On the 27th August I'll be going Mind Mapping. It'll be an 8 month journey covering 34,000km, crossing 25 countries and passing through 2 antipodal points.

Going Mind Mapping to me means embarking on a journey that traverses all roads and obstacles that challenge us - the ones under our tyres and those we have to navigate within ourselves. A journey connecting the tangible and the intangible. It won't be measured by average speed but the highs and lows of the road: the people I'll meet along the way, the places I'll see; the challenges and the troubleshooting. Both of them are valuable and they’ll each give context to the other, giving some amazing stories to tell. There’s no set up, no on the road support, no start and end points for each day. 

My relationship with cycling has been lifelong, but not always straight forward. In my late teens and among other factors, it was a contributor to a crippling downward spiral into a depression which changed the way both me and my life looked for a number of years. I had to drop out of school before my final exams and got lost in the world, struggling to see how I could fit in with any of it. The depression led to an eating disorder, drug use and being too anxious to be comfortable anywhere resulted in admissions to psychiatric units several times over the course of my late teens. I still loved the sport and worked in it, coaching being one of the few things I felt I was good at, but the thought of riding was an idea long abandoned.

In 2020 after too long spent disregarding my own wellbeing, I said that I'd go on one ride a month in an attempt to feel something again. A couple of months after that I stopped taking the medication I'd been on since I was 17. I managed to see cycling and sport in a different way, which placed a higher value on the journey than the outcome. Ultra distance riding provides a form of therapy in this regard.

I want to use this ride as a positive force to help a charity who helps people going through difficulties. 

Thank you to Specialized, Albion, Hunt and Quoc for the support in making this happen.