Steven James Ferris's Inspiring Journey: From Royal Air Force to Icelandic Adventure Challenges

What happens when a former Royal Air Force member swaps his parachute for a mountain bike and embarks on a breathtaking quest across Iceland? Meet Steven James Ferris, a man who has redefined his life with adventure, weaving tales from his military past into a riveting 72-hour bikepacking expedition to support a cause close to his heart. Steven transports us from the lush landscapes of his childhood in South Wales to the formidable terrains of Iceland, sharing how the transition from military life to civilian adventure seeker ignited a new flame of purpose and ambition.

Steven's story is not just about physical endurance but also the mental fortitude required to face unpredictable challenges, whether it's navigating Iceland's volcanic landscapes or balancing the joys and trials of fatherhood. He brings to life the essence of adventure as a means of personal growth and resilience, reflecting on how stepping beyond our comfort zones can lead to profound self-discovery. With anecdotes of cycling through Icelandic ash and silt, Stephen paints a vivid picture of the unpredictability of nature and the meticulous planning needed to survive such daring endeavors.

As Steven contemplates future journeys across Morocco and Azerbaijan, he offers insights into the 'stretch' zone—a space where growth flourishes, far from the comfort zone yet short of the panic zone. His narrative is a testament to the power of adventure as a tool for rejuvenation and connection with the environment. Join us as Steven James Ferris illuminates how embracing the great outdoors can transform lives, inspire others, and instill a renewed sense of belonging and purpose.

To learn more about Steven check out his website www.stevenjamesferris.com and follow him on YouTube @StevenJFerris to see his self-made documentary of his 3 day bike adventure across Iceland.

Want to be a guest on Journey with Jake? Send me a message on PodMatch, here: https://www.podmatch.com/hostdetailpreview/journeywithjake

Visit LandPirate.com to get your gear that has you, the adventurer, in mind.  Use the code "Journey with Jake" to get an additional 15% off at check out.

Visit geneticinsights.co and use the code "DISCOVER25" to enjoy a sweet 25% off your first purchase.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
There's a well-known formula in finance called the
rule of 72, which estimates howlong it takes for an investment
to double in value.
For my guest, stephen JamesFerris, the rule of 72 means
something entirely different 72hours to bike across Iceland for
charity what can happen in just72 hours?
For Stephen, it was alife-changing journey, filled

(00:21):
with challenges, triumphs and anew sense of purpose.
Get ready to cross rivers,navigate streams and a new sense
of purpose.
Get ready to cross rivers,navigate streams and even take a
fall or two as we dive intoStephen's incredible adventure.
Welcome to Journey with Jake.
This is a podcast aboutadventure and how, through our
adventures, we can overcome thechallenges of life that come our
way.
While I expect you will learnsome things about different

(00:42):
adventures, this show willentertain you.
Each episode will featuredifferent guests or guests as
they share experiences andstories from the different
adventures they have been on.
Not only will you beentertained, but you will also
hear the failures and trialseach guest faces and what they
have done or are doing toovercome the hardships that come
their way, to overcome thehardships that come their way.

(01:04):
My goal is to take each of uson a journey through the
experiences of my guests, withthe hope that you'll be
entertained and inspired toovercome your day-to-day
challenges.
After all, it's not all aboutthe destination, as it is about

(01:28):
the journey.
Welcome back to Journey withJake.
I'm your host, jake Bushman,and I'm thrilled to bring you
another fantastic episode.
Today I have the honor ofspeaking with Stephen James
Ferris.
Stephen is a former member ofthe Royal Air Force, where he
worked in parachute testing.
He's also a corporateprofessional, a devoted family

(01:49):
man with three children and anadventurer at heart.
We had an incredibleconversation about his 72-hour
bikepacking journey acrossIceland for charity.
Before we dive into thatconversation, remember to
subscribe to Journey with Jake.
Wherever you listen to yourpodcasts, if you enjoy the show,
I'd love it if you could leaveme a rating and review.
That really means a lot.

(02:11):
The best way to stay connectedwith me is by following Journey
with Jake on Instagram.
At Journey with Jake podcast, Ishare clips from upcoming
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I'd love to hear from you, sodrop a comment and let me know
your favorite episode.
You can also catch Journey withJake on YouTube.

(02:31):
Just search Journey with Jakepodcast, and don't forget to
subscribe and hit that likebutton.
Lastly, I'm proud to sayJourney with Jake is part of the
Podmatch podcast network.
Check out podmatchcom forwardslash network for other great
shows.
Now it's time for another greatadventure.
Stephen James Ferris pushedhimself to the limit during his

(02:52):
72 hour bike ride across Iceland.
If you enjoyed thisconversation, be sure to check
out episode 51 with Ana and Edo,where we explore human powered
travel and adventure.
All right, let's jump into myconversation with Stephen James
Ferris.
This is an honor for me.
I've got Stephen James Ferriswith me today.
Stephen, welcome to Journeywith Jake.

Speaker 2 (03:14):
Jake thank you, I'm psyched to be here.
Thanks so much for having me on.

Speaker 1 (03:17):
Absolutely.
I love people like you who arejust out there being adventurous
, doing things that are tough,but then I see a smile on your
face and I love that.
We're going to dive into thiswhole 72 hour adventure you did
in Iceland.
We're going to talk about that.
Before we do that, though, Iwant to know a little bit about
who you are, where you're from,your background.
So, if you don't mind, tell usa little bit about Stephen James

(03:38):
Ferris.
Thanks.

Speaker 2 (03:39):
Jake.
Yeah, so I'm Steve.
I'm Steven if I'm naughty, butyou can find me all over the
internet if you Google StephenJames Ferris.
I'm a proud father of threechildren.
They are young four and a half,three and one year old so I've
got my hands full.
I'm a former military officer,so I served in the Royal Air
Force in the UK for 12 years asa regular active duty and then

(04:05):
subsequently reservist.
Prior to that, I trained as ateacher, so I've got kind of a
broad background and then morerecently I went into like a
corporate role which has beenamazing, allowed me to start a
family, to choose where I live.
You know a lot of people in thecivilian world take that for
granted, but that's somethingthat's really important to me to
to see my kids growing up.

(04:26):
Let let's face it, during COVIDthere wasn't much better to do
than start having kids.
So we definitely did that and,yeah, I'm kind of busy with the
family.
But also, you know, one of thereasons I wanted to talk to you
was something that's reallyignited my passion for adventure
.
It was the challenge that youmentioned in Iceland.
I know we'll get onto that.

(04:47):
Yeah, that's kind of what makesme tick, I guess, is being
outdoors.
I love being on my bike, I loverunning any kind of hiking,
outdoor activities.
I've just been drawn to theoutdoors and I think also when I
left the military I kind of Idon't know had that almost
separation anxiety of, you know,losing my tribe, felt drawn to

(05:12):
the outdoors and always kind offound solace there when I wasn't
really sure which way to turn.
I kind of try to harness myadventurous side and just get
out in the great outdoors.

