I rode 194.57 miles and raised 50 000 meals for No Kid Hungry

I woke up at 2:45am. 3am porridge force feed. 4am Mt. Lemmon mile 0.

Starting in the dark was always going to be an interesting experience. My friend recruited two people who were gung-ho to ride at 4am. I didn’t want to be riding in the dark alone when there are rattle snakes and mountain lions kicking about, so I was grateful.  

After making small talk, 90 minutes into the ride, the sun rose and I could turn to this stranger next to me. I can see you now. Hi, nice to meet you.

So began my journey on 14 April. I would do 4 reps of Mt Lemmon in Arizona, ascending the equivalent elevation of Mt Everest 8848m (that’s 29,028ft yanks), to raise funds for No Kid Hungry.

The last six months I’ve struggled more than ever with the selfish part of being a professional athlete. Back home, my brother just graduated and started his first physiotherapy job then got laid-off. He retrained and is now working on the front line of the pandemic.

I was exposed to so many people doing meaningful things.

I’ve been feeling pretty lost and just riding and going through the motions. I thought I can’t just keep riding my bike, training for who knows what.

I need to do something.

Nine weeks ago, I broke my foot and was walking around in a foot brace. I’d been staying with a host family here in Arizona. The mother was a teacher at this very under privileged school. She was telling me about these homeless kids at school who wouldn’t have anything to eat and who sometimes didn’t own shoes.

That put into perspective me feeling very sorry for myself about breaking my foot.

When everything started getting shut down because of Covid-19, I was walking around the grocery store and the shelves were baron. The level of panic buying really upset me.

The contrast between kids going hungry and the panic buying was too much for me. I knew I needed to do something for vulnerable children.

The Everesting idea came when on one of my going through the motions training rides I was listening to a podcast about someone describing their failed Everesting attempt. I thought that sounds like a great idea. I’ll do that.

I happened to be riding up Mt. Lemmon at the same time.

Side note: during the last yoga class I’d been to before they shut all the studios down, the studio was overlooking Mt. Lemmon and the yoga teacher said, look up at the mountains and think about how much these mountains have stood through and they are still standing strong.

So, I was in this really weird headspace, out on my bike, feeling at a complete loose end and decided – this is what I am going to do.

The challenge was a big one, but I have been through my own challenges in life. I know what it’s like to suffer but still persevere. In the early part of my career, between 2013 to 2016, I had something wrong with my legs. I was just not feeling good ever. I kept getting misdiagnosed as chronic fatigue syndrome or the next thing.

Eventually, they discovered I had iliac artery endofibrosis in both my legs.

Basically, the artery narrows from being in a flex hip position when cycling. I had surgery and they cut them open and reconstructed them with cow heart bovine patch. I had one leg done in 2016 and two years later had the other leg done.

It’s definitely a surgery surgeons don’t want to do. They see it as a lifestyle problem where if you quit riding your bike, you’d get on with life totally fine.

I couldn’t carry on racing at a high level if I hadn’t had the surgery. All I can remember is wanting to be a professional athlete from a very young age. The buzz of doing something different and living a unique life appeals to me.

Every winter when we’re in the throngs of long training with no racing in sight to distract me, I struggle with the selfish aspect of the sport. What I have now come to realise is, when you’re a pro athlete, you have the opportunity to use your platform in the sport to inspire other people.

It’s a unique way to find greater meaning. 

My parents were pretty amazing at getting behind my Everesting challenge and shared it with their friends back in the village in England where I’m from.

People in the village were starting to exercise because of the pandemic. So when their friends went out on their daily bikes rides, they’d say we managed to climb 100 metres today. That’s x amount of what Emma did.

It’s sweet. I’m happy to have inspired and made a difference.