'Three times a week, for six months, I hung weights off my head to strengthen my neck' – the agony and ecstasy of setting a cycling world record

Caroline Livesey on the TT bike and when training with head weight.

This time last week, endurance athlete Caroline Livesey was approaching Inverness, racing towards the end of an absolutely extraordinary bike ride, well ahead of schedule in her attempt to set a new women’s speed record while cycling around Scotland’s North Coast 500 route.

Livesey didn’t just break the existing female fastest known time (FKT) for the NC500, she smashed it to pieces. The Scottish gravel rider and ultra triathlete completed the 516-mile challenge in 32 hours and 22 minutes, knocking four hours and 17 minutes off the previous FKT, and setting a new official world record, now checked and ratified by the World Ultra Cycling Association (WUCA) and recognised by Guinness World Records.