Life was suddenly too short to delay this project any longer than necessary.

Since making that decision, she had a bike built for her by Chaz Roberts of Croydon, researched and bought all the kit and devoured as many cycling books as she could – Josie Dew, Dervla Murphy, Alastair Humphreys and dozens of online journals, mainly on Crazy Guy On a Bike.

With little previous cycling experience or training behind her she started slowly, but like the proverbial tortoise and hare has made considerable progress and is currently in Iran having cycled through France, Switzerland, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria and Turkey.

So here I am, just turned 59, retiring early at the end of June, and about to set off on the biggest adventure of my life. I’m a long way off being ‘bikefit’ but I do know that I can cover 30 miles in a day as I am, and expect to raise that to 50+ after a few weeks in France.

“You’re very brave”, so people keep saying – before I set off. I’ll have to earn those words before I agree. But funnily enough, no one has called me mad – I think they already knew that…

CrazyJourney Community comments on inspirational female cyclists

Im not being ageist but this is truly inspirational especially when I consider my mum is 59 and I could never imagine her doing more than drinking wine in front of the TV! mylesaway.wordpress.com

I love this woman’s story. My parents did something similar in 2006. They sold their house in London. Put their possessions into storage and set off by bike to ride through France. They went on a hunt to buy a house over there and after 3 months riding and over 1500 miles covered they had found the place of their dreams. They returned with powerful thighs and bursting with cycling pride. Reminds us that it is never too late to follow our dreams.
Luke Bream

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To read the fantastic online journal of this British female cyclist please visit Ann Wilson

Credits for the images in this article about cycling around the world by an amazing female cyclist belong to Ann Wilson.

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Last week I wrote a post on this blog 10 ultra marathon endurance events I want to complete before I die. This got me thinking. OK so I have written the list. But what was I really doing about turning them into reality. This list was nothing new for me, since it’s contents have been bouncing around inside my head for the last few years.

This time I decided to tackle it slightly differently and would like to illustrate my actions in the hope that it may help you in your own quest to achievable a big goal or target.

I going to illustrate the points with reference to one of my big goals “running the marathon des Sables”. This event is way outside my comfort zone and experience. Some background first, I don’t like running, nor too have I ever done much running. I have never run a marathon or been to the Sahara dessert.

So I think it justifiably counts as a BIG GOAL !!

The attraction for me in this event is the fear factor and the level of the challenge involved. But the question is “How to move beyond those and turn it into reality?”

Define your big goal

The first thing I did was to write it down. Nothing new there but I think it is so important that i will restate it. If you want to achieve a big goal, it is much more likely to happen if you make a personal commitment by writing it down. If possible include as much detail about the big goal and what it looks like.

In my case – Complete Marathon des Sables in 2012

What need to happen to make big goal possible

By thinking through what needs to happen to make the big goal possible I’m forcing myself to consider the possibilities and the factors that influence my projects successful outcome. So I list out these things to help me get started. At this stage not too much detail I concentrating on an overall framework.

When can I get a place? How will I pay for my entry? How fit do I need to be? What other race experience do I need? What other survival / dessert experience do I need? Who can I talk too that has completed the event? What books can I read about running the race? etc etc

Set a short term Mini Goal

I think this is the single most important thing to do. I suffer very badly from a short term attention span. My family and friends joke that the longest I last on one activity is 13 weeks. I get bored very quickly. When this happens my enthusiasm get side tracked and I leap off in a new and exciting direction. This is lots of fun BUT NOT VERY USEFUL FOR ACHIEVING BIG GOAL.

So one solution is to set a mini goal that is an exciting goal in itself and that can be completed within 2-6 weeks. This means that I can focus all my attention and enthusiasm on this small project without becoming to distracted / overwhelmed by the big goal.

By setting it at 2-6 weeks I give myself some margin for error in terms of my personal attention span. So that even if it takes longer than I expect, maybe even double the time to achieve say for example 12 weeks I’m, still inside my personal 13 week window.

