Hi, Dawn here, I hope you are having a wonderful summer. Before I get into this episode, we want to remind you that we now have a YouTube channel. Expect video episodes - live right now- and new and fun types of content. Please subscribe here: https://www.youtube.com/@themettleset  So back to this episode. This is the start of a new series which is dedicated to the Beginner Mindset. If you’ve been following along you’ll know that throughout the podcast, we’ve had the opportunity to talk with so many amazing women - and men - about achieving some VERY big goals.  We hope that you find our guests as relatable as we do, and keeping in this spirit, we wanted to share athletes speaking about their very first race or major sports challenge… be it in ultra-cycling, ultra-running, triathlon or even mountaineering.  We wanted to do this to highlight that we all start somewhere and reinforce that there is beauty in the Beginner’s Mindset.  Today, we focus on self-supported ultra-cycling and you’ll hear from Evelyn Weiss, Ella Barlow and Chris Thomas, as each shares their experience in their very first race.  Find the athletes and the races they talk about below:  Evelyn Weiss (@cyclingneve) discusses the 1,000km/10,000m NorthRace WestPhalia in Germany Ella Barlow (@ellabeebikes) discusses the 1,000km/12,000m BikingMan Portugal in Portugal Chris Thomas (@zemountaingoat) discusses the 330km /8,300m  Le Tour Du Mont Blanc which spans France, Switzerland and Italy  In this episode you’ll hear about:  their sporting background; their chosen first race; how and why they did it; the preparation for the race;  what was going through their mind on the startline; the hardest part of the race & the highlight of the race; what the experience taught them; and and what advice they’d give to others thinking of taking on a self-supported ultra cycling race.  Our wider support team for this episode includes Editor JJ Thompson and our Artwork is by the talented Alexandra Hickey of Studio Theodore. For more info,  visit www.themettleset.com , and follow us on @themettleset We hope you enjoy!  Dawn & Afshan  @dawnable  @afshahmed