Kuumar Shyam (Abu Dhabi) - Paula Ralph, a resident of Dubai for eight years, is a testament to the power of dreams. A simple desire to do “something” in life is spinning into a big-wheeling exercise in charity and cycling coming together for a personal wish.
Born in Wales and raised in South Africa, Ralph is embarking on a 19,800-kilometre cycling trip from Cape Town to Nordkapp in Norway in February next year. She will probably be the first woman to do so unless someone else beats her to the claimed feat. And she has set herself a target of 100 days to complete the task, christened “The Long Ride Coast to Coast” (C2C). At 46 years of age, she still breaks down while speaking to Aletihad about her difficult childhood despite having loving parents for support.
“My parents did everything possible to bring me up, but it was difficult growing up,” she says, before choking up.
As she pedals away to her distant finish line in Norway, it is such memories that she wants to avoid befalling on other children, and so she hopes her sweat will translate into money for the welfare of children through her philanthropic venture – New Future Foundation.
A sports therapist by profession, Ralph had a Eureka-kind of moment on leading a life with purpose when she saw a random post on Facebook in 2020 about the largest continuous road in the world.
She knew at once that she had to do it. From the moment the seed for C2C was sown, her vision got shared and others have joined in their own ways. Men have done it previously. Jonas Deichmann also took a similar route in 2019, riding across 14 countries and is featured in a documentary “Cape to Cape”.
The ultra-endurance athlete had broken couple of other records and had a riding partner, Philipp Hympendahl, who quit. Deichmann battled physical and mental challenges to beat the previous record of 102 days, completing the journey in an incredible 72 days. The enormity of the challenge grows further when considering the fact that Ralph’s current avataar as an endurance cyclist only started in the past four years.
“I only cycled when I was a child just like any other girl – in South Africa and then in England, where I spent some part of the life.” The timeline has been delayed a little by COVID in the intervening years. Yet, a daily challenge of completing 200 kilometres to break down her C2C journey over the 100-day period is on the average standards of a stage on the Tour de France, cycling’s showpiece with best race professionals of the world.
Having participated in Brazilian jiu-jitsu and Dragonboat racing as her modest share of sporting skills, cycling has been a recent passion comparatively. And she will need all the help she can get. Thankfully, there are no qualms, either. “They say ‘women prefer to do things alone’… but there are many things that men can do better and so I will stick to that,” Ralph says.
And so, Ralph will have a support vehicle and sponsors backing her up – some more still expected – when she starts pedaling away, “come rain weather or sunshine”. The support vehicle tracking behind will ensure food and water supplies while also providing the safety net with its occupants. “Although it doesn’t rain here much, I arew up in places like UK and South Africa so there is a bit of familiarity still there. But even if it rains heavily, I have to move on if I have to complete 200km a day. I will be trying to complete as many extra kilometres a day as possible so I have an extra couple of days for any thing that could go wrong despite the plans,” says Ralph, who grew up in Secunda, about 135km from Johannesburg.
Her coach for cycling is Ian Jenner, who has experienced conditions in England and Italy before coming to Dubai. “I do whatever the coach tells me to do. On the weekdays [as a Sports therapist, she is working independently], I could be doing strength training, some other drills… and then weekends it is for longer stretches from home – on Qudra Road, Ras Al Khaimah, up on Jebel Al Jais mountain, etc,” says Ralph, who stays in Jumeirah Village Circle.
Even as we speak, the Dubai Fitness Challenge has started, and she is doing the ‘30x30 challenge’ by completing a to-do list of small cycling goals on each day. Hailing the cycling culture in the country, where there is its own UAE Tour, cycling tracks in many parts of the city and the nation is invested in sporting ventures such as UAE Team Emirates, Ralph is appreciative of the support structure that has grown ever since she decided to “do something in life” and take up the C2C challenge.
She has also a template to follow – the Kwano Cycling Academy in Plettenberg Bay, 500kms away to the west of Cape Town. Kwano is short for the local Kwanokuthula community and the local children get cycling to do as an extra curricular activity with studies as part of the non-profit’s activity and supported by Buffalo Foundation. Ralph is now hoping to do the same with her foundation and build “such schools.
In South Africa, Kwano are still in the process of building the school, where cycling is a reward for education.
One of the children recently signed a mountain bike team contract as a professional. They are trying to help the children directly. No one gets paid at the non-profit, except for the coach and the teachers, of course. I am trying to take a leaf out of them and do it. “Initially I was thinking of just walking all the way on the C2C. But then cycling became a thought and grew. I met a friend who provides supporting endeavors for such sporting adventures. There are others who took care a lot of logistical things; there are many things that needed to be done, like look for sponsorships and etc… things that you are not used to, and cannot do.
“There were some naysayers too. But you take the best everyone has to offer and ignore the rest. The ride itself is one thing. Then there is the foundation and I have to give it my best to realise the Foundation. It is a ‘go big or go home’ scenario,” says Ralph.
She concedes the initial plan was a cursory one. But watching the documentary gave a timely reality check. I saw his [Deichmann] movie, and realised the gravity of the situation. It has been also part of my excitement from Day 1 since. He did with no support.
“Cycling and education were two separate things, but connected to me. With C2C, they can come together … and I can push boundaries,” she says. “The first step was to answer a call that I felt profoundly, hoping it would captivate people’s attention globally, transcending all diversities. It’s not just about breaking records; it’s about making impactful differences.”
She has friends doubling up as marketing team. Her professional support team, comprises certified British coach Jenner, physiotherapist and performance optimiser Melissa Abbey, and safety and crew coordinator Craig Lombardi.
To provide updates and even give company to Ralph on the lonely stretches across the world, there will be even a disco jockey on board, Ronny Rodriguez, co-founder of Krooked Noize and the official Long Ride C2C playlist curator on Spotify.
There are couple of sponsors so far – Cycle World, Sharjah and Oryx Cycling Tours, Dubai – while others can join. The February start has been planned such, says Ralph, that the weather adversities can be managed better and she will chart back to the Middle East before it starts getting hot.
Her journey can be followed during the ride and before on her website, www.thelongridec2c.com.