So in my personal case. I have set a mini goal of running a marathon before Christmas. I haven’t set a speed or anything else simply that I will run 26 miles and that will be my first milestone in my BIG GOAL of running Marathon des Sables.

Concentrate on the mini goals

Concentrating and achieving the mini goals is the key to successfully completing the BIG GOAL’s. It’s a cliche but so true,”you climb Everest one step at a time!” The big goal is only possible and achievable by completing 10′s and maybe 100′s of mini goals.

Within these mini goals lies the “journey”. the “experience” that we will always remember. They give us the skills, knowledge and ability to achieve the big goal but most importantly they shape our everyday lives so that we live in the moment. Here and now rather than hoping that we will find fulfillment through achieving the one BIG GOAL.

My journey towards running th Marathon des Sables has begun. I started training today for my first marathon which I will run before the end of 2009. (I’m looking for a marathon to run. Do you know of one in late December 2009 ??)

Join the Conversation

Has your journey begun ? Have you got a BIG GOAL, what about some mini goals? Have you started? Are you already on the path? Share your experiences and join the conversation.

Related posts:

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4. Getting Started – A Rough Guide to Riding the Tour de France Route
5. Are you struggling to achieve a Big Goal? This solution might help you..

In 2007 I rode the entire route 1 day ahead of the professionals and thought I would put together an overview of my trip and provide some pointers for others tempted to tackle a stage or the whole route. This is part 4 of a series of articles documenting my story. To read Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

Cycling the Tour de France Prologue

My training was finished and I was ready! Well as ready as I ever was going to be following 3 weeks of effort. My Mother had agreed to join me and drive a support van. She arrived in London and we loaded up the transit van than would be our home for the next 3 weeks.

I didn’t take alot of gear or tools. My lack of cycling experience meant that i wouldn’t have known what to do with tools even if I had owned them. The basic kit list was a bike pump, spare tyre and tubes.

On Friday 6th July 2007 with the bike and geared stowed in the back of the van we set off to central London to ride the prologue and watch the Grand Depart. Parking in central London is a nightmare so we left the van in the car park at Batersea Park. My mother got a bus into town and I cycled along the river. I was so nervous. My stomach filled with butterfly’s feeling like an imposter who was going to be unmasked at any moment.

I arrived at Parliament square and went through the barriers they had erected and had my first taste of the huge logistical operation that goes on behind the scenes of the Tour. There were hundred’s of people erecting signs, barriers, TV vans, cables everywhere. It was a hive of activity.

The official start was at the top end of Whitehall so I rode up to the sign turned round and I began. The Prologue is a short stage of just 8km. For the pro riders it is a tough test, riding as individuals, alone against the clock. For me it was a lovely ride through some beautiful parts of central London.

The nerves I had felt earlier disappeared and I enjoyed the lovely summer afternoon and took in the sights. I didn’t rush and just took in the atmosphere. Much of the course had already been closed off to traffic and I had a taste of what the pro experience as I rode between the barriers imagining the 1000′s of people who would be there tomorrow to watch the Prologue for real.

The course meandered it’s way past many of London’s landmark sights including Parliament square, Buckingham Palace and Hyde Park finishing on The Mall. The Mall looked amazing with Union Jack flags draped everywhere. What a buzz I felt. Really proud to be British.

Watching the Tour de France Grand Depart

I finished. I had a huge sense of relief. That just maybe this was possible. My mother and I met at Trafalgar square and were joined by a couple of other friends of mine to watch the Grand Depart. This is a formal presentation of the pro teams and all their riders. Trafalgar square was packed with people and big screens to watch the riders close up. Each team was introduced and the riders rode down a ramp and did a small circle in front of the crowd.

After the presentations we left Trafalgar square and went fro dinner at a nearby restaurant. After a fabulous meal with loads of banter by my friends about the likely disaster that was going to unfold we were just paying the bill when I had the most terrible thought. “What time did they lock the park gates”. I had a complete panic. I wanted to start the stage early the next morning and if we couldn’t get the van out where would we sleep and how could I get off early.