Speaker 1 (05:21):
I love it.
I think people who've been inthe military before I've talked
to a handful of folks who'vebeen in the military for
whatever reason, they seem tohave this adventurous streak
about them.
I don't know if that's what itis.
It's, you know, missing out onbeing with their, their group or
whatever, but they seem to bedrawn to that and you kind of
feel like that's what whatyou've been grew up doing.

Speaker 2 (05:45):
Were you an outdoorsy kid growing up?
I don't know, I was always.
I always loved being on my bike.
When I was a kid, my one of myneighbors he was a cyclist for,
like team gb, he would, he would, you know, have the best bike
and I'd just be trying to keepup with him on my bmx, you know,
trying to.
He'd be dragging me around thelocal hills and whatnot and I'd
just be drawn to that and reallyenjoying being outdoors and it

(06:07):
was always kind of that for mefelt like freedom being on two
wheels.
So, and also I kind of spentsummers growing up on my
grandparents' farm in SouthWales and a big sheep farm, big,
beautiful rolling hills aroundthat area.
I just kind of maybe got a bitof a passion for the outdoors
from that too.

Speaker 1 (06:28):
What drew you to the military?
Why did you say I'm going to goto the military?

Speaker 2 (06:31):
I mean I mentioned, I trained as a teacher before and
I kind of I never thought thatI could join the military.
I had asthma as a child.
So I was always thought, well,you know, air Force, they're not
going to take me because I hadasthma.
And then it was just through achance meeting with careers Air
Force careers person at myuniversity.
So as long as you're, you know,as long as you're clear for

(06:54):
three years I think it was maybefive, I think it was five years
you have to be clear of your,your asthma medication, then
they take you.
And I thought I'm three yearsclear, you know, know, I could
maybe I'm just going to chanceit and see what happens.
And I kind of went through anddidn't.
It didn't get picked up and Imanaged to get in.
But I think my the reason forwanting to join the air force uh

(07:17):
probably stems from my greatuncle who was a um.
He was an air engineer on boardlancaster bombers in world war
two.
Um sadly didn't make it, but hewas always a bit of a you know
sort of family folklore thatfollowed around him and there
was always that kind of allureof you know, I know that Royal
Air Force just always kind ofspoke to me as something that I
would be interested in doing.

(07:38):
As I grew up, I found that Iwas scared of heights.
So I thought, well, still gotthis challenge, something that I
was scared of heights.
So I thought, well, still gotthis, this challenge, something
that I, when I, when I realizedthat the kind of the asthma
thing possibly wasn't going tobe a problem, I thought, well,
that's a great way to try andget over that issue, over that
phobia.
There was a role that I noticedcalled parachute jump
instructor.
I thought that's going to be agreat way of pushing yourself

(08:01):
outside your comfort zone andlike seeing, seeing whether you
can really get over that fear.
So that's that's where I went.

Speaker 1 (08:08):
Wow, okay yeah, that someone who has a fear of
heights.
And then you're, you're jumpingout of planes, you're a
parachute guy.
Tell me about a little bitabout that experience, because I
know I think you said you evenwere like a test parachutist or
something.
That sounds dangerous just whenyou say it like that.

Speaker 2 (08:26):
Yeah, I mean there is absolutely an element of danger
, but I mean it's verymethodical.
The motto of the UK ParachuteSchool is knowledge dispels fear
.
So everything is.
They teach it in such a waythat you know some of the guys
that get through as, asparachute jump instructors I
should say we are responsiblefor training the parachute

(08:49):
regiment, so the regular greenarmy all the way up to uk
special forces, so you probablyheard of the sas and so on.
So everything is designed toallay the fears or to make it as
simple as possible.
Uh, all the training is justlaid out like, like, the first
thing you do is a pull lesson,so they, they have the

(09:10):
parachutes hooked onto theinside of the aircraft.
This is like the low level sortof round parachutes.
If you've seen band of brothers, you know that kind of really
low level stuff.
They'll get it.
They'll go all the troops toone side and they'll pull that
parachute out so that you cansee look, this is how the whole
line deploys.
This is, this is the breakingstrain of each of these threads.
This is why this is quadruplestitched.

(09:30):
This is how that.
This is the breaking strain ofthe entire harness.
So people are going.
Well, you know, I'd have to belike twice the weight of an
elephant for this to possiblybreak.
So now I have confidence inthis equipment.
So therefore, the next step isbeing competent and training and
going, you know, through youronboard drills, exit drills, etc
.
So, yeah, it is dangerous, buteverything is kind of mitigated

(09:55):
to an extent.
And yeah, so the last three anda half years of my career I was
really privileged to spend withthe uk parachute testing.
So we were developing,basically writing the rule book,
developing a UK defensecapability.
So that was kind of my.
The zenith of my career isalways the thing I really wanted
to do.
And then everything thereafterjust was like you know what, I'm

(10:18):
probably going to be promotedand I don't really fancy doing a
desk job.
If I'm going to do a desk job,I might as well do it in the
civilian world.
And, you know, choose where Ilive and start a family, and
that's where you went.

Speaker 1 (10:29):
All right.
So I think of you know thisrole of the military and I think
it's very especially withparachute and that sort of thing
, it's very meticulous.
You were kind of saying youknow you start very basic and
you know you mitigate it byhaving all these processes and
procedures and things like that.
And then I sometimes thinkabout adventurers and people who
are adventurous and sometimesthey seem kind of spontaneous

(10:51):
and just do things by the seatof their pants a little bit.
Maybe that's not the case, butit just kind of seems like that.
So how does the two compare foryou?
Because I know you've got thisadventurous streak in you too.
How does that, you know beingused to being boom, meticulous
and very, you know, by the bookand getting things done?
How does that relate to?

Speaker 2 (11:10):
your adventurous side .
So if I go back to what you'resaying about you know being
meticulous, having that planinside, one of the things I took
away from my parachuting careerwas visualization and just
being able to close your mindoff to everything, practice your
drills in your head and you gothrough each thing that could
possibly go wrong and practicefor that eventuality in your

(11:33):
mind, which might sound crazy.
And the first time I saw it Isaw guys kind of opposite me in
the aircraft and they'reliterally doing funny things
with their hands and they'reholding what are these guys
doing?
And one of the older, moreexperienced guys actually one of
my best best friends these dayshe said no, you really need to
pay attention to this and thisis something that we, we all use
and it's something that allowsme to, I guess, how, be able to

(11:57):
sort of visualize a concept.
You know, I'm not in thatsituation.
I'm not, you know, going toiceland or I'm not going on this
adventure yet, but I can, I cansee it, I can almost feel it
and have that kind of vision, tobe able to, to plan it.
The spontaneity, the spontaneousbit, yeah, I mean, it's a bit
like, I guess, standing on theramp of a c17 at you know, 25

(12:21):
000 feet.
You, you got to take that step,you got to jump.
So the only way to do it is todo it and having that kind of
the ability to back yourself.
That's my.
My mantra in life is kind ofrule number one is back yourself
, because if you don't, no oneelse will you know.
If you're trying to sellyourself in any, any situation,
you know, you know, ask someoneout on a date.
You've got to back yourself,you've got to go into that.

