BikingMan Corsica

In June 2022, I participated in my first-ever (ultra)cycling race: Bikingman Corsica—a 1000 km (621-mile) race around the French island of Corsica. I've always had a deep yearning for adventure and a desire for taking on crazy challenges. Over the preceding few years, I had become increasingly passionate about cycling. Having completed a few ultramarathons, I was eager for a new challenge that involved my bike. At some point—likely after spiralling down a cycling-related YouTube rabbit hole—I discovered the world of ultra-cycling and the Bikingman series. I was immediately intrigued by the Bikingman Corsica event.

Despite being Northern Irish, I handle heat surprisingly well. I wanted to race somewhere stunning, with warm weather, minimal rain, and relatively easy accessibility—ideally, somewhere in Europe. Corsica checked all those boxes. In an ultracycling race, you spend most of your time on the bike, and therefore, most of your time outdoors. I'm not a masochist; I wanted to enjoy the event while minimising the suffering. For me, racing in a warm climate with high nighttime temperatures and low chances of rain was essential. Sometime in late 2021, I signed up for the event. At that point, I had decent cycling fitness—I was riding over 100 miles per week, every week—but I still had a lot of work to do to prepare for such a demanding race.