Claire Stevens lives her life in extremes.
In her work as a surgeon in South Australia's regional hospitals, she is in charge of sick, vulnerable — and unconscious — people every day.
"I think it's the best job in the world," she said, taking a short break between removing gall bladders.
"It's just such a privilege to be able to work on the best engine in the world, so to speak.
"Sometimes for short times when you're operating it can be stressful to determine, 'what can we do with this problem?'
"But most of the time it's enjoyable … it's challenging."
Not quite challenging enough, though.
When she is not in the operating theatre, Dr Stevens is preparing for extraordinarily testing, long-distance bike races.
In March this year, she entered the Indian Pacific Wheel Race (IPWR), a 5,500 kilometre journey across Australia, which started in Fremantle and ended in Sydney.
"When I heard about it I absolutely had to make sure I could go," she said.
"For me, it represented the adventure of a lifetime.
"It was a challenge just getting ready for it, it was a challenge having to train for it, and it was a great challenge and adventure actually doing it.
"You see so much more being outside, than if you're driving in a car."
But the 2017 race ended in tragedy.
UK Ultra cyclist Mike Hall was coming second in the IPWR when he was hit by a car and killed on the Monaro Highway just inside the ACT border.
Dr Stevens had reached Portland in Victoria when the event was called off.
The emotional and physical toll of the race had pushed competitors to the brink of exhaustion.
Dr Stevens said there were times when she began to question why she had signed herself up.
"Oh, there were definitely times where I thought, 'what the bloody hell am I doing?'," she said with a laugh.
"Even though there are those times where you go 'this hurts, that hurts, I feel so alone, I'm starving' … you always get yourself out of it.
"[For] every low, there was a high, and there were more highs than there were lows."
Her obsession with extreme cycling does not leave her with much down-time.
But she said one endeavour aided the other.
"For surgery, I think you need to [have] a healthy mind and [be a] healthy, physical person … and for cycling, obviously you need to be as well," she said.
"Looking after yourself is important for both pursuits — they are very much yin and yang."
Dr Stevens said pure passion had fuelled her motivation to keep cycling, despite the demands of a medical career.
"Being on a bike is just the freest and best way to see anything in the outside," she said.
"It's just a feeling of freedom. It's my escape."
