ALPKIT'd since 2009

In 2009 I had just started in to a deal with a UK bike brand, adventures were planned but these adventures needed equipment from a more outdoors and camping style company so the search to find a compatible brand was on .. a company who would support me and work with me to make sure I always had the right kit for the job ... a short list was drawn up and in 2009 at an outdoor show which I can't remember the name a relationship was born.

I remember first impressions of the Alpkit stand at this particular show, as with Alpkit it was not only style but substance and there was offerings of all new kinds of kit.  The stand was mainly staffed by friends and the people that Alpkit support and straight away that was a stand bonus ... a company with its feet firmly on the ground ( or in a boat or on a rock face) still out there doing cool stuff and appreciated by those they support.  Frequently a customer would come to the stand and the discussion was usually along the lines of what kit they already had like it was a collection they were amassing.

So my first point of call was a sit down with one of the originators of the brand, Jim Evans, from the offset we were definitely all on the same page and I left positive that being an Alpkit sponsored rider was a fantastic opportunity.  A few weeks later a 65l dry bag arrived stuffed to the brim with product... so my Alpkit adventure began.

From the initial meeting with Jim I was then in time introduced to the other 'founding fathers' ... Nick Smith and the brothers Col and Kenny Stocker.

During my time with Alpkit I have been mostly subjected to some wild equipment experiments in the name of progress with Nick and Jim using me to guinea pig where possible and Col and Ken documenting the process ... usually with a happy ending.

I trawled through my blog and pulled out some images that I thought summarised my Alpkit experience ..

I can say dealing with Alpkit has never produced a dull moment and the pictures don't go even part way to portray the experience through adventure that these guys have always helped enable and often come along too.

I recently made a trip to see the guys at the newish much larger warehouse, showroom and importantly factory and over a few coffees the future was discussed and promises even more positive experiences.

Proud to say I am an Alpkit'er :)

Huge thank you ALPKIT !!!

When the opportunity arises ... ride it !

The bicycle for some is simply a form of transporting yourself from point A to point B but for the me its the reason too travel.

The formula I work to is very simple ... Find an event or a spot you want to travel too ... Contact as many local people as you can find .. Ride and sample someone else's local spot.

The cycle (no pun intended) is self perpetuating as the more you travel and the more people you meet the further your horizons are expanded.  Chat to a new rider for 10 minutes and already you have another big stack of possibilities laid out in front of you.  I believe as I travel through life that owning and riding a bicycle has opened up so much possibility and experience I would of otherwise never have had.

With my simple outlook to take hold of any opportunity to travel it was not a hard decision to travel with Grace to a conference in San Francisco.. While Grace furthered her knowledge in her academic field I would expand my knowledge in my chosen field.. path, forest, road etc.  With the destination set all I needed to find were the local riders and local spots to ride.

The event of extensive social media sites has made finding people to ride with easy.  Forget the seven degrees of separation theory as cycling is a much tighter knit community and you will no doubt know someone through only one or two friends.  In this case my nearest port of call was Errin Vasquez in LA, sure enough Errin was quick fire to come back with 2 guys I could contact ... Erik Mathy and Andrew Gentry Law ... and as an added bonus Errin could make a trip to ride too.  A plan was coming together.

On arriving in San Francisco the first point of business was to get hold of a bike and luckily Erik had a Salsa Vaya I could use, only a size too big but it would be fine.  The first taste of riding in SF was the West Bay area.  Kindly picked up by Andrew we made out way over to meet Erik and Errin at Erik's place in Almaeda.  From there the plan was simple .. roll some local tracks and streets and whenever the mood took us stop for coffee, beer, pizza etc.

Straight away the mutual love of 2 wheels and riding eased the conversation along as rides past and present were discussed, coffee was drunk and local small stores were visited.  Later that day we met with Lucas Winzenburg of Bunyan Velo fame and Gabe Ehlert, a local rando rider and talented designer of the Box Dog Bikes Pelican frameset.  A plan for the following days ride was established.

