Emily Chappell - Bicycle courier who took on the world & being the female winner of the Transcontinental 2016 Race!

Emily shares more of her remarkable story of how she first entered the world of cycling and how it changed her, how she grew to love it and how it took her on adventures all over the world.

Emily is a master story teller, and during this podcast we get to go with her, to experience the highlights and learn from her mistakes along the way. This is a very open and revealing interview, Emily talks about depression, dealing with failure and why she’s so passionate about encouraging more women to enter the world of cycling. 

Shownotes

• Emily introduces herself and shares a little more about who she is
• Why she ends up talking about danger a lot!
• Why she found cycling in London empowering
• Becoming a cycle courier and what it was like
• Learning on the job and why she wanted to do a winter on the bike so she could call herself a proper ‘cycle courier’
• Deciding she wanted to do a bigger cycling challenge & being inspired by Alastair Humphreys 
• Realising she could take on a bigger trip and having the courage to do so 
• What she learnt most while planning her round the world trip and why next time she wouldn’t plan as much
• Remembering the day she set off and what she was feeling
• The highlights!
• Surviving the Turkish winter and why she remembers it as one of the best times of her life!
• Why she’s still trying to work out what drives her and motivates her
• How she knew it was right to finish the cycle and head home at the end of Asia and not continue
• Dealing with the adventure blues and being clinically depressed for a year
• Postponing the rest of her cycle until 2015 and why it was hard to give up on the dream but why she knows it was the best thing for her
• Going back to being a cycle courier and why it helped her recovery
• In 2014 - Turning her blog into a book! 
• Setting off from Anchorage on the 2nd January 2015
• Dealing with fear while heading off into the great unknown
• The magical encounters that happened on the way
• Camping at -40!
• Dealing with the loneliness & isolation
• What she’s learnt about herself while on these trips
• What the Transcontinental Race across Europe is and why she wanted to cycle it
• Becoming obsessed with sleep - but not allowing herself to sleep…dealing with chest pains and ending up in hospital
• Winning the women category in the Transcontinental Race 2016!!
• What can we do to encourage more women to enter long distance cycling races?
• The Adventure Syndicate - What its aims our and why it was started
• Emily’s next challenge!

Visit Emily’s website!

Say hi to Emily on twitter! @emilychappell