I jumped on my bike and rode like a madman the 3-4 km back to the van. To my eternal relief the gates were still open and we could rescue the van.

Each Tour de France stage is made up of 2 parts. There is the neutralised section which varies in distance between a few Km and about 20km. This is the route the riders follow to get to the actual start point of the stage. Then there is the actual stage and it is this distance between stage start and finish that is the distance measurement that you see listed.

I had decided NOT to ride the neutralised sections of the stage. This was for 2 reasons. The first being and most obvious “I didn’t need to add any additional distance to my challenge!” the second is that navigating through cities is difficult at the best of times and without the route signs that accompany the course it would be very difficult to follow. Meaning I could potentially waste lots of unnecessary time and effort.

We arrived at Greenwich which was the official start of the stage and found a car park to put the van and get some sleep. We made a funny pair my mother is 68 but still very fit and active. Me a novice cyclist with no knowledge about the Tour.

I had bought the Dummies guide to the Tour de France and as we prepared for bed I read out sections of the book to her. neither of us had a clue what it was gong to be like. I had never seen the tour, not even on TV whilst she had once while on holiday in Marseille seen the peloton ride under a bridge!

Our sleeping arrangements were bizarre to say the least. I slept in the back of the van with the bike, food and all the gear. It’s a bog standard van with no windows and the front section is panelled off from the rear. She finds the back claustrophobic so slept across the front seats in full view of passing people!

I did have a small camping light so after she had “shut me in” to the back I settled down to read the official tour program. This became my bible as it showed a profile for each stage including the distance and height to climb on each mountain.

Finally to nervous to read. I switched out the light and let my thoughts drift. I was really, really nervous. My mind turning over and over about the first stage and the hills to come. My mothers alarm was set for 5.30 and I finally drifted off to sleep.

This story continues tomorrow as I ride my first tour de France stage from London to Canterbury and I meet some other riders to share the adventure with.

CrazyJourney community comments on endurance riding

After crashing @ mile 50, being backed in2 @ 70, hitting emo-wall @ 80, grit teeth & forced last 20 & felt gr8. Bloody but gr8! ricalivestrong.blogspot.com

1st long distance bike ride? good or bad? Both for me! Lots of pain for me, but the feeling of accomplishment was worth it.
twitter.com/quad4_2000

1st LD ride was 75 mile charity ride. Felt great, lots of adrenaline to help me finish strong!
cyclinginhell.blogspot.com

Was too good, ass-breaking, but awesome! twitter.com/morfinrider

Mine great !! myspace.com/coloradobuff

To watch the Sky News interview with Luke in Paris Sky News

Please support CrazyJourneys.com by taking a moment to comment on this adventure story about cycling the Tour de France prologue and watching the Grand Depart and also tweet or share it.

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1. Part 3 – A rough guide to cycling the Tour de France Route
2. Part 2 – A Rough Guide to Riding the Tour de France Route
3. Getting Started – A Rough Guide to Riding the Tour de France Route
4. Cycling in the mountains of France Phil Deeker’s epic personal Tour de France
5. Oli Broom’s Unusual Cycling Adventure Tour from London to Australia by Bike to Watch the Cricket

Starting and finishing at North Cape in Norway, he became the first man to travel the Arctic Circle without motorized transport, completing a 20,000km journey through Greenland, Canada, Alaska, the Bering Strait and Russia’s Siberia, pulling a kevlar sledge piled with 180kg of equipment and food.

Prior to this Mike had an outstanding pedigree in extreme expeditions. Including Amazon Expedition, a solo, un-motorized traverse of the South American continent taking 6 months and Latitude Zero, the circumvolution of the world around the equator. Taking 18 months Mike Horn sailed, paddled, canoed and cycled around the world.