Mt Tam and German Sausage

Mondays ride started at the Ferry Building, Erik, Errin and myself were joined by Gabe and his friend Jake for a trip out to Mt Tam.

The ride started steadily tracking along the bay toward and eventually crossing the Golden Gate Bridge, again another cool moment afforded by cycling.

Mt Tam lays beyond the Marin headlands and as we rolled through the local towns I wondered when the climb was going to start.  Every little town seemed to have provided the inspiration for a Marin Bike name so I tried to remember what each model looked like as a mental challenge.  It wasn't long before we rode through a tree lined road to the start of the Railway Grade trail that would take us to the summit of MT Tam, both east and west summits !

The climb was a dirt road that never really had a huge gradient due to its previous use as a rail track for tourists to climb the mountain, but what the climb may of lacked in gradient it made up for in duration.

We climbed in the sun on dry trails and it really was perfection on a bike.  After a mile or so of climbing we stopped at the first view point, we sat for a few minutes and soaked up the view looking back toward San Francisco and scoured the hillside picking out the great network of trails that exist here.

From our first viewpoint we looked up and could just see the trail we were heading for and the forest service lookout point which was the first summit we would aim for, there was still a lot of climbing to go.

As ever the gradient was always steady, the sun was shining and the view and trail was superb at all times.  Gabe took up the front of the group and steadily we made our way up even opting for the steeper tarmac section to finish the east peak.

There was a a variety of bikes within the group ... a definite lean toward the rando steel set up with the vaya filling the gap between them and Erik's loaner steel singlespeed mountain bike :)

After the east peak there was still more to come with a short descent then the climb up the west peak .. after that though the descending started and it was as long as the climb !!

Swooping turns were coming fast as I tried to keep Gabe in sight, I watched his rear light glow brighter as we dipped into more dense wooded areas the further down the descent we got, always mindful of the drop in temperature and the potential for patches of ice.  Gabe quickly rode away effortlessly leaving us all to regroup at the base of the descent on a dam.

Discovering that at the base of the dam out of the reach of any sunlight a small pond was frozen so like a bunch of kids we spent a while throwing rocks down to listen to the crazy reverberation of rock striking ice.

All that laid before us now was another much smaller climb and a descent to lunch .. a German sausage joint with an entire wall dedicated to bike racks .. bike friendly ? very much so !

Stomachs full we rolled the last few miles to the ferry terminal and travelled back to San Francisco boat assisted.

Time for a final coffee stop was made then a roll back to the hotel ever mindful of the traffic and differing rules of the road :)

A great day out with great people and one that will stay with me for a while.


I love San Francisco

I was lucky enough to manage a few local city rides after that and also a day out just me and Gabe where we travelled south and took in the beautiful coastline not to mention another epic forest and dirt road climb this time with more serious gradient and an even windier descent.

San Francisco really offered me so much potential to ride as with little effort you can be beyond the city and in to some fantastic scenery .. something I am used to in the UK but trails and rides on a US scale are fairly impressive.  New friends were made and more riding memories were stored to be reflected upon at a time when I cannot ride anymore ... such a fantastic place and fantastic people.

I guess my biggest memory from the week was non bike related when I finally got the right place and the right time at Yosemite to ask Grace to marry me and she said yes !  A whole new chapter of life started from that point on with more planning, organising and travel to be organised .. but that's what we both love.

Thanks Errin for the use of your images, Thanks Gabe for some good routes and excellent company,  you taught me a lot about raccoons and a huge thanks to my new friend Erik Mathy for the loan of your bike and a few great nights out !!

Winter Miles, Winter Smiles.

In truth the saying actually goes ‘Winter miles, Summer smiles’ … its popular in my local road club as a mantra of encouragement to get out during the bleak north east England winter as come summer those who have chosen the cosy sofa over the damp saddle will then be put to the sword.

I myself believe that winter smiles are just as important to set up for the coming years challenges. You come of winter deflated and demotivated then that’s the attitude you will take to your goals.

