Borrowed Bikes to Ironman - Hills, Second Chapters and Refusing to Wait with Donna McConnell

 Donna McConnell came to cycling late. To triathlon late. To the version of herself that would complete an Ironman, late. And she'll be the first to tell you that none of that was a disadvantage. 

She found her tribe in her 50s. Completed an Ironman. Ran the London Marathon. And came back from all of it not just fitter,but fundamentally different. Bolder. Clearer. Less willing to accept the ceiling she'd quietly been living under.

At 57 she's still racing, still building, and completely uninterested in the idea that this is the age you start winding down.

In this conversation Donna talks about the mental game behind endurance sport, what 500 miles through the Scottish Highlands does to your relationship with fear, and why perimenopause and peak performance aren't the opposites the fitness world would have you believe.

In this episode you'll discover:

• Why visualising enjoying a race, not just finishing it changes everything about how you show up
• What 500 miles through the Scottish Highlands taught her about fear that years of training couldn't
• How completing an Ironman changed what she thought she deserved in sport and in life
• Why perimenopause and peak athletic performance aren't opposites and why the timing of her Ironman mattered more than she expected
• What women over 40 are doing in elite endurance sport that nobody's talking about enough

This is a conversation for anyone who has ever wondered whether they've left it too late, set the ceiling too low, or talked themselves out of something before they even started.

Connect with Donna: @the_ironempress

Follow us on Instagram: @unshrinkablemidlifemoves 

The Grit and Grace Games — 12th September 2026, Crystal Palace National SPorts Centre, London. www.gritandgracegames.com

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Hi Donna, it's great to see you today. How are you? Oh, good, thank you. Thanks for having me on. Anytime, I wanted to speak to you today to share your experience and your journey around cycling in triathlon. So before we get started, tell us a bit about yourself.

SPEAKER_00 0:16

My name is Donna McConnell. I've grew up in West London. I'm 57 years old. For most of my career, I've been a journalist and editor. I've worked in national newspapers, websites, and I've been doing digital editing for the last few years. I completed an Iron Man race in 2021. And I started that quite late. I did my first triathlon 11 years ago now, when I was 46. But some of us always kept fit and always enjoyed fitness, especially after having my daughter. I had my daughter when I was 24 and had some baby weight, and so I started really working out and found that I actually enjoyed it and I just loved moving and the peace that it gave me mentally. So I just kept doing it on and off, always finding different ways to stay active, maybe doing a bit of running. But I always liked cycling. I started cycling as a kid. I didn't have a bike until I was 18. A bike of my own. I got an old one from my gran. But we lived in a flat on an estate in West London. So there wasn't really much room to have a bike. I always loved it and I played with my friends and they let me use their bikes. And then I got this bike when I was 18. And anytime I had a bike stolen, wherever I went, I would just replace the bike. But I didn't know anybody that rode bike. I saw on the internet when I was at uni that there was this sport called Trathlon, and I always thought to myself, oh, I'd like to try that one day. That one's kind of cool. Not knowing that nobody thinks Trathlon is cool. Well, especially cyclists. But you know, we don't worry about what other people think is cool. You know, if you want to do something, we just do it. So finally, when I got to my 40s, after I had done this obstacle course event, that one of my friends got a few of us together to train for this race called Tough Mother. So I did that, and then I did a couple more Spartan branded events, and you do all these different obstacles run through mud and all that kind of stuff. So I did a few of those, and then I just thought, mm, actually, I want to try a triathlon. Oh, I want to go back to triathlon because I'd done one before. So I went back to do another sprint distance triathlon, which is like the entry distance. It's a 750 meter swim in Oak and Water, and then I think it was a 20 kilometer bike ride and then a 5k run. Did that, really enjoyed it. And then I think the same year, I had watched these women on Instagram train for an Iron Man race. Their group called 10 Iron Women, and they were just a group of friends who used to run together who decided to take on this challenge and then realized that very few women do it. So I watched them doing their training on Instagram, and I felt really inspired. And then when they decided to open up their community, I just went for it. I think that was the year that I turned 50. I signed up and I said, okay, I'm gonna try and do this thing. And the realization comes that there isn't time to put things off anymore. It's do-or-die time, you know, pun intended. And you know, I was I was quite active anyway, still, I was going to the gym regularly, I was running and whatnot. So I just started doing the training. And then the pandemic hit. So the race got put off for another year, but I just kept up the training. I started to come into contact with cycling clubs. And at that point of the pandemic, more black people starting to cycle because people were looking for an outlet. But there were a couple of black cycling clubs that had been around for a while anyway. So I rode with some of them and I learned some group riding skill. I got introduced to the culture of cycling, as in the whole lifestyle that's around cycling, where you meet up, you go and do a group ride side of London, you stop for coffee and lunch and come back. And when I found out, I was like, oh my God, I've literally been looking for this my whole life. I'd never known anybody that cycled in that way before.

