Training for Munda Biddi '18

In October 2018 a small team of wounded and damaged ex-service men and women will travel to Australia and attempt to cycle over 1000km in 13 days unsupported! As part of the preparations for the Munda Biddi trail, twelve cyclists and a support team, recently attended a training package in the Pyrenees. Day One dawned cold and cloudy, and the angry mountains hit them with torrential rain. However, the team made good use of their time with an excellent training session about bike maintenance, an essential skill for anyone venturing alone into the bush on their bikes!

A short break in the weather meant they were able to head for the hills and get a good taste of the tracks. The day ended with them all soaked but in very high spirits. There then followed four more days of cycling the tracks, hills, paths and valleys with a little bit of time set aside to visit the Château de Montségur and enjoy the breath-taking views from the top.

65 Degrees North Patron Jonathan Thomson, who is leading the Munda Biddi '18 endeavour said: "This was tough training during which we must have made hundreds of thousands of small decisions as we pedalled up hill and sped, or edged, down them again suffering very few spills in the process, although there were a few. In amongst the cycling was an excellent seminar on nutrition, an understanding of which is another vital subject for anyone venturing onto endurance events.

In the end we achieved our aim - a thoroughly good training period in temperatures that ranged from 12ºC to 33ºC. It taught us much and exercised us well. It would have been impossible but for the spirit and determination of the cyclists, the excellence of our on-the-ground back-up team and the support of our Sponsors".

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