The Breakaway

June 16, 2016

A YEAR IN THE SADDLE

  • Congratulations Kajsa
  • Billie Fleming

At the beginning of this year when most of us were nursing hangovers and vowing to never eat again Kajsa Tylen began her quest to break a world record.

Standing so far for 77 years, Billie Fleming’s record – set on a 3-speed bike – is an astonishing 29,603 miles. Billie’s aim was to inspire a healthy lifestyle for women, a mission that Kajsa has also taken on. We interupted her exceptionally busy schedule to find out more —

Kajsa, you have completed numerous middle and long distance events and triathlons and have achieved black belt in Kickboxing, you’re clearly someone who revels in a challenge. What was it in particular that appealed about the cycling world record?

I read about Billie Fleming and the fact that she was just a regular woman really appealed. Once I did more research and thought about it a bit more I realised it was a record of stubbornness rather than cycling skill, and I’m pretty stubborn!

“My goal is getting people active, so getting sweat pledges for me is the biggest motivation. If people are already active, they can get someone else going!” Kajsa Tylen

Rather than raise money for charity, I came up with the concept of the Sweat Pledge, where people donate sweat (not for real, that would just be disgusting) in terms of an exercise goal. I’m hoping to inspire inactive people to get active, and knowing that people are sweating for my sake is a huge motivation!

Can you tell us a little about the gear you are using for the challenge. Do you have any special adaptions on the bike to make things more comfortable or faster?

I ride a Specialized Ruby Comp, everything standard other than the seat post and the wheels. The seat post is a dual position seat post from Redshift Sports. This allows me to get a better position over the tri bars (also Redshift Sports), and helps give more positions generally. The wheels are with Hope hubs and I love them! My saddle is a Cobb Cycling saddle, which has been pretty good, but I’m wondering if it might be wearing out now. I have Apidura bags - a top tube and a saddle bag; these are also great pieces of kit and had stood up well to everything the elements have thrown at them (which is quite a lot). Clothing-wise I wear ONLY Classic Bib Shorts from Chapeau! I’ve tried others with disastrous consequences! Jerseys are a mixture of custom kit, Chapeau!, and various others I’ve picked up along the way. I wear Specialized socks and my shoes are Specialized, Shimano and Lake. My helmets are Kask and Specialized. I think that’s it...

Vietnam - Image 3

Where are you cycling to get that amount of miles in? What are the priorities — is it flatness or changes of scenery to keep things interesting?

I mainly cycle as flat as possible with the wind behind me, but that’s hardly ever possible so it’s a case of trying to keep a sheltered a route as possible. In the UK that means looking for hedges, whereas in Sweden for example, there are plenty of forests, but they’re not necessarily flat. So in answer, it’s a bit of both! I’d go crazy doing the same loop over and over!

The weather seems to be picking up at the moment, are you planning on getting more miles in during this middle part of the year to allow for a possible down turn later?

Trying my best, but the legs don’t always cooperate.

When do you get the rides in? Do you manage to treat yourself to cafe stops during the day?

I start most days between 7 and 8am, and ride until around 5pm. If I’m with company or it’s cold then I’ll stop at a cafe, but otherwise I’ll just eat my packed lunch on a bench somewhere. I am partial to a cream tea though, so I’ll often find one of those.

Do you ever need to motivate yourself to get out in the mornings, any little treats that encourage you to get hose bibs on and go again?

To be honest, it’s very rare that I struggle to get motivated. This is pretty much a job now and for that you just do it.

Do you ride with other people or is it a solo affair?

In the UK I often ride with others, while most of my European tour has been solo. I find pleasure in both.

You have social media accounts which obviously help publicise your efforts but do you find it a good source encouragement from your followers?

Oh definitely!! It’s a huge encouragement and I read every single comment that anybody makes, on all mediums (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc.). I don’t always reply, but I do read them all.

Has any part of the challenge been a surprise? You must have expected it to be difficult, but has anything specific been tough — fuelling correctly or keeping the lactic at bay for instance?

The biggest surprise for me is how hard it has been on my legs are that they’re simply not recovering at all. Initially I had issues with fuelling, but now it’s mainly the legs. They’re pretty much constantly in some sort of pain every day - be it legs, backside (I’ve had ongoing issues there too), neck, arm... Probably on day 364 they’ll all decide it’s time to get with the program.

Vietnam - Image 4

What can people do to help you on your quest?

My goal is getting people active, so getting sweat pledges for me is the biggest motivation. If people are already active, they can get someone else going!

Kajsa is on target for the record, so why not give her some encouragement via the magic of the internet!

web: www.ayearinthesaddle.com
facebook: facebook.com/ayearinthesaddle
twitter: @yearinthesaddle