The chaos before the calm
2 days out until we cycle around the world.
The most common question people ask when they find out you’re cycling around the world is “Wow, how much intense training do you have to do for that?”
To which we usually look at each other and laugh. Not because it’s a ridiculous question, but because we very much feel like we’re currently flying by the seam of our pants and we haven’t even set off yet!
Zero training. Zero prior experience. Zero idea on how we could actually achieve such a monumental task. We believe the phrase is “fake it till you make it”.
What started as a very small seed in Ciaran’s mind over 10 years ago, has slowly been brought to life by us both over the last 12 months and we are now very proud to call it our dream together. However it hasn’t been without lots of hard graft, countless stressful hours down rabbit holes on bikepacking blogs and 1000’s of shots of coffee.
There are so many elements to a trip like this you can’t even comprehend before you start. You need to simultaneously zoom in to see the fine details and zoom out to see the big picture all at the same time.
Big picture being visa requirements, border crossings, acquiring sponsors…. vs micro idiosyncrasies of which tent fabric is lighter and what size screws can’t you get replaced in Nepal?
You open one can of worms and it seems to provide you with 3 more. It is well and truly: chaos.
In these moments of self-inflicted anarchy, It is important to maintain perspective and remember why we’re doing this.
We’re big believers that getting outside and doing hard things is good for you.
We wanted to show that you don’t have to be experts, or the keenest cyclists to get on a bicycle and have an adventure. Lucy had never cycled more than 50km when she agreed to cycle 30,000 around the planet! Ciaran is still a rugby player at heart (and still eats like one) so is hardly aerodynamic. It was very much a mindset of “If people have done this before, there is no reason we can’t” and you can be damn sure once we faked a proposal and put it out to the world that we were doing this (you should watch that if you haven’t…) then there was no going back on our word. We had to find a way.
We also knew we wanted to raise money and awareness for a cause really close to home.
11 years ago, Ciaran’s mum Annie was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease after his grandad passed away from the same condition.
Although life would never be the same again, through sport and exercise , Annie has found community and hope again. She has impacted 1000’s of lives worldwide , educating people about Parkinson’s and the benefits of staying active on their physical, mental and social health. She founded the UK’s first women’s walking football team, and has even represented England internationally! She is nothing short of living legend and has worked alongside some life-changing organisations such as Sport Parkinson’s - an organisation who share our ambition to keeping people healthy and strong, by encouraging them to get out of their comfort zone through activity. We are aiming to fundraise £50,000 for them on our cycle in honour of Annie.
It has been a stressful few months moving back from Australia, juggling jobs, training and trying to plan a global circumnavigation. The overriding feeling now is that we cannot wait to get to the start line on the 8th of August and settle into a much simpler way of life. Eat, Ride, Camp Repeat. To let the story write itself.
As much as we would like everyone to partake in this nomadic way of life with us, we do realise how privileged we are to be able to drop everything and go on this grand journey for the next 18 months without any huge responsibilities of kids or mortgages. We also feel incredibly lucky to have understanding parents who not only tolerate our ridiculous ideas, but go above and beyond to encourage, facilitate and champion them. So thank you to them for letting two homeless, unemployed wanderers move back home and empty the fridge at the grand old age of 26.
This trip also simply would never have even reached the start line without sponsors who believed in us while this was very much a figment of our imagination. It was really important to us that we work with as many proud British (and mainly Northern!) partners as possible. Thank you for making our dreams come true.
Lastly, we have to pinch ourselves daily to remind us how lucky we are to have each other. For those that know us, you will remember a time where we spent 10 years growing up as best friends in school (we won’t exclusively use the word friendzone for Ciaran’s sake). Despite updating our relationship status on Facebook, at the heart of it, we are just that.
Two best friends.
Lucky enough to spend the next year living in a tent, washing in rivers and pedalling through distant lands together.
What a life.
We can’t bloody wait.
Ciaran and Lucy