Cycling is such a diverse sport that with a few variations on the theme of a bike you can see out the whole year and keep your riding fresh. Those blessed with actual real seasons seem to make the transition from thin to fat bikes seamlessly as snow descends (annoyingly to those without snow well documented across social media). Unfortunately the weather here at home to coin a Guitar Ted phrase is ‘Consistently inconsistent’.

At best here we hope for dry, bright and cold though our default weather setting from October sometimes as late as April or May is wet, windy and generally bleak.

I could opt for the cosy sofa and pay the summer price, I could grind out the miles senselessly in all-weather at risk of losing all motivation (I often have to) but what I would rather do is look for those winter smiles.

The best way I can achieve my winter smiles is to mix up my riding as much as possible over winter though I don’t really want to wear all my bikes in mud and grit better to have one well-kept do it all machine, reducing time and money spent on consumables is also essential in winter smiles attainment… what I use is a ‘Do it nearly all’ machine.

There is only one choice for me when I come to my garage to go riding… my Warbird.

On the tin it says it’s a gravel bike though in reality it’s so much more than that. Its great on the road bridging sections of trail seamlessly, it rides efficiently enough to cover good distance, off road it adds an extra challenge to trails previously ridden on fatter tyres. These are not just traits only found with the Warbird they are also true of all bikes with some semblance to cyclocross bikes.

The great Belgium sport of cyclocross has bred a whole host of variations on what was initially a road bike with better grip and mud shedding clearance.

Not only can I race cyclocross every weekend locally fulfilling the desire to put on a number but I can also efficiently ride the trails to and from the race. My mid-week night ride is a mix of trail and dirt stitched together through winter weekend reconnaissance rides with friends. The Warbird is my do it all machine for winter.

Every weekend is now spent with an exploratory Saturday ride with friends … we hunt for new and interesting sections of trail and path previously unridden, if we have always turned left at a junction we turn right, if we spot an opening in the woods we go for it .. often with many comic consequences.

Weather and season don’t dictate the level of enjoyment you can have on a bike…. the bike you choose to ride, the people you ride with and the places you ride do.


As we transition from autumn to winter I am sure there are many winter smiles ahead to be had.

Its back !! low tyre pressures and skinsuits .. Cross Season !

A few years back I decided to do some cross racing, mainly just on a whim as it was something I wanted to experience more than anything.  Being an 'Endurance' rider on paper cross really shouldn't suit me.  After a few races and a steep learning curve I could manage a top 10 in local races .. I was hooked from then on.

Before I realised it I was watching Belgian cross races in Flemish while I turbo trained and had bought myself a skinsuit to race in not to mention investing in expensive tub tyres.  My life at the weekend was all about tyre pressures.

The season after my first I managed to race only up to Christmas having to stop to train longer miles for the Dirty Kanza 200, last season I couldn't race at all with Trans Iowa so early in the year my winter was all about the big weekend miles.

2014 is still a work in progress as far as my racing is concerned so while I decide on my race schedule I am taking all opportunity to get back out on a muddy field for an hour plus a lap.

This season I have been lucky enough to enlist the support of All City Cycles in the form of a disc based Macho Man to race on ... after subtracting a chainring and adding some aggressive clinchers the bike is set.

Last weekend saw my first cross race in near 2 years .. a fast and painful experience but one that has definitely reignited my love for the sport.

The race was local, the weather was reasonable and the course was technical in its content ... technical in a cross sense is as many off camber tight cornering as you can squeeze in to a mile long circuit.

My bike handling was dubious but my overall fitness was pretty good ... good enough for a 9th place opener to my season.

The All City Macho Man had seen 20 minutes of use prior to the race and out of the box it felt great ... the steel frame is super comfortable whilst the geometry did its best to correct all my poor line selections.

