Announcing the next adventure
I hope you've had a good start to 2021. For many of you, it wouldn’t have been the start to the year or holiday season that was planned or hoped for. Regardless of where you are and the restrictions you were or are under, I hope that there was still plenty of laughter, love and good times.
Today I'm excited to share with you my next adventure! The ‘great pause’ the pandemic created gave me some time to plot and plan the next big trip… And the result is I'm going to cycle unsupported across Australia with my great mate Tara Lal! This was an idea that came to me while I was completing my Nile expedition. The idea stayed in my mind and is now set to become a reality.
Route
We’ll be starting at the most westerly point, Steep Point in Western Australia and finish at the most easterly point, Cape Byron in New South Wales (NSW) some 5,000km later with sore bums and plenty of stories to share! To give my northern hemisphere friends some context, that’s like cycling from the UK to the USA.
Ahead of us are approximately 12,000m of climbing, with the Flinders Ranges in South Australia and the Great Dividing Range in NSW to cross. Carrying all our gear and supplies will make the climbing that much harder.
Here's our video introducing the trip.
Mission
Our mission is to encourage growth through struggle, in particular with mental health. As Tara says, “The key to growth is struggle and learning how to struggle well. We hope we can encourage people following our journey to do the same.” We’ve both had our own challenges with mental health and we want to share the lessons we’ve learned over the years, whilst also hearing and sharing the stories of those we meet along the way.
Fundraising
We’re raising money for two charities close to our hearts. One is Lifeline, chosen by Tara. Her personal mission is to change the public narrative around suicide and mental health by integrating research and storytelling. She is the internationally published author of ‘Standing on my Brother’s Shoulders - Making Peace With Grief and Suicide’. A book which tracks her own journey through a traumatic childhood, which included losing her brother to suicide to creating a life of meaning and purpose. She is also a PhD candidate in the field of mental health.
The other charity is Mood Active, a Sydney-based charity helping people dealing with mild to moderate mental health challenges to get back on their feet through exercise. I deal with depression and know the difference exercise makes to my mental wellbeing. I’m passionate about making exercise part of people’s toolkit for managing their mental health. In May of last year I joined the Board at Mood Active as the organisation Secretary.
Our website for this expedition is www.cyclingoz.com and there are links to donate.
Challenges
Well, there are plenty! The big one being that cycling is not a sport that either Tara or I have done much of until committing to this journey.
We are aiming to complete about 100km per day. While aspects of our sports and training history will help us, it’s going to be extremely challenging. Until training for this event, I hadn’t done much bike riding for 15 years. My body did ask me what the hell I thought I was doing when training began.
Timing
We were originally due to start on the 1-Oct-20, but domestic borders didn’t reopen as expected. Our flights to Perth are now booked for 10-Mar-21, so we're keeping everything crossed that borders reopen by then. We believe these changes reflect the message we stand for. One of the greatest struggles for everyone through 2020 was the uncertainty affecting our lives through the pandemic which is deeply impacting our individual and collective mental health.
All being well we’ll arrive in Perth as planned, make our way to Steep Point to begin our epic journey on 12-Mar-21. We will finish in Bryon Bay approximately two months later. If borders aren’t open by the time we are due to depart, we’ll postpone again. C'est la vie!
Pre-Departure Fundraiser
I have a fundraiser happening on 6-Feb which everyone can get involved in. The details will be in my next update.
Well that’s it for now. I'm looking forward to sharing more on this trip and the fundraiser soon. In the meantime, I'll be posting on Instagram via @sarahpaddles (yep, I know I’m pedalling now not paddling!). If anyone has any good ideas for a new Instagram handle please let me know!
Stay safe and well
Sarah x x