What’s next?

Before I’d even been to Everest I was asked a few times, ‘What will you do next Squash?’ Honestly, I didn’t have a clue; I was fairly busy thinking about Everest and organising the expedition.

Then when I got back ‘What will you do next?’ has without doubt been one of the most frequently asked questions.

I deliberately planned nothing for when I got back; I was looking forward to eating, sleeping and basking in the delights of being alive. Visiting friends and family was high on the list of priorities, as was having a really lovely time and as much of a laugh as possible. I’ve pretty much accomplished that now! …and as I’ve discovered with myself many times before, when I think I don’t have a plan, lurking around in the back of my brain somewhere is usually something that I want to do or think is a good idea. So when I got, back truth be told, I was thinking about what’s next…

When you go away on an expedition like the one I’ve just been on, instead of coming back all muscles and fit as a fiddle you tend to have lost a lot of weight (mostly muscle) and your body is fairly wasted. The trap you can then fall into is returning home, resting loads, doing no exercise (because you’ve just done more than your fair share) and you also continue to eat the 9000 calories a day you were chasing on the trip. The result – hello fatty!

So in order to combat this I have now learnt that instead of coming home from an expedition and pilling on the pounds, it is actually better to come home, gently start training, build up the muscle you have lost and eat sensibly… The latter being the one I find the most difficult.

It’s kind of expected that ‘what’s next’ will be bigger and better than before. This was always going to be a tough expedition to follow on from in that respect. And as much as I would really like to go to the moon and float off that it’s not looking that easy to organise…

So what is next??

The big bike ride!

Lands end to John O Groats (on a push bike, not a motorbike!)

I’m joining three other friends, all boys with very strong legs! I’m the only girl; however that’s good because that automatically puts me to the top of the list for a shower every day.

For some time I’ve been keen to do some road biking and I’ve also been keen to do something closer to sea level. I wanted a trip that would be a little safer, that would take less time to complete and cost less. This ticks all the boxes with the added bonus of getting fit again and being able to eat loads because I’ll be rapidly burning calories once more.

It’s funny I was also thinking, well after climbing Everest this will be easy. WRONG. I’ve been out training and 25miles is a good distance and feels ok, 40miles I start thinking, yep, tired legs… I’m yet to do a 60mile ride! Our plan is to do around 100 miles each day and complete the journey in about 10 days, so I’ve got a fair bit of work to do.

We’ll be starting our journey on the 17th September.