SPEAKER_01 4:19

Had you cycled solo up until that point mainly?

SPEAKER_00 4:22

Yeah, pretty much. Just in London, just for fitness. I'd just go to Hyde Park, or cycle to go and see my dad in Halston. I live in South London. So to me, those were long rides. South London to Harleston, and my dad would be like, You ride that bike all the way here. Like, yeah, feeling accomplished. But I'd never ridden out of London until I was in my 50s. And my first ride outside of London was to Brighton, which is not a tough ride, but it has one big hill, and that was very difficult. So for a new cyclist, as in someone's not experienced doing those kind of rides, it was a massive challenge. And they were tears, I couldn't make it up the hill. I was walking. This hill is, I think it's a kilometre or 1.5 kilometers. So I pretty much walked the whole climb because I was scared, I was clipped in, and there was traffic. But yeah, I just didn't have the experience to deal with it at that point. But even after that ride, once I got to Brighton, had my fish and chips, I was sold. I was like, yeah, this is it. I need to get better at this.

SPEAKER_01 5:23

So your first ride to Brighton, were you training for it, or it was just like, let me have a go?

SPEAKER_00 5:28

No, it was just a group of us, the women that were training for Iron Man. We were doing a training ride. So this was one of my training rides, but it was also my first ride outside of London. You know, so the the women that took us, I mean, God love them. They believed in us, but they believed that we could do it. So it made you start to believe that you could do it as well. It was kind of punchy for a first ride. I probably wouldn't take newbies on that ride, but still, it was a taste of what was to come and it builds your endurance, but it was a really good experience, apart from the fact that I couldn't get up the hill. It's one of those moments that makes you or breaks you because for me it was like, okay, well, I couldn't do it, but I want to do it. You know, I want to learn how to do this, and I have learned how to do it.

SPEAKER_01 6:17

So, how is that? How have you learned over the time? What have you done? Have you done it on your own? Have you stayed in the group?

SPEAKER_00 6:23

I just maybe the groups, and I just, you know, you just have to push yourself to ride more hill. Some of the groups I was in, people will give you instruction on how to manage climbing along hill, how to pace yourself, how to use your gears effectively. You know, you pick up the knowledge the more you do it. And part of it is fitness and part of it is technique. And over time you learn to marry both of them. And yeah, it's not about age, it's really about the will that you have and the patience that you have to learn. Some people will get it straight away. Some people might need two or three goes. I think it took me three attempts to get up that hill non-stop. I wrote what period? Probably over two years, only because it's not a ride that you do that often or that I did that often. So I probably only attempted it once a year at that point. Eventually, you get there. I think the turning point for me was that I went and did a ride in Scotland with the same group of women, and we rode 500 miles around Inverness. It's this route called the NC 500, and so you take one direction around Inverness and come back to start point. And we did it bikepacking, so we had our gear in bags on the bike. So that's extra weight you're starting out with. And obviously, Scotland is super hilly. I went on that trip probably 2020, maybe 2023, I think it was. And I knew that I would struggle, but at the same time, I just saw the worst that can happen, but I might walk a few hills. And it was super, super hilly. There'd be like 15 hills a day. A lot of them were two kilometers in length. But by the time I came back from that trip, I knew I could climb any hill. It might take me a bit of time, but I knew I could do it. So when I then went to Brighton and was climbing this hill again, Ditch Link, it just wasn't a problem anymore. And I didn't fear it because sometimes when you're cycling and you know that there's a big climb coming up, you get anxious. You'll get super anxious because you're really worried about going up this climb. Like I used to get like that before I went up this climb. And that can negatively affect your performance because you're starting to tense up and the fear is getting too a bit, so you're not necessarily feeling that relaxed when you're going up. So by the time I'd done this ride around Scotland, it cured a lot of that.

