- Juggling three kids and a teaching job, Lesa, 45, had dropped exercise off her priority list and felt frumpy at 100kg.
- When the kids moved out and her divorce finalised, she put the focus back on herself
- She soon feel in love with cycling, biking for kilometres around Brisbane and tackling all sorts of terrains
- Before long she’d dropped 35 kilos and was fit as a fiddle
- When she discovered there wasn’t yet a women’s world record for cycling a lap of Australia, she decided to do it for every woman out there
- Lesa Ashford shares her story of conquering her goal…
Squeezing into a pair of cycling shorts, I looked at my reflection in the mirror.
At 45 and recently divorced, I felt fat and frumpy – and I was determined to do something about it.
So, despite feeling self-conscious, I’d just joined a cycling club for women.
I knew I could do this…
Since I was a teenager, I’d loved sports, especially long-distance running. But after having my kids, Ally, 33, Christopher 30, and Samantha, 27, then juggling motherhood with my work as primary school teacher, exercise had fallen by the wayside and my weight had reached 100kg.
Now that the kids had moved out and my divorce was finalised, I wanted to put the focus back on me.
Read more: I walked across Australia with my five camels
I quickly fell in love with cycling, as we biked for kilometres around the river loop, as well as pedalling through busy towns and traffic to gain our confidence in all terrains.
Over the next couple of years, that frumpy feeling melted away. I dropped around 35kg, and got my fitness back. I realised endurance was my thing.
So, in 2017, I cycled in a group from Alice Springs to Darwin, which was 1600km in a week. Then, I tackled Perth to Broome, covering 3300km in three weeks, keeping up with the two strongest the entire way.
I would cycle most mornings before work, then do longer rides on the weekends, enjoying the breeze on my skin and taking in the beautiful landscapes in Queensland, where I lived.
Cycling had given me an entirely new lease of life.
In December 2021, a friend told me she was reading a book about a woman who had cycled around the world.
“You could do that,” she said.
“Don’t be silly,” I chuckled.
But it got me thinking…
Maybe I’m not ready to tackle the world, but what about Australia?
I jumped online to see what the women’s record was for a lap of the country – there wasn’t one!
“I’m doing it!” I told my friend.
That March I got an online coach, Joe Barr, based in Ireland. I’d talk to him for hours, taking in training plans and tips.
For months I cycled, sometimes outside, but mostly on a stationary bike, learning to get my heart rate up, and keep it there – for hours.
When I told people what I was doing they thought I was nuts! But my dad, Noel, who was also a cyclist, had faith in me.
“You can do this!” he encouraged me.
On March 8 this year – International Women’s Day, I set off, from Southbank, Brisbane, waved off by Dad, the kids, and my best friend, Mark.
I had a support vehicle driving behind me, which carried my camping gear and food.
I cycled 200km a day, snacking on creamed rice and walnuts, before stopping each evening, sleeping in either a tent or in a hotel.
A month in, a cyclone hit. One of my most terrifying moments was cycling downhill at speed, with trucks going in both directions and wind battering against me.
Some days I’d be lashed with rain, but on others, the sun would shine, and I’d be in awe of the landscape and wildlife I encountered: budgies, deer, wombats and kangaroos.
Other saddle sore and painful wrists from gripping my handlebars, I was going great until… just two days before the finish, I took a tumble off my bike in the rain.
“My leg!” I screamed.
Wayne, the driver of my support vehicle, took me to hospital in Port Macquarie.
“You have a small fracture just behind your knee,” the doctor told me.
“But I have to finish!” I cried.
Determined, I bandaged up my leg, ignored the pain and off we went.
On the final day, I set off from Surfer’s Paradise. It was about 80km to the finish line, and being so close to home, I knew every inch of this road.
As I turned the final corner, my family and friends were waiting for me with a ribbon across the finish line and balloons. They cheered like crazy as I pedalled towards them.
“You did it, Mum!” Samantha cried, flinging her arms around me, before handing me my 18-month-old grandson, Kai, for a cuddle.
I was elated!
A lap of Australia had taken me 93 days and I’d covered 14,100km. I was officially a record holder!
I couldn’t believe how far I’d come from the frumpy divorcee I’d once been.
Within weeks, I was already planning my next endurance cycle. I want to go to Europe or America – and I want to do another lap of Australia in reverse.
There’s no stopping me now!