(12:43):
Yeah, there's going to be fear,yeah, there's going to be
trepidation, but if you've kindof prepared for that moment,
then there's, there's nothingstopping you, or that's
certainly my, my philosophy nowthat you're kind of in the
civilian world.

Speaker 1 (12:59):
What's that like?
What's it like being because itsounds like you deal with
businesses and things like thatI I think you're like a keynote
speaker, I think you do allkinds of things like that.

Speaker 2 (13:06):
Yeah, so I mean, I've been doing a corporate career
where I'm looking after bigdeals, driving revenue like
nine-figure revenue streams forone of the biggest businesses in
the UK.
It's taught me so much and I'vegot to a point now where I can,
I can kind of I feel like I canreally leverage that experience

(13:31):
to help others.
So I do executive coachingwhereby I help leaders to kind
of manage and lead with moreauthenticity, with courage.
I think one of the hardestthings in business, as in the
military and as in all of ourlives, really is to be
vulnerable.
But to be vulnerable is to beauthentic and that takes courage

(13:52):
.
So just trying to teach peoplethat actually it's okay to be
that way, and also the one thingthat I took away from the Air
Force above all else really isto lead with a duty of care to
those in your, in your charge.
You know if you can treat themwell, it's incredible what your
people will do for you.

(14:13):
So, yeah, I kind of those aremy, my specialties.
I'm breaking into the the worldof keynote speaking
predominantly with my my icelandadventure actually, because
that's something that just cameout of out of nowhere and it's
really lit a spark for me, sopretty exciting and before we
jump into that because that waskind of a perfect lead into the

(14:35):
Iceland adventure we can talkabout.

Speaker 1 (14:37):
But before we do that , I want to ask about your role
as a father.
You have three young children.
What's it like being a dad foryou?

Speaker 2 (14:44):
I absolutely love it and I wouldn't change it for
anything, but it is hard work.
It's hard work in the bestpossible way.
I just took my, my two sons.
So I've got theo is four and ahalf, I've got zach, who's three
, I've got zoe's, 13 months, andjust she's, she's, uh, snapping

(15:05):
at their heels like literallyshe just learned to walk.
So, uh, you know every.
It's incredible when they start, when they stand and start to
walk, you're like whoa, you'rehow tall now, like this,
everything has got to be cleaned, cleared off the surfaces,
everything's got to be kind ofstrapped down.
So that's um, it's kind offunny but terrifying as well,
the the lack of fear you knowfor for kids they've kind of got

(15:26):
a.
You've got to have eyes in theback of your head to to keep, to
keep them at bay.
I think that's the hardestthing as well, having three.
And I know you've got four,jake, so you probably advise me
on this, but you're justoutnumbered all the time, all
the time.
I made the mistake well, not themistake.
I had an adventure last weekendwhere I took my boys to London

(15:48):
for the first time, and that wassomething else.
That was, and I'm not going totake a push chair.
I'm not going to take one ofthese foldable things, because
as soon as I fold it then I'veonly got one hand now to try and
grab two children on the youknow, on the tube, on the subway
, right?
Not doing that.
So I've got, like this kind ofbaby carrier that my
three-year-old's too big for.

(16:09):
On the front of me I've got abackpack with all of our gear
and then I can put thefour-year-old on my shoulders
and trying to sort of trying totrack through London.
At times doing that was a bitof a challenge, but probably the
safest way to travel with thosetwo.
Probably a long answer to ashort question.
Absolutely love it.
Every day is different and,yeah, definitely learn new

(16:32):
things about yourself, that'sfor sure I love it.

Speaker 1 (16:34):
Thank you for that.
That's, that's, that's goodtimes.
Kids are fun, man, they are.
They're a blast.
And you're right there.

Speaker 2 (16:40):
You got to have your you know your head, you know
eyes in the back of your headand they, yeah teaching you
patience, patience and newcommunication styles you didn't
even know existed, like whenthey're having a meltdown, when
the hormones are high, whenthey're just kind of they can't
communicate and it's just comingout of screams, you're gonna be
the one to go.
Okay, just keep your head.

(17:00):
Let's uh, let's not get tooemotional, absolutely yeah all
right.

Speaker 1 (17:06):
So I was looking on your, your linkedin page and
right at the top it saysfundraising adventure.
And I know this icelandadventure that you did was about
fundraising.
But give me the background.
How did this come about?
How did you decide you're gonnago bike across iceland and
you're gonna have to say theicelandic names, because I know
there's a national park thereand I I don't want to butcher it

(17:27):
, so I'll kind of let you justkind of give me the background
on how this came about thanks,jake.

Speaker 2 (17:32):
So, like I said, I work was working in a commercial
team for for a big uk company.
One of our team had been sortof had a family issue.
One of the children neededtreatment at great ormond street
children's hospital, which islike the flagship hospital in
the UK for for certainly forkids cancer.

(17:52):
And so we decided, okay, as a,as a team, we're going to do,
we're going to, we're going totry and do as much as we
possibly can to raise funds forgreat Ormond street.
So my, my boss, for example,ran the London marathon, did a
great job, raised some money,and then, when we're doing like
hospitality things, takingcustomers to, to events and

(18:13):
things, we say like you knowwhat, you enjoyed yourself,
great, please donate, you knowsmall amount, and it'll just,
it'll build naturally.
And then we found we kind ofreached a bit of a plateau.
So I had a, had a meetingamongst my peers and everyone's
like you know well, what can wedo?
Can we do this?
And then could we do that.
And I'm sitting there thinking,well, not much good at baking

(18:33):
cakes, but I can ride a bike andI'd seen this ride on a website
called bikepackingcom and ifany of your listeners are not
familiar with it.
It's an incredible resource.
I'm not paid by bikepackingcomor there's nothing in it, apart
from the fact that that is anincredible online resource, a

(18:53):
website with so much information.
I've never been bikepackingbefore, but I know how to camp.
You know kind of in in so muchas I've done it as a kid and a
little bit in the military, andobviously I know how to ride a
bike, but I don't really knowhow to rig a bike up with all
this stuff.
But maybe I can learn if andseen this.
It was a five-day ride acrossthe fjallberg national park in

(19:16):
iceland, which is in thesouthern highlands, and I
thought this is incredible.
The pictures were amazing.
So in this meeting I thought youknow what I don't know.
I felt like I should maybe putmy hand up, but then then maybe
I shouldn't and maybe I shouldjust do it, you know, just for
me, and see what it's all about.
But something at the timebecause nobody else had many

(19:39):
ideas, I said, well, I could dothis and I pitched it to the
team.
I came back a couple of dayslater and I pitched it and
they're like wow, okay, kind ofeveryone's maybe just giving it.
Okay, steve?
Yeah, off you go.
Everyone's maybe just giving it.
Okay, steve?
Yeah, off you go.
Go and do that.
That sounds great.
Yeah, brilliant.
Just make sure you come backalive, because the ride on
bikepackingcom was supposed tobe a five-day 300-kilometer ride