SPEAKER_01 8:53

Yeah, everything is relative, isn't it? You're saying once you've done the harder thing, you look back and you're like, that really not I was over exaggerating because you don't know until you know, but it was not that bad.

SPEAKER_00 9:04

It was not that bad. And I think sometimes as women, we'll be more realistic about what we can do. It's like, oh well, I'm not ready for that yet, so we'll just do this. And my thing is no, go for the big thing because it will make the smaller things easier. Especially since having done the Iron Man, whenever I meet women and I meet young women, I really encourage them to do it. I think everybody should do it, or just do a super hard challenge because it really shows you that you're limitless. Because a lot of us would look at that challenge and think, I couldn't do that. An Iron Man is a 3.8 kilometer swim, a 112-mile bike ride, and then a marathon at the end of it. If you had said to me when I was 24 that I could do that, I probably would have said no, no, I'm not a good runner or I'm not a great swimmer. But we all have the potential to do that.

SPEAKER_01 10:01

Yeah. I think hearing you speak now, I am also thinking that is like a massive step up from what I do at the moment. And I've been swimming on and off for coming up a year now, and that was a big thing. But even to get my head around that swimming distance, I'm just like, okay. You could do it. Yeah. Practice, practice. So, what made you decide to do the Iron Man? And how long did it take you to prepare for it? Was it a conversation? Was it seeing the other ladies that you'd been following do something similar? Or was it just actually, I've got maybe a big milestone, I'm going to do it?

SPEAKER_00 10:35

I think it was all of that. It was seeing the women do it, and then being at this point of turning 50 and just feeling that I needed to shake my life up a little bit. I knew that there was a new chapter coming for me, but I didn't know what it was. And I'm the type of person that, well, if I don't know what I'm gonna do, I'm still gonna do something in the meantime to just keep moving. But just I just felt like there was something else that I needed to be doing at that point in my life. And I really feel like this whole fitness lifestyle was it for me. Seeing 10 iron women do it definitely inspired me to do it. And then I just think turning 50 just made me know that I should do it now.

SPEAKER_01 11:19

It's so interesting you say that because I'm gonna be 48 in a couple of months, and there is definitely that it's like the reverse biological ticking cock, isn't it? It's like, oh god, there's something coming, what's it gonna be? And honestly, this started for me maybe three years ago before I found High ROX. I know I need to do something different, but I don't know what it is. And I'm so grateful I found High Rocks because I was kind of just drifting for a long time. But now that it is movement-based, it's revolutionary, and I feel like a whole different world has been created off of that. But for me, what's really important and part of why I do this podcast, and you touched on it earlier, is having other people have the belief in you transforms what you think you're capable of. And I think it's really underestimated, especially at this time of life.

SPEAKER_00 12:03

Ultimately, you do have to do the work yourself. But when you have people there that are encouraging you, that are saying you can do this, you're strong, they give you that initial positive reinforcement. I'm not saying I couldn't have done it, but that helped me in the beginning because there were people there that believed in me before I believed in myself. You have to grow the belief in yourself. You may not have it, it doesn't mean you're not capable, but it's just like anything. It's like preparing to lift a heavy weight. You have to start small and build it. And that's the same with confidence as well. You have to grow your confidence. So while I was training for Iron Man, yes, I was doing all the physical stuff, but I was also mentally training myself to be stronger by listening to podcasts, listening to affirmations, by meditating, by just constantly reinforcing positive thoughts and pushing away negative thoughts. And I think it really does contribute to you transforming yourself into the person that can go and complete an Ironman.

SPEAKER_01 13:17

Yeah. And you talk about mindset because that is something I think is underrated or not discussed as much because there's so much emphasis on the physical side of things, but the mental side is what enables us to do it. So do you do any visualization?

SPEAKER_00 13:32

Yeah, I think you have to really, you know, you have to do visualization. I visualize myself feeling good on the day, really enjoying the day, because the training is one thing, it's tough, it's grueling, it's generally long for an Iron Man race, it's like six months. And the good thing about Triathlon is that they do emphasize the mindset side of it and they call resilience the fourth discipline. So triathlete know how essential it is to be resilient on the day because it's a long day out. I mean, it took 15 hours for me to complete that event. And prior to the race, you know that the day is really the celebration of all the work that you've done. The race is the moment that you get to enjoy all the work that you've put in. So you never want to visualize yourself suffering. You want to visualize yourself having a good time, or the nutrition's going down well, you know, you're smiling and just enjoying the moment.

