Episode Array
March 3 , 2020
89. Team GB’s Mel Nicholls; Endurance Wheelchair Racing, London and Rio, Breaking Records and Travel Logistics
Just 15 months after taking up wheelchair racing Mel Nicholls Team GB Paralympic cyclist, endurance wheelchair racer and adventurer, was at London 2012 before going on to Rio. Last year she nailed the London Marathon in under two hours and also broke the world record for hand cycling the whole length of Britain. She’s battled strokes, heart surgery, extreme weather and plenty of bad wheelchair access in airports to travel the world finding the adventure in absolutely everything.
The London Premiere of “Dream Big” the film documenting Mel’s hand-cycling world record will be screening at Four Seasons Film Festival at The Charlotte Street Hotel on Monday 16th March. Tickets available via www.fourseasonsfilmfestival.com/tickets
On this episode we cover:
Her film “Dream Big” and the London Premiere Four Seasons Film Festival
Her Guinness World Record Breaking hand cycle of the length of Britain
Being in tears at the start line at Land’s End
Covering just under 900 miles
Travelling with impaired mobility
Being left unable to walk following her third stroke in 2008
Almost getting arrested for dangerous cycling
Being very vulnerable lying flat on a bike
How the feeling of being on a journey is fantastic
Finding nature everywhere
How being in a car is boxed off in comparison
Smashing the male and female record by 4 days
Having three major strokes
Finding a heart defect was causing the strokes
Having to learn to walk again, without the use of her left leg
Watching the Beijing Paralympics from her hospital bed
First thinking wheelchair racing as alternative to nightly jogs
Team GB London 2012 – just 15 months after taking up wheelchair racing
How London 2012 changed the face of Paralympics
How talking about the brilliant London 2012 makes both Lisa and Mel shiver
Lisa being there for the last night of Paralympics
Lisa interviewing Oscar Pistorius
The Museum of London having the tulip torches – do go see this!
Learning how to train for the four year Olympic cycle
Going to Rio 2016 but things not going to plan
Watching the Marathon from Copacabana beach
Being ‘a wilderness person’
Hand cycling the Scottish islands finding mountains and caves completely
The scary and exhilarating challenge of cycling the Faroe Islands (lots of tunnels, not always roads)
Her cycling light exploding several hundred metres underground
How the environment can disable people
Taxis driving past, as they don’t want to pick up wheelchairs!
The logistics of travelling with a wheelchair, hand bike or crutches
The nightmare of the airport at New York
How airport and aeroplane access is terrible for disabled people
Having to bum-shuffle down the plane aisle to go to the loo
Stunning views from the New York Marathon
London being her favourite city in the world
How the marathon showcases London brilliantly
Finding New York and Central Park excellent for getting around
Sevilla being wonderful for a marathon
Leaving the British team to pursue her challenges
Being the 2019 first British female wheelchair racer at London Marathon
Some dark moments when she first lost her mobility
Having a great life before her strokes, but having a great life now
Finding a way of making things happen
Documenting and sharing her travels on social media and film
The beauty of cycling through from the UK to the South of France
Knocking on random French doors to find somewhere to stay
Following in the tradition of great old-school travellers – Hemingway, Van Gogh.
Staying in a stunning moated-castle in the Loire Valley
The playlist that kept her going throughout her world-breaking hand-cycling challenge
