with almost every muscle in my body feeling like it was aching uh and I’m not up at 3:00 a.m. because I’m jumping out of bed feeling ready for the day but because we have another Zoom with a film festival in Montana um so I made myself a cup of tea and brush my hair I’m not sure that that’s made all the difference considering I had pretty bad helmet ha yesterday but I did manage to well I’m feeling my body is not feeling too bad I thought yesterday it was very unlikely I’d wake up and not be incredibly stiff and find it almost in impossible to get on the bike but I feel a lot better than I thought I would so maybe that’s a good omen and then she got this there a beautiful sunrise behind you [Music] yes is it day four day four we’ve done day four of cycling we’ve done 80k so far in France only 1,200 odd to go but the mission today is to get to the next stage which is 30k away uh looks all right supposed to rain all day but for now we’ve got overcast and cool which is pretty good and I’m feeling not too bad these are the elevations we’ve had to get to for the first few days of the trip the first few days cycling with these legs and then from the rest of it it’s not quite all the way downhill to Spain but pretty close [Music] BR is the first stop where that red dot is and then ponv we are possibly going to get to today [Music] my little knees are complaining my mood is pretty fragile I’m not unhappy just Prett hard keep motivated especially on those long stretches where beautiful Canal pass just goes on and it’s the same kind of beautiful for hundreds of me at a time God it sounds ridiculous now I’m saying it but makes it hard to keep going when you’re motivated by what’s around the corner and I think I have a cold my nose is getting Snuffy so that was uh just over 48 km today and uh this is what you come home to is that acceptable that is perfect that it’s better than perfect it’s potentially too distracting for the day of work I have to do tomorrow the ex Sims are holding up too as in I’ve got no pain in my lower leg so I have no idea how that happens but it wouldn’t be possible without them [Music] good morning from jlam I’ve had an incredible day off of cycling down at the Water by the chatau uh catching up on work and uh but now it is time to get back on the road so the next place we’re heading for is called Pak it’s about 50 km away and uh I’m actually really quite excited about being back on the bike hi for some reason I’m feeling excellent today this by late start and it’s a good job cuz we’re having to race get to our accommodation time in Time new experience for us we have to keep brushing caterpillars out of our eyes how does that happen from some of the trees that are hanging over the path there are green caterpillars on long strad and lots of them like this what are they thinking is this how they disperse by dropping onto uh walking passing mammals anyway I would have had about 200 on me by now I think hi little friend [Music] [Music] this morning we had blue skies and then pretty rapidly big gray card appeared and now we have heavy rain and even hail [Music] that’s a big gray ominous looking Cloud that has passed over us well the previous ones have passed over drenched us uh battered us with hail and now we’ stopped for a coffee but we are too wet and too muddies to be wanted inside a cafe so instead we’re on the steps of the Mary warming up in the tiny little bits of sunshine that come through and uh just managed to get a uh a pastry and a coffee and uh considering whether to just get back on the road because at least while you’re cycling you’re warm even if you’re drenched to the Bone [Music] [Music] so it has carried on raining heavily all day and thank you to everybody who answered the question of whether I should just Soldier on in the rain no matter what and uh we decided not to and have as you can see hide a car the trains were all uh full the bike places were all full and a very good friend Eugene who’s a bird expert and was partner on flight of the ospre Expedition lives down here and uh asked to meet up for a coffee so we’ve been to do that and he recommends Ed we should then whilst it’s raining and it’s going to carry on raining for another couple of days we should go where you can appreciate all that water and find accommodation down here uh near the Wetland and so fingers crossed we’ll get some good birding in in the next couple of days we were though about to get some bad news which meant we had to fly back to Denmark and a couple of weeks later I did though end up at the Spanish Film Festival alone and we’ll jump straight to that [Music] so I’m just getting ready for tonight’s award ceremony and the Gara dinner which is going to be a pretty fancy Affair I think uh and considering whether I should walk the 2 km to the theater it’s about 2k that way not because I think my legs would have any difficulties even on Spanish Cobble streets um but I’ve just heard this sound of thunder actually as the rain has got harder I had to properly rug up but uh making good progress beautiful city A procession which I didn’t [Music] expect in this whole cure of people winning Awards is only three of us are women where where are all the women what’s going on [Music] such the flight of this one and when a big visible bird like the Buick Swan is in such rapid decline it really makes you wonder what could be happening for the other smaller species what else could we be missing [Music] [Music] nature is really responsive if we do the right thing pay attention to the world around us and act when we have the power to do [Applause] so as you saw Sasha was there by herself so unfortunately there is no footage of her collecting the award on behalf of the Flight of the swans do documentary team but the documentary went down incredibly well at the festival and it continues to be nominated and gain Awards in various film festivals around the world now what does Joanna Lumley the city of London The Dark Crystal and vultures all have in common like And subscribe to find out more in our new vlog