SPEAKER_01 14:31

Yeah, I think people who are not in that world and possibly doing other sports, that's not something that would even occur to them. I know for myself in high rocks and speaking to other people who are starting on experience, mindset is important, but not necessarily the celebratory side of it. We kind of look at the finish line at that point that you will celebrate. And I think that's really powerful.

SPEAKER_00 14:51

I like to just really try to enjoy the whole race. I did London Marathon last year, and when I started my training, I had a bit of a sore knee. So I knew I wasn't going for fast time or anything. I've never really been one to set running PBs because I've always seen myself as a slow runner. So for me, it was all about just enjoying the day and just getting through it. I guess some people are more competitive, some people place a lot more value on times and compete. And to be honest, because I'm somebody who has come to it a bit later, but also I just want to enjoy it. I don't put that pressure on myself. Yeah, and everyone's free to set their own personal goals. But for me, I just want to finish. I think it's an achievement finishing it. When I did Iron Man Barcelona, it was very warm. It was about 26, 27, it's by the beach and everything. It doesn't sound warm, but that's warm when you're racing. On the run caution, you see people passed out inside. They've got metallic blankets around them. People are throwing up. It's rough. Finishing is just not a given. Doesn't matter how old you are, how fit you are, how much visible muscle you can see. It's just not a given. Like everybody that passes that finishing line, sometimes it's just luck.

SPEAKER_01 16:09

Yeah, definitely. And do you know what? I saw what was that race? The two 250 where that lady won't be.

SPEAKER_00 16:15

Yeah, the core walkerin. Yeah, the trail race. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:19

Yeah. Yeah. And that in itself, I'm not aware of those kind of races because that's not my world. But when I saw that pop up on my feed, I had to take a moment and really dive into it. And her achievement was just amazing. It just blew my mind. And what she achieved was just phenomenal.

SPEAKER_00 16:38

Yeah, the Unreal. She beat like the whole field. She was the first runner to finish, beat the male finisher by I think an hour. And a new course record, smashed the course record, actually. And I think for years, women have been told, oh, you're not as strong as men, and men are naturally faster due to genetics. But I saw a post actually yesterday that said the issue wasn't just about genetics, it's always been about access. And women have been denied access to a lot of sports because of lack of investment or lack of organization for women. A lot of the sports have been organized around men, and it's only been of late that women have really pushed the needle to enter those spaces. And now you can see that women are winning it. Exactly. She's what's her is there have been a few women that have been running these ultras that have been winning.

SPEAKER_01 17:34

Yeah. And also you've got the story, was it last year of the year before with the lady who took time out to breastfeed?

SPEAKER_00 17:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:40

And still did really well.

SPEAKER_00 17:42

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:43

All of the above. And this is the thing, I feel like we're in a time now where we are a force to be reckoned with. And that's why for me the age thing is really important. It's not necessarily just the young women who are trailblazing. There is still time and space for us to do that, no matter how late we start.

SPEAKER_00 17:59

I think you know what I've seen in triathlon that a lot of female triathletes go on for years and they're super strong. I think in triathlon, a woman in her 50s is not even really considered old. They are strong. For T100, I think it was last year. I looked at the finishers, and in the top 20 finishers or the top 10 finishers, I think half of them were over 40.

SPEAKER_01 18:23

Really?

SPEAKER_00 18:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:24

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 18:25

Yeah. And I think the first finisher was a woman in her 40s. Older women, do you want to call them older? They're strong. They're strong. Because you can accumulate that kind of strength and that fitness over time. Like with cycling, you get these older men and women, and they're super strong because they have been cycling for a long time. So they have a level of muscle memory that they've accumulated. Being older is just not a reason not to move your body. It's more of a reason to move your body. And I think for me, I'm somebody that's always been active. But in my early 40s, I made a commitment to be more active because I saw my dad really struggling with his mobility, his lack of mobility, and he passed when he was late 70s. But he struggled because he lost his mobility early. He had a stroke in his 50s, and then he was knocked over and lost more mobility then. So it's unlucky, but he never did any exercise anyway. I mean, he wasn't super unhealthy or anything, but he came from a generation that didn't really prioritize that. My mum did a bit of fitness, but didn't maintain it. And now she's in her mid to late 70s, got a couple of health issues that have affected her strength. She's in Jamaica at the moment. When she comes back, I'm gonna really try and sort of take her in hand a bit and get her lifting weights like all these other women I'm seeing on Instagram. I'm gonna show her what age mates are doing. Exactly. But yeah, so I've always stayed active. It's not like I'm saying yes, pick up at age 50 after having doing nothing and do a full Iron Man. I'm not saying that, but it is possible that like anything, you have to start small and you have to be humble and you have to understand what it is to just start from the beginning and not be embarrassed to start from the beginning. I think people see somebody like me out there, I'll ride 100 kilometres at the weekend, or I just went to Nice, I did 600 kilometers in five days, and think, oh, you know, that's beyond me. But it's not if you start small and build up.