Looking forward to the rest of the season, getting to know my bike a little better and improving my results sheet :)

Images courtesy of Mark Straughan

Birkebeiner Race Norway

Looking back through the blog posts I have made I can track a definite progression of my movement away from mass participation events toward more low key intimate events. I guess this is mainly as these smaller events tend to be the most challenging ... the tougher you make something the smaller the number of people who are gonna show to suffer.

So finding myself on a start line with less than 200 guys around me didn't feel out of place ... the fact that maybe 5000 had already started the event ahead of me that morning and over the course of the morning 11,000 more would be joining me was mind blowing.

Racing bikes affords me not only the opportunity to suffer with friends new and old but also fulfill my passion for travel ... nothing gets you more ingrained in a new place than being absorbed in to a cycle event.  If you love the outdoors then at some point you will of been alerted to the huge potential Norway offers, a nation of outdoor sport lovers over all seasons this country has a lot to offer.

When I was contacted by Singletrack Magazine about a ‘gravel’ race in Norway I was instantly keen to know more, then when I found out there was the opportunity to travel with a photographer to cover the event I agreed to do it, then when I found out it was the largest mountain bike race in the world with an entry field of 17,000 I was stunned.

17,000 riders !!!!  The Birkebeiner bike race is truly massive !

The event is a 94km race from Rena to Lillehammer using the network of gravel roads.

The trip started on the Thursday before the race with meeting my travelling companion, photographer Henry Iddon (http://henryiddon.com/), and 2 hours of wrangling with check in at the airport due to some confusion over the ticket booking as I had at the last minute replaced another traveler.

Having not met Henry we quickly eased into conversation with a mutual love for cycling, travel and general misadventure.

The Birken race organisation had sent one of the organisers, Jean Francois, to meet us at the airport and we were joined by 2 other journalists from Denmark and Finland as well as a representative from Innovation Norway who look after the marketing of tourism and trade of Norway.

Jean Francois took us to the town of Elverum where we would be staying some 30km or so from the start of the race at Rena.  With time to kill myself and Henry took a look around the town of Elverum with its interesting bridges and immaculately presented town centre, the feel of a clean living kind of place was very apparent.

Friday, bikes built up and time to go for a ride.  A leg spinner was organised by Jean Francois and a local route of around 30km was led by the chef of the hotel we were staying in.  We pedaled straight out of Elverum in to the forest that surrounded the town.  The route was mostly gravel with occasional bike path, the weather was overcast but still warm and the whole forest was absolutely silent aside from the sound of tyres rolling on gravel.

In the afternoon after lunch we made a trip to the forestry museum complete with historic chain saw collection and a tracked tractor for felling in the winter, the walls were lined with pictures of seriously weathered woodsman, Norway is a nation of people bred for the outdoors.

After the museum we traveled to Rena, the town hosting the start, to sign on for the race and it was here we got our first taste of the scale of the event and the organisation.

As we parked up on the freshly graveled car park we were told that in the last few years the weather had been bad and the car park had become a muddy mess. In the UK we would combat difficult parking ground by making sure the local farmer was on hand to pull people out but the Birken organisation just bought a lot of hardcore and surfaced the 1000 car parking area !

The Birken team is a permanent staff of 20 organising a number of large events all through the year the biggest being the bike race and the XC Ski event.  The sign on was in a warehouse they own, a team of volunteers distributed the race packs from rows of wooden racks to an endless stream of riders pouring in.

This is no fly by night race organisation the set up is permanent and a masterclass in race promotion.

Race day was as always an early start with another of our party opting for the first group off at 7.00am whereas I had gone with 8.30am. The race due to its size offers 67 start groups at 5 minute intervals.  My start time meant that Henry could start at 8.00am getting far enough the road to find a good spot to set up for a shot of me racing.