(20:00):
, a circular route as a group,but I was trying to do it in
three days on my own andunsupported.
So I was really trying to like,for the first bikepacking trip,
I was really trying to push theenvelope, to see where my limits
were, because ultimately that'swhat I like to do.
I like to see where thoselimits are and then kind of see

(20:21):
what the next thing is.
But it was just such anincredible experience.
Did it go to plan?
No, did I use every ounce of mymilitary planning,
organizational skills andexperience?
Yes, you know, I contacted theauthor of the route.
I was contacting Icelandicsearch and rescue.
I was, you know, equipped witha satellite communicator that

(20:45):
would, you know, send a beacon.
I had to kind of distressbutton, if I ever I got.
You know, try to think of everypossible thing, but then
actually you can never think ofevery possible thing, but then
actually you can never think ofeverything on your own.
So I was reaching out to peoplethat I knew who were experienced
in like military adventuroustraining more so than myself so

(21:05):
specialists in those fields andsaying, look, can you have a
look at this risk assessmentthat I've written?
I don't know if it's any good,I think I've got everything.
Uh, you need to look at thisrisk assessment that I've
written.
I don't know if it's any good,I think I've got everything.
You need to look at this, maybea fatigue management plan.
I'm like what's that?
So I'm kind of probablyplanning it way more than a lot
of people would do an adventure.
But I really, really enjoy theplanning.
I really enjoy the desktopexercise, because then actually

(21:28):
that gives me the confidence abit, like the whole knowledge
dispels fear and the parachuteand thing.
It's like actually it's thesame thing.
So when I'm getting off theplane in Reykjavik, when I'm,
you know, driving to thetrailhead and I'm putting my
bike together, I'm feelingpumped, I'm confident.
Now, should I have been, had Iknown what was ahead of me?
Maybe not so much, but it wasan incredible adventure and I

(21:51):
don't think I wouldn't, you know, I've changed anything All
right, let's go back for aminute.

Speaker 1 (21:55):
You pitched the idea and I think this happened in
July, if I'm not mistaken, thisis what it's happened in July
when did you pitch the idea?
Like, how far from when youpitched it to when you left?

Speaker 2 (22:05):
I was probably like April something like that.

Speaker 1 (22:08):
So just a few months.

Speaker 2 (22:09):
Yeah, just a couple of months.
Really, I wanted to.
I think it was June.
Actually I did the ride in June.
It was just, you know, it waslike a couple of months.
So I really I didn't have awhole lot of time, but I thought
it was enough time to get somefunds because, ultimately, I was
doing this for charity.
I think that was the risk in.
It was not just, you know, okay, telling everyone, hey, I'm

(22:31):
going to try and do this, butalso I've got you know, I don't
just think of myself now I'vegot people relying on me, people
sponsoring me to go and do this.
I'm kind of committed to doingit to the best that I possibly
can.
And how did?
How did you come up with the 72hour thing?
Like, where did you come upwith that?

(22:52):
Well, I guess it was down tothis 300 kilometers and I
thought, if I'm riding for like10 hours a day and it's, you
know, even hard terrain, evenwith all the gear I had it was
40 kilos I had, so that's about80, 90 pounds of kit including
the bike I thought I canprobably average 10 kilometers a
day.
So that's like six miles anhour, six, sorry, 10 kilometers

(23:14):
an hour for 10 hours.
So six miles an hour, 10.
So that'd be 60 miles, which is, yeah, 100 kilometers, and I
thought I can do that.
Surely I can do that, that'sabsolutely doable.
But I had never ridden interrain like that ever in my
life.
I mean, it's just out of thisworld and that's one of the

(23:35):
things I I've been kind of drawnback to iceland.
That was my third trip not tothat national park and first
time riding a bike.
But it's just very accessiblefrom the uk.
It's only three, three and ahalf hour flight and it's like
you're entering another world.

Speaker 1 (23:49):
It's absolutely incredible one of my first
episodes I think it's episodesix or seven was a couple of
friends who had just traveled toiceland.
It's just about their visit toiceland, really, or anything,
and I've always just beenimpressed by iceland.
It does.
It seems otherworldly to mewhen I see the pictures and I
know you shared a video and Iknow you've got a video coming

(24:11):
out of of your, your adventure.
In fact, it should be probablyout by the time this comes out
it just seems incredible.
I mean, the vistas and thelandscape and everything about
it just seems out of this world.

Speaker 2 (24:26):
It is and you, you, you know I encourage anyone to
go and see it for themselvesbecause I think a lot of even
the pictures don't do it justice.
The video I've tried to bringit to life your eyes cannot
process that kind of subarctictundra and how far that expands
and there's so much.
The detail of all the differentcolors and the ravines and the

(24:49):
contours is just just absolutelymind-blowing.
And you know I I wasn't blessedwith the weather when I, when I
when I did my ride, so it was72 hours because I set off
really late in the day on thefirst day.
I actually rode for kind offour days and three nights, if
that makes sense.
So I started at 6 pm, rodethrough and then and then

(25:11):
finished just before 6 pm on thefourth day to make 72 hours,
but for three of those days itwas horizontal rain, just like
cycling.
I think.
At one point in the video I sayit's like riding through a cloud
on the moon.
You know, if the moon was tohave weather, it would be like
this in Iceland.
It was crazy, a great adventure.
And I think the other thingthat was kind of really gnarly,

(25:39):
like I mentioned, was the, theterrain and trying to get
through it on my bike.
It would just unexpectedlythrow me off my bike because the
the volcanic silt and ash,sometimes it was firm, sometimes
it wasn't, and you just neverknew and it would just go let me
see, if I understand that right, so you could be cruising along
on what looks like dirt orwhatever.

Speaker 1 (25:56):
But it's this volcanic material, and then it
just gets soft.
Is that kind of what it does?
Soft where you sink into it andjust yeah, okay, yeah, totally
soft.

Speaker 2 (26:04):
So it would invariably well it would be the
front wheel, because I had mybike packing bag on the front.
I had quite.
If I was doing it again, I'dtry and reconfigure the kit to
make it more spread out, but Ihad quite a lot on the front so
I would.
Then, unfortunately, the frontwheel would dig in and I'd come

(26:25):
off.
But that first, that firstnight, was that was something
else because, like I said, Ithought do you know what one of
the one of the big tailwindsI've got is?
18 hours of daylight, fantastic, 18 hours of daylight, that's
great, I can, I can.
So I flew in, got to icelandabout lunchtime, picked up some
supplies, drove to the trailhead, put my bike together, locked

(26:47):
the car up off.
I went.
It's like 6 pm, that's fine, Igo it, surely is.
You know it doesn't really godark.
The sun kind of hovers around.
Sure enough, by 11, 30 midnightit was dark and I I hadn't.
I thought I'm not going to beriding in the dark, so all I got
was a head torch.
Bit of an error on my part.
Yeah, I just found myself kindof skating around like I think I

(27:09):
was, it was.
It was like kind of skatingaround, like I think it was like
kind of trying to ski offPiston Rollerblades is how I but
you'd really at any moment it'sgoing to go wrong.
And I had to get to the firsthut.
So the way it works over thereis you can wild camp if it's an
emergency, because it's anational park, they have these
mountain huts, sort of a networkof mountain huts.

