ONE BIRTHDAY | 24 HOURS | 40 MILES | 40 DIFFERENT WAYS | NO MOTORS 

This film was created by Mr Ben Arthur, please do give him a follow on Instagram

The average lifespan for a British male sits around the 80 years mark and if the statistics are to be believed, I’ve made it to halfway. All considered, I’m relieved to get this far and although I don’t usually make a big deal of surviving another year around the sun this year was a little bit different.

On October 25th 2019 I turned 40 years old and decided to celebrate by covering 40 miles using a different form of non-motorised transport for each mile.

It’s like a little version of my lifetime goal, Expedition1000.

I spent the day with friends at Bury Lake, at Rickmansworth Aquadrome in North London, and went round and round both the lake and the surrounding cycle path all day long.

You can read more about the day on the blog >>> and if you fancy continuing our support for SayYesMore’s off grid community hub, the YesBus, any donations through this link are more than welcome. We raised almost £3000 on the day and support continues to trickle in, giving more people the opportunity to help their own ideas blossom.

THANKS FOR THE SUPPORT AND RAFFLE PRIZES

 

READ ABOUT THE DAY IN FULL

Featured
A 40 Mile Birthday
A 40 Mile Birthday
Read More →

THE MILES

  1. Folding Bike

  2. Fixed Gear Bike

  3. Tandem Bicycle

  4. Running

  5. Sbyke

  6. Fat Bike

  7. Shopping Trolley

  8. ICE Trike

  9. Three-legged Race

  10. Recumbent Chopper

  11. Wooden Stilts

  12. ElliptiGO

  13. MicroScooter

  14. Wheelbarrow

  15. Kid’s Go Kart

  16. Swifty Scooter

  17. Hobie Kayak

  18. Kayakat

  19. Schiller Bike

  20. Racing Kayak

  21. Canadian Canoe

  22. SUP

  23. Inflatable Dinghy

  24. Sailing Boat

  25. Inflatable Kayak

  26. RollsRolls Longboard

  27. Mountain Bike

  28. Tandem ICE Trike

  29. Camping Trolley

  30. Handbike

  31. Crutches

  32. Rollerskis

  33. Tall Bike

  34. Heelies

  35. KingCycle

  36. Bike Trailer

  37. Touring Bike

  38. Wheelchair

  39. Stretcher

  40. Walk

Cool stats

 

27

Solo Self Propelled Miles

5

Shared Self Propelled Miles

8

Miles Where Others Did The Work

Slowest/ Hardest Mile

Wooden Stilts, 1 Hour 1 Minutes

Quickest Mile

Road Bike 5 Minutes 13 Seconds

Easiest Mile

Tandem ICE Trike

HOW?

At first though this might sound easy, right? 40 miles isn't that far, after all. 

A mile on a bicycle, on foot or kayaking might be easy. But then consider how many fast ways there are there to cover a mile, and then what happens when these run out? Swimming? Crawling? Roller blades? Skydiving? A wheelbarrow?!!

Although I just needed to dip into the darker hours to complete this challenge, the original aim was to average around 15 minutes per mile in order to complete the madness between 8am and 6pm, meaning 10 hours of daylight.

WHY?

Life’s an experiment! Compared to some of the other stuff I ended up doing this is relatively sane. Somehow my life has ended up overrun by those zany ideas that we usually have in the pub and then discard the next day. So this is just one more idea cooked up over a coffee (beer) that I decided not to forget.

In addition to satisfying my own crazy, I hoped to make a nice film about the day and thankfully the masterful Ben Arthur came up with the goods. I didn’t train much (at all) and once halfway approached it was a bit of mind over matter (and the elements, which weren’t kind especially during the watery legs

Hopefully this little challenge will offer encouragement and motivation for everyone out there to cook up a unique adventure of their own, if not to simply celebrate each birthday rather than worry about another digit on your age.

 
 
Buy Me A Coffee