Valuable lessons from one of worlds greatest explorers

Before attempting the solo circumnavigation of the Arctic Circle expedition in 2004, Mike Horn did 2 things which I think we can learn alot from. Both in the sense that he was humble enough to do them and also how we can apply them to our own expedition projects.

The arctic was a completely foreign landscape to him and he recognized that he didn’t have a hope of being successful there without serving some kind of apprenticeship and learning from the best.

The first thing he did was to get himself invited on an expedition to Greenland with two Swiss explorer JeanTroillet and Erhard Loretan (3rd man to climb all the 8000m peaks without oxygen). This gave Mike the opportunity to be mentored by two of the world’s greatest Himalayan mountaineering experts.

On this Greenland expedition he basically worked as a packhorse but it gave him the opportunity to watch, listen, learn and soak up as much knowledge and information as possible. The most valuable and life saving lesson was the art of PATIENCE.

In conditions of extreme cold knowing when to stay in the tent and not to push on can be the difference between life and death. A naturally impatient and impulsive man it was a difficult lesson to learn. But vital as in arctic whiteout conditions many explorers have become lost and frozen to death just 2m from their tents

Mike Horn posses two of the most important characteristics of an extreme expedition explorer. These being a rock solid, steady temperament and an enormous capacity for physical endurance. But on returning from the Greenland Expedition he wondered if these were enough to fulfil his dreams of a solo circumnavigation of the Arctic Circle.

With this in mind he sought the advice and guidance of Borge Ousland, the first man to reach the North Pole solo as well as the first to cross Antarctica solo. Mike visited Norway to apprentice with him. To learn everything he could about this famous explorer, his way of life, his personality, the way he worked, his attitudes, and daily routines.

Mike didn’t know and had never met Borge however he was welcomed into his home and and over a number of days shared his polar knowledge and experience.

These examples of serving apprenticeships with expedition experts and learning everything we can from them are valuable and give us an insight into the character of Mike Horn and demonstrate why he went on to become one of the world’s most famous expedition explorers.

Mike has written an account of his solo circumnavigation of the Arctic Circle expedition called conquering the impossible

He is currently leading a fantastic ocean expedition for young explorers. For more information please visit Pangaea

Credits for the images in this article about extreme adventure expeditions and the lessons that famous explorers can teach us belong to Mike Horn

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Are they right?

I have a feeling that they are missing the point. Chris Walker recently explored this point in a guest post on this web site. He highlighted that extreme is a relative term and is dependant upon our personal comfort zones.

For one individual an extreme adventure is set at one level and for another perhaps more experienced, that level is considerably higher. Rather like our tolerance levels to alcohol.

The more often we are in a particular situation, the more used to the particular demands it places upon our body and mind the less extreme it feels.

A couple of years ago I was walking in the Austrian Alps with a German girlfriend of mine during the late summer. It was more “scrambling” and at times the situation was pretty exposed and perhaps we should have been roped up. However my point is that on the first day I was really scared, really feeling the exposure. After a week of walking and in fact progressing to far more extreme situations than on that first day my tolerance level had risen to the extent that I didn’t feel scared at all.

If you had asked me on day one “was it extreme?” I would definitely have said yes. Ask me at the end of the week or now and I would say NO.

Extreme adventures and our comfort zone

We learn that extreme adventures are relative and personal. As we move outside our personal comfort zone our experience feels extreme. Perhaps this is our body and minds way of coping, of making sure we are on full alert and giving our all.

To my mind the motorcycle forum is being judgemental about someone else’s dreams and goals. A position that I feel uncomfortable with. Reaching out for your goals is hard and we are inevitably exposing ourselves to failure. Surely it’s better to encourage and support each individual in their “relative” pursuits of extreme adventure than to knock them and demean their efforts.

To grow as individuals and experience everything that life has to offer we must move outside our comfort zones. This is difficult, often painful and definitely scary. But do it we must.