SPEAKER_01 20:36

Yeah. Breaking it down. Yeah, what does your training look like?

SPEAKER_00 20:40

My training on a good week looks like three rides. There'll be two short ones early in the morning, just maybe like 90 minutes at Regents Park, just some easy laps there. And then on a Sunday, it will be like a 100-kilometre ride, which is maybe like 60 miles. Maybe I'll do a bit on Saturday as well if I've got a trip coming up. I also go to the gym to do strength training at least three times a week. And I try to run twice a week, but it inevitably ends up just being one run. But I try to do one 5k and one 10k. I don't have a triathlon booked at the moment, but I try to do these things to just keep it all ticking over. But the strength training is just part of regular life training and also it helps me stay strong on the bike and strong for running. So I need to add some swimming in because I'm doing swim serpentine in June again. That's a two-mile swim. And I'm gonna get a bit stronger on the swimming as it is.

SPEAKER_01 21:41

I love how you say that. I'm just gonna add swimming in. I'm listening to you and I'm just wondering where do you get the time to do all of that? And that's also because I have to say, triathlon is something I've been thinking about, which is partly why I started swimming, but I needed to swim anyway. I'm struggling and have had a challenge around getting all of the training in and maintain my height. Rocks training.

SPEAKER_00 22:01

I think if you're doing high rocks and triathlon together, you'll get a lot of residual fitness anyway. Running's not an issue for you. Obviously, you need time in the pool, but if you're doing an event where it's an open water swim, you need to get into open water. You need to do that once a week at least, minimum. Just because open water has such a different feel. It's powerful, it's a lot heavier than a pool session. And I found that to my detriment, not done enough open water swimming and then struggled in my races. With triathlon, bike handling skills are important. You can do the event with not a lot of sighting experience as long as you take it easy. But if you go to the event and then try to smash it and overcook it, then you could put yourself in danger. So it's important to get time on the bike, but it's not necessarily as much time as you think. And if you're somebody that trains maybe two hours a day, you won't find it a problem. How much do you train higher a day?

SPEAKER_01 23:02

So it would five days a week and it varies. So for the runs, it could be anything from 45 minutes to nine. For the gym sessions, an hour, an hour and 20 on a stretch day. And then the track sessions will be an hour, an hour and 15, depending on how rough it is and how rough I'm feeling.

SPEAKER_00 23:19

Yeah. So it's quite similar, but if it's a full distance Iron Man, obviously you're going to do a bit more, but it will generally be one session in the morning, it could be 45 minutes and one session in the evening. So one session before work and one session after work. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 23:34

That makes sense. So that was something I was doing. I was training twice on a Monday, doing a class on a Monday morning and then going to the track. I can't remember why, but I stopped doing the morning classes. And I actually felt that my subsequent training sessions on the Tuesday and Wednesday were best. So I've stopped that double training. So how do you manage that energy-wise? Does it impact or you're just used to it now?

SPEAKER_00 23:54

You get used to it. I mean, I'm not really doing double days now. And I've definitely in the last year or so I found my recovery's not been as good. But you do get used to it and you build up the time as well. When you first start the training session, it might only be 30 minutes and so 30 minutes in the morning, then maybe 45 minutes in the evening, and it'd be zone two. So it's not like a massive effort, just an easier effort. So you get used to it. I'm on the bike sometimes for like six hours. So doing two one-hour sessions is not going to be that punishing for me. But for someone else, it will build up gradually. And if you take a look at a triathlon training plan, you'll see that you don't start out doing three-hour sessions, you start out doing half an hour and then 45 minutes. So it's doable.