As we had time to kill while waiting for out start attention turned to our respective pack weights.  An added element to this race is the requirement to carry throughout the race a pack weighing at least 3.5kg.  This pack weight is a homage to an epic journey in Norwegian history made by the original Birkebeiners who carried a child to safety travelling on dangerous tracks via skis.  Obviously Henry with his equipment was well over the limit, Thomas the Innovation Norway representative was about to embark on his first race so had nervously over packed while the Finnish element to our group Petri had brought weights from his training belt.  My bag however seemed a little on the light side and with a possible DNF on offer if I didn't pass the finish line weigh in I grabbed a cobble from a ditch and shoved it in my Alpkit Gourdon pack for good measure.

The start of the race was textbook, nervous energy a plenty meant the early pace along the first few km’s of tarmac was high, too high for my singlespeed gear.  I was quickly dispatched toward the back of our start group until we reached the bottom of the first long climb.

As tarmac turned to gravel I found it harder to turn the pedals, fortunately so did everyone else in the group and I soon saw myself climbing past and beyond the riders I had started with sighting the stragglers from the group in front.  As the climb continued the weather deteriorated to low cloud and drizzling rain.

The end of the climb was proceeded by an extended period on the flat before descending, with no gearing to push on I was forced to just sit and spin and it wasn’t long before the hum of tyres on gravel could be heard.  I was passed by what seemed like a constant stream of riders. Damn !!

When the descending was loose and fast I had no defense against the faster geared riders .. when a little more care was needed on the descents I couldn’t afford to use any.

Every time we would reach a climb I could turn up the speed having some resistance on the pedals to push against and I would reel in rider after rider though I knew that once I had ridden over 60km then the course trended downhill to the finish and I would again be helpless against cassette and derailleur.

The course was on the whole a tree lined gravel affair but it was constantly punctuated by groups of supporters who had turned out even in the poor weather to offer shouts of support, cook up some meat on a grill and generally have a good time.

As I passed more and more ‘Km to go’ signs a nagging pain in my lower back grew and grew, I would normally expect some temporary discomfort racing hard on these long climbs as you try to muscle the singlespeed gear but this wasn’t shifting and I had decided it must be down to the pack weight I was carrying.

With 5km to go we past a XC Ski course and not long after we rode beneath the impressive Lillehammer ski jump, its height and severity of slope testament to the lunacy of ski jumpers.

Directly after the ski jump we rode in to a wide, steep and loose gravel descent.  My brakes hadn’t felt great for the last 20km and as much as the marshal waved his flag with ever increasing panic as I rode toward him I needed all the run out beyond him to make the left hand turn.

A few loose turns later I was done ... the finish village was huge with already thousands of finishers and spectators enjoying the food and drink on offer.  

Parking my bike up in the secure bike park I was in real discomfort as I rushed to undo my pack and get the millstone from round my neck.  As I lifted the pack from the point of my back where I felt the most pain I could feel the shape of my last minute pack edition ... the cobble !! The stupid thing had been nestled in my lower bike the entire race !

After a few trips through the finish line feed station and a shower I was back to normality and able to enjoy watching the elite mens race on the large finish line screen.  The exciting finish of the elite race unfolded as a lone solo rider who had broken away early was caught as he did his best to steer a bike with a flattening front tyre down the final loose descent eventually relegated to 3rd place.

A huge thank you to the Birkebeiner organisation and Innovation Norway for facilitating this fantastic experience.  I got to ride an event I may never have entered and not having experienced it would of been a real shame.  I met new people and made new friends.  I got to take a look at the cycling spectacle which is the 17,000 riders of the Birkebeiner.

Even with poor bike selection, less than perfect weather and a poorly placed cobble I am enthused about this event and already looking at the possibility of taking part in the Ultra Birken.  The Ultra Birken takes place the day before on a 120km course much more technical and exposed to the elements ... sounds perfect J

Thanks to;

Visit Norway

Birkebeiner race Organisation

Henry Iddon

Chipps @ Singletrack Magazine

Alpkit

Salsa Cycles

Taking the time to ‘ride’ your bike

Taking the time to just ride your bike ... seems like a straight forward statement but when I analyse how much time I spend just ‘riding’ a bike it stacks up to a pretty small percentage of the time I spend on a bike. 

