It’s funny where you find inspiration…

In the two days I have spent slightly deliriously in bed, potentially due to some dodgy salmon, I have been spending the time between naps gorging on online material as, frankly, the idea of food was not entirely appealing.

In between reviews of tents and sleeping bags, adventure tweets and cycling blogs, I somehow managed to stumble across the 30datesblog, which I loved and definitely got me thinking.

I have been single for a while now and have grown quite accustomed to the highs and lows of dating, meeting new people, the excitement of wondering whether anything could develop and the misery/humour in sharing tales of dates-gone-wrong with fellow singletons. But with nzbybicycle only really six months away, at the end of what I had hoped would be something more than the handful of dates it turned out to be, my trusted circle of friends reminded me quite rightly that now is not exactly the ideal time to be meeting the man of my dreams.

So, instead of dating, I need to focus on my training but I’d still like to meet new, interesting people. I have therefore come up with a small plan, inspired by Miss Twenty-Nine, Charly Lester and her interesting 30 dates by 30 challenge but without the dating aspect….

An additional challenge has been born – to meet twenty new cyclists to take me on twenty new rides of over twenty miles each before I head off to New Zealand. I’m looking for this to be an experience sharing/advice concept but if one of the twenty happens to be an attractive single man of roughly my age, then I’m sure I won’t complain!

The only criteria are that the route we take must be different from any I have taken before and that it should be between 20 and let’s say… 100 (ouch) miles. It would also be preferable if the starting point of the ride wasn’t too difficult for me to get to!

I have no idea where I am going to begin to meet these awesome new cycle friends – do you know an eager cyclist near me? Would they be happy to show me the ropes and pootle around at not too much over ten miles per hour? It doesn’t have to be just the two of us – the more the merrier – I’m just excited to meet keen cyclists who can share a tip or two, be they freckle-faced teenagers, sixty-plus cycling veterans or whatever lies between.

Watch this space and suggest new friends for me to meet on nzbybicycle@gmail.com

Elisha x