SPEAKER_01 24:42

Yeah. So what I'm really intrigued by is you clearly have a love of cycling. What is it about cycling over the other elements of the triathlon? Just better, isn't it? The bikes. These lovely bikes in the background, very colourful. I like the blue and the verbal.

SPEAKER_00 24:57

It's my special baby.

SPEAKER_01 24:59

So hang on. So you have two bikes or you have more than two bikes?

SPEAKER_00 25:02

I have two bikes, but I've also loaned a third bike, which is the gravel bike that I did this event on last weekend because I wanted to try some gravel riding. And that is also just super fun. It's just the feeling you get when you're riding, it's just unmatched. Like when I'm swimming and I do get into the flow of it, it's really nice. But cycling is just amazing. Just such a great feeling. And you can cycle out, you go and get coffee, you see parts of the country that you don't normally get to see. On a sunny day, there's just nothing better that you can do than go and ride to Box Hill, climb up a hill, get some coffee, and then ride back. Have some good chat on the bike with your friends and have a laugh. It's just super fun.

SPEAKER_01 25:48

Okay, I'm almost sort of neat.

SPEAKER_00 25:51

It's just super fun, but I've just always liking.

SPEAKER_01 25:54

So you mentioned a gravel bike. What different types of bikes are there for people like me who have no idea about cycling and what that entails?

SPEAKER_00 26:02

Okay, so there's a hybrid bike. So a hybrid is like a straight handlebar, what people normally assume is a bike. So you want to ride to work, people might get that. And it has thinner wheel, so it's not so slow on the roads. That's what most people see as a normal bike. Then you've got the road bike, which has the drop handlebars, which is one of these.

SPEAKER_01 26:23

Is that the cow do you mean?

SPEAKER_00 26:25

Yeah, the drop handlebars, the racing bikes, which people ride in Tour de France, which people most commonly associate with athletes. And that's what I ride. I got my first road bike probably about 15 years ago. I actually got my first road bike because I saw Jennifer Lopez in a video. She did like this flash dance parody, and she had this drop-handled bike. And I thought, oh, that looks really cool. I'm gonna get one of those. And that's the reason I bought a road bike. I was also studying for my postgraduate then. So I needed to ride to Islington anyway. The tube fares had gone up, and I was like, I can't really afford this. So I got the bike so that I could commute. And that's how I got a road bike. And then when I got my first job, I got a newer version of a road bike, and I've ridden road bikes since then, but just commuting or on my own. Now, a gravel bike, it has the same drop handlebars, but the wheels are bigger and the tires are bigger, and it's for off-road. So, although, yes, you'll ride it on the road to an off-road route so that you can be inside nature, you'll be on maybe on narrow tracks, you'll be on grass, you might be on mud, but it's off-road where no cars are. That's what it's designed to go. And it's become really popular over the last decade or so, probably in their massive races. And I was attracted to it for the ability to go off-road, especially during winter when the conditions aren't as good, even though it can get quite muddy, but it just means you can feel a bit safer being off-road and being away from cars.

SPEAKER_01 28:04

Okay, I get a clearer sense of understanding now. So, just before we kind of move on, because it's one more question I want to ask you, what's the equipment that would be really for a beginner cyclist? Because when you drive past the cyclist, they've got all the gear. But what's what's basic gear to get?

SPEAKER_00 28:20

Well, you need a bike that works, and it doesn't need to be an expensive bike because you want to know if you enjoy it or not. So I wouldn't advise anybody to go and buy an expensive bike. I think you want a decent entry-level bike. Some people get the Trivan bike from Decathlon. It's a few hundred pounds. It's enough. The one I bought Jane O'Bike was like 100 quid. Um, then the one I bought after that was a few hundred quid. But you can buy secondhand and just get that. Then you need lights and you need a helmet, is what you need.

SPEAKER_01 28:55

Going back to the bike, does it need to have any specific number of gears?

SPEAKER_00 28:59

No, it doesn't. It depends. If you want to join group rides, it doesn't matter. Just turn up with what you have, and then as you progress, you'll decide whether you like it enough that you want to start investing in it. I'm somebody that's ridden my whole life, and I only bought an expensive bike in my 50s, what people consider a really expensive bike. But I could have continued on one of the bikes that I had before that. Up until that point, I had a bike that I'd spent 1400 pounds on, and I could have continued riding on that. It was perfectly fine. But you just need a bike, a helmet, and you need lights, and that's it.