(27:32):
You don't stay in the hut.
You can, if you're going tobook well in advance and pay,
but there are campgrounds whereyou can pitch a tent and there's
water.
And one of the things I did inadvance of the ride was reach
out to the search and rescue, asI said, to share my ride,
because I'm doing it on my own.
It's best practice.
But I also said to them look,look, this is my my kit list,

(27:58):
like an abridged version.
What is there I'm missing?
Is there something I need totake?
And actually said brought backand said you don't need a water
filter.
You know, come to iceland, allour water's like triple
distilled volcanic, you candrink it.
I thought, great, okay, itdoesn't save me a lot of weight,
but maybe sort of size, fistsize.

Speaker 1 (28:13):
And time, I guess, to filter or something you know.

Speaker 2 (28:16):
Yeah, it's something else.
I take something else with me.
I don't, I don't need thefilter, so I left that and then,
as I found on that first night,I was down to my last like half
liter, like pint of water.
All of the water was eitherthese kind of yellow, sulfur
encrusted pools or glacialrunoff that was full of silt

(28:37):
which I could have filtered, Icould have used, but obviously
didn't have my filter with me.
So I just kept having to presson through the night and didn't
manage to get to the first, this, this first stop, until like 2
30 AM, at which point I'd fallenoff the bike three times, you
know, knees bloodied, exhausted,but weirdly kind of cheerful, I

(28:57):
think that was the thing.
Just being out in nature forsome reason.
Just there was some sketchymoments, but I don't know, I
just kind of, I just had thisenergy, this cheerfulness, that
kind of carried me through,which is strange because I was,
like I said, I was on my own andeverything I kind of, up until
that moment, thought about.

(29:17):
And if you're familiar with,like maslow's hierarchy of needs
, where you've got, you know youneed shelter, you need food,
and then you've got kind of, butyou know, belonging to a tribe
and you know love and all that,and the pinnacle of that is
self-efficacy, so being, youknow, the best version of
yourself and having a purpose.
Well, if I was like I wasliving, that I was there, I was

(29:38):
doing it.
I feel great doing this, butwithout all that other stuff, it
doesn't matter.
Like I was running out of waterthankfully never looked like I
was running out of food, youknow, lost at times, drenched
through cold, but just had this.
Yeah, just the kind of buzz toit, and I think part of that was

(29:59):
certainly doing it for for agreat cause.
Like I said, great ormondstreet, incredible.
My family have needed to usetheir services over the years
and they do incredible thingsfor children right across the uk
, not just, not just London.
So that was massive for me andI'm so glad that I did it and it
spurred me on to think aboutdoing more of the same.

Speaker 1 (30:18):
A couple of things I want to talk about, especially
with that first day.
So you said you got therearound noon, you got some
supplies, whatever, and as youget to the trailhead it sounds
like you said you were prettypumped, like you're like this,
is it?
I'm starting starting thisadventure.
Now, the stuff that happened inbetween that first stop was
kind of like you know, you'vefallen off your bike three times
, your knees are bloody, you'regetting beat up, you're, you're

(30:39):
having issues, the weather's notgreat, you don't even get to
the hut till two something inthe morning, but you still.
But and at that point though,you kind of got a renewed sense
of energy.
And this is only day one.
You still have quite a few morehours to go, a couple of the
areas.
So, anyway, that's just amazingto me that you had that whole

(31:00):
experience and the fact that youstill were positive.
Some people you know someonelike me, I don't know.
I mean, at the end of that dayone, I've been like man, I'm in
way over my head.
You know Talked man, I'm in wayover my head.
You know, talked about, yeah,that you said you had that
motivation of of the hospital inyour mind.
Yeah, but did you think aboutthose things as you're when,
when you had those tough momentskind of, how did you get
through those tough moments?

Speaker 2 (31:21):
Obviously, on the one hand, you know that there are
people in much hardercircumstances than yourself,
with a lot less experience.
People are you know, childrensuper vulnerable.
You know, and I, you know myeldest has been admitted to
hospital twice with likerespiratory illnesses over the
last few years and it's beenheartbreaking to watch and

(31:42):
thankfully he's been in and outwithin you know, a week each
time.
But for the families that aregoing through that, you kind of
have that in your mind, thinkingI'm doing this for a bigger
purpose.
Through that, you kind of havethat in your mind, thinking I'm
doing this for for a biggerpurpose.
But also, honestly, there's akind of like.
There is this don't, I can'tlet anyone down.
It's almost like a I don't saypride, but it's I've got to do
this.
Like whatever you're feelingnow you're hurting, whatever

(32:03):
you're, whatever's bleeding,forget it.
You, you've got to do this.
But there was a reallyinteresting moment when actually
that kind of I call itpress-on-itis you know, when you
just want to, I've got to presson, got to press on.
It's like a bit of a disease,right, you don't want to have
that take over and cloud yourjudgment.

(32:24):
So, as I said to you earlierlike.
This was my third trip toIceland.
The one before it was just atourist trip with my, my wife,
her parents and we went overtogether and my wife was seven
months pregnant with our, our,our first baby.
And, uh, and it was winter andwe were driving, we're trying to

(32:46):
find the arrowhead mountainfrom game of thrones, the some
of you might be familiar withand we'd left the hotel.
Okay, I'm gonna take this road.
And they yeah, that's fine,that's great.
Nobody told me at the carrental at the hotel no one, it's
not an excuse.
But nobody told me that youhave to check this particular

(33:06):
icelandic website where the, thehighways authority, tell you if
the road's closed, especiallyin winter.
You have to do it before everytrip.
I'd never heard of that and,like I said, it was my second
trip there, so I thought I wouldhave known that.
No, so we're driving along thisroad and it's getting worse and
worse and worse and there's snowand it's getting heavier and

(33:28):
heavier.
And I think, right, okay, well,it's going to be okay, I just
got gotta keep going.
And I can feel the tension inthe car.
Everyone's getting nervous andI'm having to feather the
throttle, kind of trying to usesome of my off-road driving
experience to keep the car goingbecause I think if we stop, I
haven't got a shovel, I haven'tgot any planks, I can't get us
out.
So I've got to keep themomentum going to try and find

(33:48):
maybe some sort of small hillthat I can turn the vehicle
around and go back on.
And it's just getting worse.
And there is a drop, it's a,it's a like a 40 percent incline
down into, like down the sideof this volcano covered in snow.
And if we went down that Iwouldn't be speaking to you now.
It was 100 guaranteed icy death, sea ice.

