As she approached middle age, Marcia discovered a love for getting on her bike and riding a long way. In fact, when things got tough cycling regularly saved her sanity.    In 2020 she had her sights on riding the Race around the Netherlands, but Covid put an end to that, at least for that year.    But feeling the fittest she had ever been, and not wanting to waste a winter of hard training she cooked up a domestic adventure instead, and because the first woman to have attempted cycling the 1,725 miles from Lands End to John o’Groats and back!   By completing this long distance challenge, Marcia raise £'000's for her local branch of mental health charity MIND and bagged herself a Guinness World Record!   Learn all about Marcia, her passion for cycling and what she’s learned from taking on this challenge.    New episodes of the Tough Girl Podcast go live every Tuesday at 7am UK time - Hit the subscribe button so you don’t miss out.    The Tough Girl Podcast is sponsorship and ad free thanks to the monthly financial support of patrons.    Support the mission to increase the amount of female role models in the media. Visit www.patreon.com/toughgirlpodcast and subscribe - super quick and easy to do and it makes a massive difference. Thank you.   Show notes Who is Marcia Roberts Working a full time job in IT Discovering her love of riding bikes Encouraging other people to ride their bikes Getting into cycling 10/12 years ago Going through a divorce in 2000 Moving to Hampshire  Looking for a new challenge Having time to herself Entering a charity challenge to ride across Vietnam Avoiding the hills! 9 months to train and get ready Wanting to do a bigger challenge Lessons from Vietnam  Cycling over to the Alps Dealing with “bonking” Wanting to do a challenge in the UK Managing her cycling while working full time Cycling around main coast Britain Breaking down big trips into smaller chunks Loving the simplicity of cycling  Setting up a local women’s riding group The planning and preparation for cycling LEJOG (there and back) Going back to March 2020 Breaking it down into blocks…. 4 hrs, 3hrs, 3.5 hrs Planning on 12 days… Looking for a Guinness World Record Support crew, nutrition and meeting points Dealing with the wet, windy and stormy weather! Behind schedule all the time Being stubborn and setting her mind to the challenge Mental resilience and determination and not stopping Tricks to stay awake Sleeping The bike setup for cycling LEJOG Figuring out nutrition and being able to eat Magical moments Adventure blues and having a foolproof plan to avoid it Dealing with lockdown and feeling very low The Great British Escapades The evidence needed for a Guinness World Record Blogging and sharing content online especially around problems and how she overcame them “Why you can do incredible things, if you just put your mind to it” Final words of advice for middle aged women Find a friend who you can go cycling with Don’t focus on speed or millage - just get on your bike   Social Media   Blog: https://mawonavelo.com/blog/     Instagram: @Mawonavelo    Visit justgiving.com/fundraising/marcia-roberts to donate.