SPEAKER_01 29:36

Okay. So no fancy padded shorts or anything. You need padded shorts.

SPEAKER_00 29:40

Yes. You need padded shorts and then maybe just like a sweat wicking top. But you don't have to buy expensive padded shorts. I mean, you can get some that are pretty just entry-level cheap. Because you're not going to necessarily be going super far, are you? Initially, you're going to be doing shorter rides. And then once you decide, well, I want to go a bit further, then you can get some padded shorts that are designed for longer distances.

SPEAKER_01 30:05

Yeah. Okay. Brilliant. Thank you. So going back to what you were saying about confidence and feeling like you can do more because you're building up and doing things that you hadn't done before. And actually the ability to celebrate ourselves and own the achievement, the growth in confidence.

SPEAKER_00 30:23

Yeah, I just think that when a lot of us feel like we know what we're capable of, but you don't know. You don't know until you've set yourself a challenge that you never thought that you could do, or you don't know if you can do it. And then you start working towards it. And I feel definitely doing something as big as the Iron Man. Once I completed it, it really did show me who I was as a person, the fact that I could work towards doing something like that, that I could stay consistent enough to be there at the start line and complete the race is something that still a very low percentage of women do, let alone black women. So yeah, it definitely gave me a boost at a time where I think typically people start to feel maybe a bit less than because they're aging, they might be going through menopause. You know, I was in perimenopause at that time. And yeah, it just gave me such a boost at a time when I was looking basically at getting older.

SPEAKER_01 31:35

So was there anything you took from that experience and that newfound confidence that you wouldn't have done or thought of?

SPEAKER_00 31:42

No, it just definitely made me feel like, oh, I can aim higher in all areas of my life. I don't need to just consider what I think I can do. I can actually go beyond that. Just like in that typical way where they say if a man's applying for a job, he will overestimate his abilities. Like women tend to underestimate their abilities. So I just basically started reaching for things that maybe I wasn't fully qualified and necessarily ready for, but just like certain jobs, like I wanted to work in tech, so started applying for those kind of jobs and asking for more money, just asking for more, just being more direct, just wanting more out of life and trying to get it. And even the fact that I do content at my age is quite unusual. There aren't many content creators in fitness in general who are over 50, but in the cycling world, no. Your content inspires me. Oh, thank you. Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 32:40

So as we start wrapping up, I want to ask you the last question. What does movement mean to you?

SPEAKER_00 32:47

Movement means like breathing to me. It's just such an ingrained part of my life. Like if a day passes and I don't move my body, like I notice it. I notice it mentally, I notice it physically. Like I feel like I haven't done what I need to do for the day. That doesn't mean that I feel like I need to smash myself every day. I don't, but even just to go for a walk, I need to do that daily. And just movement just means everything to me. It's just such an important part of my life. And I really enjoy it. And I enjoy trying different things. And I enjoy encouraging other people to do it as well, just because I feel it just adds so much to your life. And in terms of enjoyment, but also just aging well and just being able to do the things you want to do as you get older. I mean, I'm 57 now, three years from 60. And mentally, you definitely just don't feel old. So I don't want my body to be older than how I feel. So that's why I move. I just want to keep feeling vibrant and feeling good about myself.

SPEAKER_01 33:56

I love that. Thank you. So you just said something, and I'm gonna I have to ask before we wrap up, what have you set for yourself? Is there something on the horizon when you say there are things that you still want to try?

SPEAKER_00 34:06

So I want to do Iron Man's more regularly. I want to do those middle distance travel ones a bit more regularly. The women in my age category, they they're smashing out a couple a year. So I want to be able to do that a bit more regularly. I want to do some longer rides as well, some multi-day trips. I'm really enjoying the gravel riding. I haven't done much, but I'm really enjoying that. So I wouldn't mind taking on some bikepacking, adventures. Still lots to do.

SPEAKER_01 34:33

Yeah, definitely. I agree. Well, thank you, Donna, so much for your time and sharing all your wisdom and expertise. I really appreciate it.

SPEAKER_00 34:40

Thank you. I mean, I just hope that people get something from it. And, you know, women of my age group just know that they can do what they want to do, you know, and they should go for it. Don't limit yourself. Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 34:55

You're welcome. Thank you.