(34:10):
You're gone right.
And we managed to get out ofthere because one of the there
was a local guy came the otherway.
He's like waving us down.
The roads closed, roads closed.
What are you doing?
Come on, I take you around.
Thankfully, on the way back Idrive on the right in iceland.
On the way out, the right wasright next to this drop.
On the way back I had the, thebuffer of the kind of the lane

(34:31):
that I just come up it was.
It was awful, it was terrifying.
It was far scarier than any ofthe parachute experiences I've
had.
I've had malfunctions andthings go wrong in the air.
This was worse.
And when we got to a safe place, got into this um gas station,
I just felt this like adrenalinedump, just I kind of like

(34:52):
shaking, just felt exhausted.
So I always remember that.
So, fast forward to day two ofmy ride, I'm speaking to one of
the rangers saying, oh yeah, I'mgonna take this mountain pass
up to la manalaga.
She said you're going on thatpoint to my bike.
I said well, yeah.
I said how good, how good areyou on that?

(35:13):
And snow?
I said sorry, she goes.
Yeah, that mountain pass hasbeen closed for two weeks.
So again, sharing the route plan, assuming that people are
really looking at it in the samedetail.
I'm looking at it, possibly notasking the right questions or
directing them in the right waybeforehand.
That's been missed and all of asudden the entire plan to go

(35:36):
and do this route is now injeopardy.
She said well, you can go tothe next hut and see if they've
got some kind of update for you,but as far as I know, nothing's
getting through there at themoment.
So that was really hard to take, really hard.
That was kind of probably thelowest part of the whole thing,
just getting that news andthinking, no, I've got to, there
must be some way and thenrealizing that actually you can

(36:01):
kind of reframe what success is.
I promised everyone I was goingto come back.
It's pointless me going outthere and raising thousands of
pounds for charity if I don'tcome back, because I don't get
to do it again and then I reallyhave let people down.
That was always a commitment Ihad to everybody and myself to
come back in one piece to enjoythe experience.
But I really had this crisisthen of, well, have people

(36:23):
sponsored me to go into the wildfor 72 hours and, you know,
survive and thrive and do what Ican?
Or is it more about the 300kilometers, you know?
Is it that I kind of had this?
Well, if I only get to do, youknow, half of that, is that
embarrassing for me?
Like, how am I going to frontup to that?

(36:43):
How do I present that back topeople when they say could you
do it?
Could you not do it?
And then just trying torefigure, recalibrate the route.
There were things that wentwrong that you could see in the
video after that, but I thinkthat was kind of one of the most
important lessons for me thatyou, you can actually pivot.
And although I didn't do theintended route, the route that I

(37:04):
took was actually arguably moredifficult because it, rather
than take me through highcountry, it took me through low
country, and then I had rivercrossings galore, like you
wouldn't believe, which wasreally, really tough and you
know, hard going.

Speaker 1 (37:19):
Yeah, an experience I wouldn't have had, you know,
had the weather god's been beensmiling on me and uh, but then I
wouldn't have learned so manylessons that I took took from
that experience I want to talkabout those river crossings,
because that was something fromthe video that intrigued me a
lot was, first, the amount ofwater, and it's beautiful there,
though, just these runningwaters, these little waterfalls.

(37:41):
I mean it's just againotherworldly to me.
It just seems beautiful, butyeah, you're crossing these
things.
I think one time you wentthrough misjudging it and got
your foot wet, which you didn'tplan on doing.
I think you had some shoes thatwere made to go through the
water, but then you were wearingthe shoes that weren't
something like that.
Talk about some of these rivercrossings, some of those

(38:02):
experiences.
It doesn't sound like a lotgetting your feet wet.

Speaker 2 (38:06):
But when it's kind of like I say that you know the
winds are whipping up but youknow kind of miles an hour
probably.
You know 30, 40 miles an hourat times with rain, you kind of
want to have warm feet if youcan, but to stop at each moment
and take those, take the shoesoff, take the socks off and put

(38:26):
I just had like surf booties.
Stick the surf boots on waythrough.
You're going to get cold feet,but then you can dry them off
the other side.
But it takes time to do thatevery single time.
So I just kind of had thismoment where I thought you know
what it's only can't be morethan you know three, three to
five meters across this, this,uh, small river.
I'll just go for it.

(38:48):
And then before long I was kindof up above the axles, feet like
thrashing around.
Yeah, just kind of only hadmyself to blame.
There's no one else to to shoutout.
I was just kind of mildlyentertained by it to start with
and then realized well, I've gotthe rest of my.
You know I can either kind ofchange into dry socks, but
what's the point when you, whenyour shoes, are completely

(39:09):
soaking wet, so ended up I hadprobably a good good few hours
that day of wearing the surfboots.
Initially you got no, becausethere was only like a few, not
even a quarter of an inch ofinsulation on the, on the soles
there, so you can feel everyrock to start with.
But then you know, sure enough,within half an hour you can't

(39:30):
feel anything because your feetare numb.
So it was, it was a really nicerelief that evening to get, uh,
to get the stove on and startto thaw myself out in the tent
when you would get to the hut orwherever you were camping for
the night?

Speaker 1 (39:44):
did you kind of replay the day?
Were you just planning for thenext day, kind of what was your
sense, or are you just totallylike I'm just not even thinking
about anything?

Speaker 2 (39:51):
I think definitely the first night, when it was
like 2 30 am, I just wanted toeat some.
I mean, I thought I needed toeat something and then go to
sleep.
So I ate through necessity andthen just passed out.
And then every other evening Idid replay the day and I made
sure that I took time to write ajournal because it really
helped me to make the film.

(40:12):
I think I took a lot of lessonsfrom just transcribing it as
well.
I think I took a lot of lessonsfrom from just transcribing it
as well, cause it was all likeyou know, rough shorthand in a
notebook.
And then I took my wife when Igot back.
She's like what are you doing?
I'm staying up late on thelaptop typing this stuff out.
She's like what are you doing?
You get what are you going touse this for?
I don't know yet, but kind ofjust almost decompress these,

(40:37):
these thoughts.
So I was doing a lot of writingin the evenings and then also,
when I knew that I couldn't takethe one particular route,
trying to plan a different route.
And I was the thing when I Imentioned earlier with the 300k
and what would it look like if Idid a different route.
At one point I was thinkingmaybe I just go back the way I
came, get to the car, you know,and just do a road ride for,

(40:59):
like I don't know however manykilometers I needed to do, you
know, 200k, 120 miles, whateverto make it up to the 300 that I
committed to.
And then I realized, actuallythat's not what it's about.
It's not about that, it's aboutthe adventure.
It's about, you know, I wouldsay that adventure starts when
the plan falls apart and that'skind of so many of us don't use

(41:23):
that part of our brain where youhave to think about navigating,
or where am I going to getwater from next, and all these
kind of things that quiteprimitive.
They somehow make you feelalive when you're doing it and
that's that, for me, feels like,yeah, the right thing to do and
to continue the adventure.
So that's that's what I did,but certainly with the going