To read Chris Walkers guest post about extreme adventures please visit Himalayan trekking guide celebrates that tiny moment in time called now

Credits for the images in this article about extreme adventure and coping in difficult and challenging circumstances belong to www.adventurecameras.com

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Cycle Touring

On a bicycle you are forced into intimate contact with your surroundings, the grass on the side of the road, the vehicles that drive past, the farmer in the field, that damn hill under your wells, the rain on your face, the smell of the wild flowers (or the broken sewerage pipe for that matter).

This interaction gives a real sense of the place, the traffic tells you what kind of things are going on in the area, tourism, logging, farming, industry etc. The constant exposure to the weather gives an astute awareness of the day to day changes, or in the case of a strong head wind, any natural feature which will give some shelter .

Hungry, thirsty and tired, a warm smile and a few words (or more often hand signals) is all it takes to find a place to pitch the tent for the night, on real ground with a newly gained sense of the place after a long day in the saddle.

Every since picking up my first National Geographic when I was maybe 3 years old, I have had a deep fascination with people and places. This has led me to far off places in search of what makes a person who they are and what connects them to that place where they call home.

Since starting cycling I have travelled extensively, always in search of real human interaction, at a level that is not based on money or business, but a more real interaction where I can attempt to gain an understanding of a person through there environment and willingness to interact with me as a westerner who is there without a car.

Certainly living somewhere is probably the best way to really gain this understanding, however takes a long time and thus in a lifetime there are only so many places we can spend an extended period of time. From my experience, cycling is as close as it is possible to come to this in a relatively short time.

To read Ben’s fantastic blog about his cycling tour through Bulgaria, China, Cambodia, Greece, Hungary, India, Iran, Romania, Serbia, Turkey, Vietnam and Laos please visit www.bikeben.com

Credits for the images in this article about an intercontinental cycling tour belong to Ben.

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4. Part 4 – A rough guide to cycling the route of the Tour de France
5. Part 3 – A rough guide to cycling the Tour de France Route

In 2007 I rode the entire route 1 day ahead of the professionals and thought I would put together an overview of my trip and provide some pointers for others tempted to tackle a stage or the whole route. This is part 3 of a series of articles documenting my story. To read Part 1 Part 2

An epic personal Tour de France

I arrived at Clapham Common to ride the London to Brighton “sportive” late and found the place deserted. I planned to ride “there and back” which is about 135 miles and would be my first real test and roughly equal to one days Tour de France stage distance.

The barriers and signs were still up so I slowly followed them out of London. It’s a large event 30,000+ riders and closed roads, though with my late start the traffic was back flowing. I was riding quite hard, flushed with enthusiasm for “the chase” and kept expecting to see the tail enders every time I rounded a corner.

It took longer than I expected and I didn’t see a marshal or another cyclist for about 2 hours. It was my first lesson in the importance of spending time on the bike. In endurance riding speed is “relatively unimportant” the most significant factor in riding a long distance is how many hours you are prepared to sit in the saddle. Even the slowest riders of this sportive who were on worn out mountain bikes and must have weighed 20 stone had taken me 2 hours hard riding to catch.

I slowly wound my way through the field. It was a lovely atmosphere, almost carnival like and I strongly recommend it as a great cycling day for any rider. Regardless of their experience.

I began to feel under pressure for time. This is a horrible feeling on a bike or any endurance event. The bike computer is right in-front of your nose and I couldn’t help but repeatedly look at it. Sometimes 10 times in a minute. I had promised my girlfriend of the time that I would be back by 7.30pm for she was cooking a dinner party for friends of ours.

I didn’t have a route map, nor any idea of the exact distance. And again this gnawed away inside me. Would I make it in time. I was feeling tired already and I wasn’t even at Brighton yet. Should I turn round. Should I give up early. After riding for about 3.5 hours I knew I had to make a decision. Everyone on the ride had been talking about a big hill near the end and I guess I was a few miles short of there.

I was completely torn, a part of me wanted to keep riding at least up and over the hill before I turned round. Another part of me was really scared. I was really feeling the ride already. How would my body react if I tackled a really hard hill then turned round and had to ride for perhaps another 4 hours back to London.

