On Tuesday night we went to hear Mark Beaumont talking about his two epic solo cycling adventures, round the world in 194 days and then from Alaska to the bottom of Argentina climbing Denali (Mt McKinlay) and Aconcagua on the way. His achievements are simply astonishing.
What struck me about Mark’s story was that he decided to do them and just got on with it. As he admitted on Tuesday “I’ve never even climbed Ben Nevis!” so why climb the highest peaks in North and South America in one season… and cycle in between? Because no one had done it before. Why cycle round the world in a record time? Because the record wasn’t competitive enough.
The will power to cycle thousands of miles is simply astonishing. But Mark explained that he’d never have got anywhere in either journey if he’d been focusing on the end of the expedition. Small, achievable goals were how he got through.
He also admitted that arriving wasn’t nearly as exciting as he thought it would be…
I wonder how often we are discouraged because our ultimate goal is so far away? I think Mark’s strategy of only looking at the road in front of you and working out how to negotiate that part might have a lot to teach us all about how we can all do the impossible.
Mark will announce his next adventure soon. You can follow him on twitter. He is @MrMarkBeaumont and he is amazing.