(41:46):
back to the river crossings,like you said, there was one
part where I hadn't, because Iwas in like kind of uncharted
terrain.
In terms of the, the researchthat I did was the, the full
circuit, the 300k.
This cut the corner quitedramatically, so that ended up
doing about 180, which is still,you know, not bad, but it took

(42:06):
me through this glacialfloodplain which is about two
football fields wide, and I kindof was presented with this.
It wasn't all water.
Thankfully there were theseshale banks interspersed between
myself and where I needed toget to, but they actually
presented a real challenge to,because once you're in the water
, you can't then see over theshale, so you're kind of almost

(42:30):
looking at it as kind of a chessboard, thinking right, okay,
these are my next three moves,and then when I get up to the
shale bank, then I'm going to beable to and and I'm on my own.
I hadn't seen anyone that day.
There's probably no one aroundfor, you know, tens of miles.
Yeah, that was probably one ofthe sketchiest moments.
Although in the video itdoesn't look like there's that

(42:52):
much water, actually there isplenty of water, there's plenty,
there's more than enough tosort of knock me off balance
with, you know, because I washauling my bike on my shoulder,
all my kit, like I said, wasabout 40 kilograms, about 80, 85

(43:14):
pounds.
I had a trekking pole, so I waswalking through with the
trekking pole, trying to feel myway, feel where the deep spots
were in the water, obviouslylooking around, were in the
water, obviously looking aroundbefore I went in.
Going back to kind of thevisualization thing I was was
practicing my actions on in theevent of an emergency.
If I get submerged, if I go in,what am I going to do?
Am I going to release the bike?
Am I going to try and haul itup with me?
What happens then?
I'm soaking wet.

(43:34):
I need to know exactly where mydry clothes are, where my stove
is, where my tent is.
I need to get that out.
Just so many things thatactually, if you just wait for
that moment, you could quiteeasily get overwhelmed.
And in an environment wherehypothermia can set in very
quickly, it was really importantfor me to do that mental
preparation before and thencommit to it.

(43:57):
Thankfully I didn't go in.
Yeah, definitely the thesketchiest moment and uh, one I
was very, very pleased to seethe other side of that river how
or what was the deepest part,like how deep did it get on when
you're carrying your bikethrough?
I didn't have to carry itanything more than like waist
deep.
It was okay with mid, mid thighand I tried to keep it that way

(44:20):
because obviously as soon asyou're submerging then you're
kind of riding in wet shorts,which is not fun and it's cold.
But I mean if I'd gone throughsome of the the car tracks
because they've got huge, hugecars I mean, I know, americans,
you've got big cars, icelandicpeople they've got big cars I
mean these things, they've gotbig cars I mean these things
mean business, huge, likemonster trucks If I'd have gone

(44:43):
through some of the tracks I'dhave been well up to my chest,
if not completely submerged.

Speaker 1 (44:49):
So I had to really pick my route, do a little recce
up the riverbank and make surethat I was comfortable as much
as I could when you were dealingwith that, because I know, like
you said too, you're having tobe meticulous through that part
of it so you don't fall in, youdon't submerge.
Did you ever have any momentswhere you're like, oh, am I
going to make this 72 hourtimeframe?
Because it's you got to be, yougot to be careful doing that?

Speaker 2 (45:16):
Did you ever have any moments where you're like, once
I realized that I wasn't goingto be able to do the distance?
The time was, yeah, okay, Ineed to to try and keep to that
in the, in the spirit of things,and I obviously had a return
flight to to go and catch atsome point.
But I also knew that each ofthe first three days was mostly

(45:37):
up uphill, even the rivercrossings.
It was like, you know, rivercrossing, then go, you're going
up and down and then rivercrossing and then the final hut.
I knew there was a.
It was the final hut that Istayed in was actually the one
that I intended to stay in.
Had I done the full circuit onthe final night, if that makes
sense.
So then that that final day wasmostly downhill.

(46:00):
So I knew that that was a realtailwind for me to try and make
up as much ground as I could,and the final day was just a
dream compared to the rest of it.
The sun was shining.
There's still, you know, somerivers to tackle and some soft
ground to navigate, but overallit was just.

(46:21):
Yeah, I had a blast it wasgreat fun.

Speaker 1 (46:24):
You were gifted something with that last day.
Then Downhill sunshining.

Speaker 2 (46:29):
Yeah, it was the perfect way to end the trip.
I know you've seen the video,so you'll know that I just
inexplicably ended up joiningthe last sort of 30 miles or so
of the rift gravel race that day, um, which is a big, big
off-road cycling event, andthere were hundreds of other

(46:52):
other cyclists none of them bikepacking, I should add.
They'll do the big circuit,just a sort of really lightly
loaded kit, maybe a couple ofwater bottles on there and the
bikes, and there's me with aback backpack, fully loaded
frame bag, handlebar bag, saddlepack riding and they were like
what is this guy doing?

(47:13):
So that was, that was quiteentertaining to to do that and
then to finish again, I didn'tplan it.
I parked my car there, you know,three plus days before, lo and
behold, they put up a inflatablefinish line, you know, with the
mc music and everything whichwas about, you know, no more

(47:34):
than sort of 100 yards from mycar.
So when they spotted me, hey,this, this guy's coming, I
thought, well, I've got to, I'vegot to ride through the finish
line Now, once I did that, theyhanded me a beer, handed me a
finishers patch, and I thought,well, yeah, this is my lucky day
.

Speaker 1 (47:52):
And that was the finish too, which is so funny
that that was set up for you.
I think one of the one of myfavorite parts of the film was
that end part where you areriding with these other riders
and there's vehicles too andthey're some of these riders in
this race are getting hesitantto cross the, the rivers.
You know they're across thewater, yeah, and you just like
are like you knew you're almostdone, you're just like I'm going

(48:14):
and you just went and I justthought that by that point.

Speaker 2 (48:16):
By that point, I did not care about getting wet.
I've been wet for three daysand actually it was quite nice,
because that was that day waslike.
It was 25 degrees c, which Ithink is about 78 fahrenheit.
So it's quite a nice day and Iwas.
I'll go cool off.
I don't know what you guys arewaiting for, so yeah, it was
good fun.

Speaker 1 (48:35):
So now that you've done this and I think it's
awesome that you did that, youdid it for a good cause, I think
it did something for you.
I mean, I could kind of see,just with you talking about I
love to see you know my guestsand just kind of the looks on
their faces when they, when theytalk about their experiences.
What do you think?
Are you gonna get out on somemore adventures?
What's kind of the plan for youmoving forward?

