Field notes:

Bikepacking expedition number 2: exploring an underwater prison building!
Murru Prison, freediving, rummu, rummu adventure, rummu freediving, gravel bike, Estonia, Ämari Pilots’ Cemetery Estonia, Ämari Pilots’ Cemetery, Estonia Tallinn, bikepacking, Bikepacking Estonia, Bikepacking Europe, tomb raider, Tallinn Estonia, Rummu sunken prison, Rummu prison, Rummu quarry, Silk Road mountain race, silk road mountain race (SRMR), digital nomad, digital nomad visa Chris Shirley MA FRGS Murru Prison, freediving, rummu, rummu adventure, rummu freediving, gravel bike, Estonia, Ämari Pilots’ Cemetery Estonia, Ämari Pilots’ Cemetery, Estonia Tallinn, bikepacking, Bikepacking Estonia, Bikepacking Europe, tomb raider, Tallinn Estonia, Rummu sunken prison, Rummu prison, Rummu quarry, Silk Road mountain race, silk road mountain race (SRMR), digital nomad, digital nomad visa Chris Shirley MA FRGS

Bikepacking expedition number 2: exploring an underwater prison building!

My second bikepacking expedition to prepare me for the Silk Road Mountain race comes quite possibly as a result of playing too much Tomb Raider as a teenager when I hear about a sunken prison building in the middle of a lake that’s around 40 kilometres away from Estonia’s capital city, Tallinn that I’m exploring as a digital nomad.

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The 7 principles I follow for taking on physical challenges that intimidate me
ironman, resilience, silk road mountain race (SRMR), social mobility, determination, perseverance, motivation, neuroscience, BBC, physical challenges, intention-behaviour gap, BJJ, Brazilian Ju-Jitsu, London marathon, life goals, mountaineering, mountain biking, Kyrgyzstan, bikepacking, world record, silk road mountain race, marathon, run, bike, Swim, IM triathlon, ironman triathlon, the Iron-nun, Madonna Buder Chris Shirley MA FRGS ironman, resilience, silk road mountain race (SRMR), social mobility, determination, perseverance, motivation, neuroscience, BBC, physical challenges, intention-behaviour gap, BJJ, Brazilian Ju-Jitsu, London marathon, life goals, mountaineering, mountain biking, Kyrgyzstan, bikepacking, world record, silk road mountain race, marathon, run, bike, Swim, IM triathlon, ironman triathlon, the Iron-nun, Madonna Buder Chris Shirley MA FRGS

The 7 principles I follow for taking on physical challenges that intimidate me

82 years old and completing an Ironman triathlon. That’s a 2.4-mile (3.8-km) swim, followed by a 112-mile (180-km) cycle, and finishing with a 26.2-mile (42.2-km) run. Just think about that for a second longer.

It’s stories like hers that motivate me to keep going when the journey ahead seems impossible to move forward.

In the next few years, I'll be aiming to complete the Silk Road Mountain race, a 1700-kilometre continuous bikepacking race in Kyrgyzstan, and one of my biggest personal challenges since a mountaineering accident in 2019 almost permanently stopped me from doing things I love altogether.

There are the 7 principles that I use to fit training to previous adventures that I’ll use to get myself to the finishing line.

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