In the end I took the easy option and turned round. The ride home was much better than I had expected. There is something psychologically easier about riding home on a route that you have already ridden than doing the same distance into unknown territory.

About 10 miles outside London I met another cyclist doing “there and back” like me and we rode together. Chatting about the ride he asked how I had found the big hill (sorry i cant remember it’s name) and I felt deeply embarrassed and LIED. I can’t believe it now looking back. I said it had been OK.

We parted company in central London and I finally reached my girlfriends house at about 7.45pm. The lie effected me deeply and undermined my fragile confidence and self worth. It was a stupid thing to have said and nearly wrecked my whole endeavour.

I had ridden 140km that day in just over 7.5 hours. My longest and hardest day to date. I should have been feeling proud. For even though I had abandoned before the finish I had still ridden further then ever before and although not quite a full stage distance it was at least progress.

Unfortunately my mind doesn’t work like that and I proceeded to beat myself up about it. I should have ridden on, I should have finished, why did I quit, if I were a proper cyclist I would have finished etc etc.

These negative thoughts wiped out another 2 days training as I struggled with motivation and spent the days feeling sorry for myself.

At this point I might very well have stopped the project. But fate intervened and my Mother rang. The first time I had spoken to her since our conversation where she had agreed to come along to drive the support vehicle. She was bright and bubbly and said she was just phoning to check that I had the funds in place to do the event before she booked her ferry crossing to come to London.

It was very lucky she phrased it like this. If she has said “was I still doing it?” I might very well have said NO! But to this question I replied that I had the money and we chatted on discussing my training and I told her I had been training hard but was now struggling. She was encouraging and just told me to get on the bike and not to worry so much. She said there was no pressure on me. If I finished part of the stages or a few of them then that would be an amazing achievement.

This was really good to hear and took loads of pressure off me. I began training again. My crisis of confidence over i threw myself back into the 3 sessions per day training program.

With just 5 days to go till the off. I decided really aught to see what riding a hill was like! I had read various accounts of the Tour de France and looking at the mountain stages and seeing some mountains had 25km accents with over 2000m vertical climbing put the fear of god into me.

The only hill I could think of in London is Haverstock hill and runs from Camden to Hampstead Heath. So that final Sunday I rode up and down in the pouring rain. People must have thought I was mad. It is about 3km from Chalk farm Tube at the bottom to the duck pond at the top. i have no idea of the gradient but in hindsight it’s not dissimilar to the Alps. So I rode up and down 13 times. it felt pretty comfortable and i finished the day, wet but pretty contented with progress. i had done about 40km of uphill riding and about 100km in total when adding in my ride to get there.

Although it was still a long way short of the mountain stage days to come I felt quietly confident. My mothers words really stuck with me. I wasn’t under any pressure. It was a journey and an experience. if I finished the stages brilliant. If not then so be it. i would do the best that I could. Of course i was fully committed. I really, really wanted to do it. To ride the whole route and prove to myself that I was tough enough. i think i saw it as a test of my mental strength far more that a physical one.

So that was my training done. I had a few days rest with light rides and waited for my Mother to arrive in London for the adventure to begin properly.

This story continues tomorrow as I ride the prologue course and then the big day. My first tour de France stage. Could I make it. Could i ride further than ever before? Part 4

To watch the Sky News interview with Luke in Paris Sky News

Please support CrazyJourneys.com by taking a moment to comment on this adventure story about cycling the route of the Tour de France one day ahead and also tweet or share it. Help Luke to spread the word. The buttons are below:

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1. Part 4 – A rough guide to cycling the route of the Tour de France
2. Part 2 – A Rough Guide to Riding the Tour de France Route
3. Getting Started – A Rough Guide to Riding the Tour de France Route
4. Cycling in the mountains of France Phil Deeker’s epic personal Tour de France
5. cycling – L’Etape du Tour 2010 – Recon Cycling DVD – Tourmalet