Speaker 2 (48:54):
yeah.
So I got this kind of crazyidea that I think I've got a
little bit of a hook in that 72hours in dot dot dot feels like
an accessible adventure thatmost people can kind of aspire
to do.
And I know you have incredibleadventurers on your podcast that

(49:17):
do amazing things and some ofthem take, you know, months or
years out of their lives to goand do it.
But for me, I'm not in a partof my life where I can do that.
I've, you know, got familycommitments.
I, you know, have a job.
I can't do it, but I got somuch out of doing what I did in
just 72 hours that I want totell everybody about the fact

(49:39):
that 72 hours you can have anincredible adventure.
I think it's.
You know, if you went for 24,well, you know, maybe you put an
overnight in there, but it'snot really.
You know, pushing it 48 hours.
Okay, where are you reallygoing to want to go to and get
back in that time?
You know, if I'm lookingoverseas, 72, 72 hours I think
is a really perfect amount oftime to go and rejuvenate, find

(50:04):
yourself, have that sense ofpurpose, that sense of belonging
outdoors.
Yeah, if, uh, if your listenersare interested, then please
follow my youtube at steven jferris, follow my instagram at
steven jris and actually, like Isaid at the top of the show, if
you Google Stephen James Ferris, you'll find my LinkedIn as
well and my website,stephenjamesferriscom.

(50:26):
I'm going to be putting morecontent out there, I'm going to
be having more adventuresthroughout the year and I'm
going to be thinking about whatpossible charities there are out
there that might be interestedto partner with me.
Also, yeah, very interested indoing more speaking engagements.
So if people want to hear moreof what I've got to say, if
maybe they want to have a kindof private showing of the movie

(50:47):
and the clip reels I've got frommy parachuting days and I'm
telling you all about theimportance of avoiding
presonitis being able to pivot,being able to remain cheerful in
the face of adversity.
You know where to come.

Speaker 1 (51:03):
Steve and James Ferris, just search that on the
internet and boom, find all yoursocials and all that
information.
I love the 72 hour thing.
I think that's fantasticbecause people like me too I'm,
you know, I've got a day job,I've got family commitments.
It's hard to, you know, bustaway for months at a time and do
things, so 72 hours, I thinkthat's a good, that's a good fit

(51:23):
for a lot of people.
I like that.
I think that's a great, greatplan and, yeah, I would
encourage anybody to reach outto you for that.
That's that sounds awesome.

Speaker 2 (51:30):
I'm trying to.
I'm trying to figure it outaround.
Where can I fly from the UK?
And I might even do one or twoin the UK, but where can I fly
from the UK, arrive and startriding the same day.
So there's no like setup day,it's just off.
You go, get the bike out, go,and I will be doing it
predominantly cycling, becausethat's just what I know and what

(51:51):
I love and I've got that kindof bug now from doing the bike
packing.
But yeah, I think high atlasmountains in Morocco I've kind
of done ice.
Now maybe do desert, dosomething, uh, something fun
there.
And then even I was lookinglike azerbaijan.
There's a national park justnorth of baku which may be a
stretch, because I think it'sabout a five-hour flight, but

(52:15):
depending on timings, you know,I'm just still in that kind of
exploratory phase.
But yeah, mark my words,there'll be more to come I love
it.

Speaker 1 (52:23):
We kind of touched on this earlier.
You kind of alluded to it, saida little bit about it, but it's
a question I like to ask onthis what does adventure mean to
you?

Speaker 2 (52:32):
yeah, I think you've got to have an element of
pushing outside your comfortzone.
So when I think back to mymilitary days, we had a model
you imagine the concentriccircles In the middle is comfort
.
Then you've got stretch andthen you've got panic on the
outside and the optimum wheregrowth happens personal growth

(52:55):
is in that stretch zone.
You don't want to go into panicbecause if you go into panic
actually you retract back intocomfort.
You don't want to go into panicbecause if you go into panic
actually you retract back intocomfort.
You don't want to go thereagain.
That's your happy place.
You've gone somewhere scary,you don't want to do it again.
But actually the bigger you canmake your stretch element then
the more you have a chance togrow.
So that for me is a big part ofan adventure.

(53:18):
But, as I said, I think youonly get there when the plan
doesn't go to plan, when whenthe plan falls by the wayside
and you've got to think on yourfeet because then that really
does.
I mean it.
Obviously it can go too far andit's oh no, I don't know what
I'm doing.
But actually if you've, ifyou've made that plan from the,
from the outset, then you'veprobably got a really good idea,

(53:39):
especially with the riskassessment that I did.
You've got a really good ideaof kind of what's sensible,
what's not.
So I think, had I just gone, I'mgonna press on, I'm gonna go to
the mountain pass, doesn'tmatter, I haven't got, you know,
snow tires, I haven't gotwinter gear with me.
Really, yeah, okay, maybe I'dhave made it through, but maybe

(54:00):
I'd have had a great video, butmaybe I'd be, you know, dead in
the snow drift.
So probably doesn't make toomuch sense.
Or even worse, actually one ofthe parts of the movie I show I
had a navigation error becauseof the, the low cloud and the
like.
I said it was just verydifficult to to judge which
mountain was which.
Had I done that at night?
Had I just pressed on likemountain was which?
Had I done that at night?
Had I just pressed on like Idid the night before and done

(54:22):
that?
But in a snowy mountain pass, Icould quite easily have just
fallen off a cliff somewhere.
I think, going back to yourquestion, it's very much about.
It's about challenge by choice,about, like, really figuring
out how far you're willing topush it, and that everyone's
limit is different, everyone'scomfort zone is different,
everyone's stretch zone isdifferent, but just pushing

(54:45):
yourself without getting intothat panic zone is where I would
say adventure lies finding thatstretch area, stretching it out
.

Speaker 1 (54:52):
I love it.
Steve, this was fantastic.
Thank you so much for forsharing your, your experiences
and who you are with all of us.
Thank you so much for coming on.

Speaker 2 (55:02):
Journey with Jake Really really appreciate it.
It's been an absolute pleasure.
Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Speaker 1 (55:06):
Thank you so much to my guest, stephen James Ferris,
for coming on the show andsharing his incredible
experience biking across Iceland.
If you want to follow alongwith Stephen and learn more,
visit StephenJamesFerriscom orfollow him on Instagram at
Stephen James Ferris.
Thank you again, stephen, forsharing your journey with all of
us, and a big thank you to allof you for listening.

(55:29):
I hope you've enjoyed February.
It's been a wild ride, witheight episodes this month from
Gary Arndt to Stephen JamesFerris.
We've had some amazingadventures and learned some
valuable lessons along the way.
Starting next Thursday, we'llbe back to weekly episodes and
I'm super excited for what'scoming up.
Next week I'll be chatting withChasen Hampton.

(55:49):
Chasen was a member of the allnew Mickey Mouse Club and the
music group, the Party.
Back in the late 80s and early90s.
I was a huge fan of the MickeyMouse Club, the Party, and Chas
the late 80s and early 90s.
I was a huge fan of the MickeyMouse Club, the party and
chasing himself.
So it's such an honor to talkwith him and hear his story.
I know you're going to love itjust as much as I did recording
it.
Just remember, it's not alwaysabout the destination as it is

(56:09):
about the journey.
Take care everybody, thank you.