To offer some clarity to what seems like a pretty dumb statement ‘riding’ a bike is to be free from the constraints of time, structure and pressure of a goal or target.

Most the time my cycling is focused... I know when the next race is and how I need to prepare for it .. this dictates what I ride, how I ride and where I ride ... its not free from joy as no time spent cycling is ever negative in my view as there are always a million worse situations you could be in but to just be on a bike with no agenda doesn’t happen very often.

Weather at the moment in the UK is outstanding ... our summer has finally arrived and after many hours spent in the cold and rain its finally shorts and short sleeve time ... so a long weekend was outlined .. Friday ride west.. bivi ... Saturday turn and ride back east ... bikepacking so no destination was required just a place to throw a sleeping bag down.

The only route planning was an offer of mine to ride a proposed section of a long distance bikepacking race route in UK .. other than that we had a map and a Garmin.

The Friday morning started with meeting Adam Cooke on Newcastle Quayside and from there we set off west.

Any opportunity to stop for a photo or a cold beverage was taken ... without a planned route the ability to impose any kind of expected timescale was impossible and pretty liberating .. even when you try and have an easy ride often it ends in you challenging yourself to complete in a certain time .. we didn’t want that here .. it was a timing free ride and exactly the unplanned nature we were looking for.

The riding was varied .. we explored the offroad trails we hadn’t previously ridden and generally just took a look around at places we would of usually gassed straight through in pursuit of a pre determined time or destination.

When time came to stop for the night we were close to 10pm and still with light we could take our time looking for a good spot to bivi.

The following day took in similar riding as we picked our way home exploring new roads and stopping at cafes we had never visited before.

Safe to say the mood was high due to the weather but I think the simplicity of just riding a bike with no agenda also played some part in the enjoyment of these few days.

I think without trying to offer any degree of forward planning this is the kind of riding I need to make extra time for .. no agenda and the only plan to be outdoors on bikes for a few days.

There is a time for racing and training but sometimes its equally as rewarding to leave the watch at home.

‘Highland Bail’ forces a rethink

When you know a race or event is going to come to a premature end the mental process of evaluation starts and self questionning begins as to why you are finding yourself in a position no longer able or wanting to continue.

I knew I wasn’t going to be racing the Highland Trail 400 I just wanted to overcome my mental block on riding for multiple days self supported ... I have tried before at Grenzstein Trophy and though the legs are good the mind is always weak.

This isn’t my attempt to blog my efforts at the Highland trail as there really isn’t much to talk about there ... in fact its taken me so long to sit down and write this its kind of irrelvant other than the event forced me to have a think about my year again ... in short the event route I did ride was amazing and I would like to ride more of it.

So why do I think my efforts came to an end in Scotland even at at touring pace ... I can lay the blame at the door of being tired from Trans Iowa but in reality I felt pretty good ... I think I just didn’t want to finish enough.

At the start of the year or even more importantly before that I knew I would be supported by Salsa Cycles in the US .. a real honour for them to take the gamble to support a rider outside the US and a rider who if we are honest doesn’t see a lot of podium top steps .. what I offer is huge variety in my means of suffering.

So with a new sponsor to impress I went at my events calender like a hungry man at an all you can eat buffet .. with no reservation I piled on as many big events and rides as I could ... I trained hard and in all weathers .. when Trans Iowa came around I felt great .. I swallowed that big helping of Iowa gravel and came home feeling good ... but my appetite had been reduced so when I showed up in Scotland for the Highland Trail I was near full already.

After a few days of riding progress wasn’t fast ... trails were good and riding companions entertaining but I had ridden enough and with a new event in Portugal to ride in August I decided to just come home and reset ... no schedules or agendas ... just riding for fun .. its an absolute must and the only way anyone I believe can sustain an appetite for these events.

After a month or so of time away from focussing on events I am refereshed and freshly enthused by those I know tackling some huge riding challenges of their own.

Looking forward to Portugal in August and satisfying my renewed appetite for racing.