ONE BIRTHDAY | 24 HOURS | 40 MILES | 40 DIFFERENT WAYS | NO MOTORS
This film was created by Mr Ben Arthur, please do give him a follow on Instagram
The average lifespan for a British male sits around the 80 years mark and if the statistics are to be believed, I’ve made it to halfway. All considered, I’m relieved to get this far and although I don’t usually make a big deal of surviving another year around the sun this year was a little bit different.
On October 25th 2019 I turned 40 years old and decided to celebrate by covering 40 miles using a different form of non-motorised transport for each mile.
It’s like a little version of my lifetime goal, Expedition1000.
I spent the day with friends at Bury Lake, at Rickmansworth Aquadrome in North London, and went round and round both the lake and the surrounding cycle path all day long.
You can read more about the day on the blog >>> and if you fancy continuing our support for SayYesMore’s off grid community hub, the YesBus, any donations through this link are more than welcome. We raised almost £3000 on the day and support continues to trickle in, giving more people the opportunity to help their own ideas blossom.
THANKS FOR THE SUPPORT AND RAFFLE PRIZES
READ ABOUT THE DAY IN FULL
THE MILES
Folding Bike
Fixed Gear Bike
Tandem Bicycle
Running
Sbyke
Fat Bike
Shopping Trolley
ICE Trike
Three-legged Race
Recumbent Chopper
Wooden Stilts
ElliptiGO
MicroScooter
Wheelbarrow
Kid’s Go Kart
Swifty Scooter
Hobie Kayak
Kayakat
Schiller Bike
Racing Kayak
Canadian Canoe
SUP
Inflatable Dinghy
Sailing Boat
Inflatable Kayak
RollsRolls Longboard
Mountain Bike
Tandem ICE Trike
Camping Trolley
Handbike
Crutches
Rollerskis
Tall Bike
Heelies
KingCycle
Bike Trailer
Touring Bike
Wheelchair
Stretcher
Walk
Cool stats
27
Solo Self Propelled Miles
5
Shared Self Propelled Miles
8
Miles Where Others Did The Work
Slowest/ Hardest Mile
Wooden Stilts, 1 Hour 1 Minutes
Quickest Mile
Road Bike 5 Minutes 13 Seconds
Easiest Mile
Tandem ICE Trike
HOW?
At first though this might sound easy, right? 40 miles isn't that far, after all.
A mile on a bicycle, on foot or kayaking might be easy. But then consider how many fast ways there are there to cover a mile, and then what happens when these run out? Swimming? Crawling? Roller blades? Skydiving? A wheelbarrow?!!
Although I just needed to dip into the darker hours to complete this challenge, the original aim was to average around 15 minutes per mile in order to complete the madness between 8am and 6pm, meaning 10 hours of daylight.
WHY?
Life’s an experiment! Compared to some of the other stuff I ended up doing this is relatively sane. Somehow my life has ended up overrun by those zany ideas that we usually have in the pub and then discard the next day. So this is just one more idea cooked up over a coffee (beer) that I decided not to forget.
In addition to satisfying my own crazy, I hoped to make a nice film about the day and thankfully the masterful Ben Arthur came up with the goods. I didn’t train much (at all) and once halfway approached it was a bit of mind over matter (and the elements, which weren’t kind especially during the watery legs
Hopefully this little challenge will offer encouragement and motivation for everyone out there to cook up a unique adventure of their own, if not to simply celebrate each birthday rather than worry about another digit on your age.