Tough Girl Podcast Emma Karslake, FRGS, is an adventurer, writer and cycle tour guide who has spent much of the past eight years exploring the world by bike.
From ultra-light hotel bikepacking on a road bike to six-month expeditions in remote regions on a heavily laden hybrid, Emma has experienced nearly every form of bike travel, including ultra-endurance racing.
She is a passionate advocate for slow travel as a means to reconnect with nature, embrace minimalism, and discover alternative ways of living. Her travels have shaped a deep commitment to sustainability, wild camping with minimal impact, and challenging the idea of nature as a park or playground, separate from our everyday lives. You can sign up to her newsletter for monthly updates and tips.
She is particularly keen to empower others, especially women, to embrace solo adventures, and she shares both practical guidance and philosophical reflections through her writing and events.
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Show notes
- Who is Emma
- Working as a cycling journalist and tour guide
- Moving around a lot and not really having a home base
- Currently writing a guidebook on French Guiana
- Having a normal childhood and not being particularly sporty
- Growing up in France and starting running at 16
- Running and rowing throughout university
- Taking a gap year after university and heading to South America in 2016/2017
- Fundraising for 6 months before starting from Ushuaia and heading to Lima in Peru.
- Having a very small/tight budget
- Wild camping as much as possible
- What it was like on the trip - starting in January and dealing with prevailing winds all the way
- Travelling in a group of 3 and what it was like
- Being totally tolerant for a month
- Doing a few more little trips, before heading with her partner on a European cycle trip
- Journaling on the trip and writing a little bit each evening
- Her bike set up and how it's changed over the years
- Getting a vintage road bike, a carbon road bike, a gravel bike….
- Dealing with saddle sores
- Brooks Leather Saddle
- Planning and logistics
- Spreadsheets….
- Route planning and starting with google, to find official routes, or to see if other people have created a route
- bikepacking.com
- komoot.com
- Thoughts on being brave
- Managing personal fears
- Encountering risk in everyday life
- Following gut instinct
- Moving away from being a nice girl
- Travelling on your own
- Being allowed to change your mind
- Deciding to do more cycling competitions
- Ultra races and why the winners are the ones who sleep the least
- Trying out new challenges
- How expensive ultra endurance races can be
- The joy of long trips and how it can change your perspective of time
- The dream 6 month to a year trip
- Wanting to go back to South America or cycling from Europe to Asia
- Being content with taking her time on trips
- The cycling guidebook about French Guiana.
- How to connect with Emma online
- Final words of advice for other women who want to go on adventures and discover more of the world
- Do it in a simple and gradual way.
- The power of keeping it simple
Social Media
Website: www.emmakarslake.com Newsletter: www.emmakarslake.com/newsletter Insta: @emma_up_cycles Linkedin: Emma Karslake