If you were new to bike riding (and maybe you are), what would be the first goal you set yourself? A round trip to the next town, perhaps? Complete your first 25, or even 50-mile ride? Maybe.
For new JOGLEJOG record breaker Dr Sarah Ruggins, it was a case of diving straight into the deepest of deep ends: she entered the 4,000km Transcontinental Race before she had even bought a bike.
"At the time, I didn't know the lore behind it," she says. "I knew nothing about cycling. So I was like, oh, it sounds like a great holiday. I can just ride my bike across the continent, not knowing it was like literally the hardest thing you could do on a bicycle. So I got schooled that summer."
Ruggins, who set a new record of 5days, 11hrs 14min for riding from the top of Britain to the bottom and back again in May, was talking to Cycling Weekly's Going Long podcast.
The feature-length interview – out now wherever you get your podcasts – spans her entire career, from being a teenage middle-distance runner with Olympic ambitions to her metamorphosis into a bike rider via a devastating illness as a young woman – and of course her recent End-to-End-to-End record smash.
Canadian-born British resident Ruggins only took up cycling after she had endured her illness and then built herself back up with a goal of breaking the Land's End to John o' Groats running record – and being forced to abandon it because of further injury.
"I originally got on the bike, if I'm being honest, just out of desperation. I didn't know what I wanted to do or where I wanted to turn."
Of the enormity of the task she eventually realised she had taken on, Ruggins says: "If you set big goals, I'm a big believer that if your goals are big enough, they should frighten you a little bit. And that's not a reason to be discouraged. That's a reason to keep going and let the fear accompany you on that journey."
As well as taking Going Long through the story of her first TCRs (she rode the following year too), Ruggins chatted about her recent record ride – including mindset, nutrition, sleep strategies and of course training, with some useful and surprising revelations and tips on the latter.
Listen to the full conversation, and many more besides, here at Going Long.
