Life In The Saddle

How far can we ride into the frozen wilderness? Will we experience comfort or despair under a blanket of snow? Will we find grip and traction on ice rink roads? Will we freeze? These questions, and many more alike, flash through our minds as we leave the port of Copenhagen — our ferry steaming ahead towards Oslo, the Norwegian fjords and the snow-covered forests beyond. An adventure into the unknown for three intrepid bikepacking musketeers. It is thick fog as we cruise into the Oslo fjord the following morning. The sun rises low in the sky, and we catch glimpses of the snow-covered landscape on the horizon. This is the land of the Vikings, and we'll need to summon their courage to ride out into the frozen wilderness. Our spiked ice tyres rumble on the tarmac as we head north west out of the city and into the hills. The roads soon empty of cars, and the snow deepens on the verges. It is not long before we leave the tarmac behind, ducking under a barrier that signals the start of a ...

The chalk download of the South Coast of the UK is a challenging testing ground for gravel tyres: in the dry, the trails are dusty and strewn with piercing flints; in the wet, the topsoil creates a slimy surface that tests any tyre to find grip. The Vittoria Terreno Mix Graphene 2.0 Tubeless Tyres are one of the few tubeless gravel bike tyres that I have used, abused, and continued to be impressed by – riding in truly varied conditions in this challenging environment. Summer gravel tyres are often semi-slick in profile: offering speed, flow and little rolling resistance. Mud tyres, by contrast, grip well in the slush, but are normally knobbly, noisy, and feel sluggish on any hardpack surface. Can a 'mixed' surface tyres really deliver a good compromise between grip and speed in wet and dry conditions, while also being puncture resistant and robust? Vittoria's Terreno Mix Graphene 2.0 Tyres promise to provide the optimum compromise. The wide-spaced aggressive lugs offe...

The OpenRock E Open-Ear Air Conduction Sport Earbuds are a budget-friendly choice aimed at cyclists and runners who value comfort, safety, and everyday practicality. They offer an accessible way to experience open-ear listening; something that I prioritise when doing outdoor exercise and adventures. The earbuds come in a compact charging case that charges using a USB-C cable. The design is lightweight and minimal, with soft silicone ear hooks that wrap around the ears. Because the earbuds sit outside the ear canal they avoid the pressure and discomfort you get with some in-ear models, this makes them particularly comfortable for long workouts or extended wear. While fit can vary depending on ear shape, I found them stable and barely noticeable once in place. Sound quality is typical of open-ear, air-conduction earbuds. Vocals are clear and easy to hear, making them good for podcasts, audiobooks, and casual music listening. Bass is present but limited, lacking the depth and impact of ...

For me, the gravel bike is everything. My skinny tyre road bike has been hung up for over a year, and my gravel bike is used for road based commuting, weekend blasts, shopping trips and bikepacking adventures. I have two gravel bikes: the Kona Private Jake and the Kona Sutra Ltd. The Private Jake is now my commuting rig, and I have been hunting for a tubeless tyre that offers speed, stability and all weather grip, both on the asphalt and for occasional off-road riding. In the Hutchinson Caracal tyre, I think I have found it. The Caracal is a 'fast' gravel tyre. It has a slick central strip, with small side knobs for added grip when cornering. The central strip allows you to roll quickly on light gravel and road based rides, and when you do lean the bike over, especially loaded, the lugs provide respectable grip. Venture offroad in wet conditions and you might be looking for more grip, but for fast summer trails without too many rocks, the Caracal is ideal. Hutchins...

Riding a bike is not just about turning the pedals. Your body and cycling will benefit from integrating strength and conditioning exercises that build your core strength, leg power, and help reduce the risk of injury. These five exercises are simple strength-building drills taken from yoga and 'functional trunk strength' (a.k.a. core stability) workouts; they will help increase your comfort on long endurance rides, and also aid cycling performance improvements. 1. Squats If you do one thing, SQUAT. Squatting is the most natural but most powerful weight training exercise that we can use for building cycling strength. The motion uses our powerful quadriceps, glutes, and lower back muscles in one fluid motion. The key thing with squatting is to display good form. You do not want to be bent over like a hunchback. A simple set of instructions for good squatting technique: Stand with your feet slightly wider than shoulder width apart, splayed at 30 degrees With your arm...

Wild camping and bicycle touring or bikepacking go hand in hand. Camping in fields, on beaches, and in remote rural locations means you can choose your camping spot; allowing far more freedom in terms of route planning and far more scope to account for adverse or favourable riding conditions. Wild camping is also an incredible way to get closer to nature. It lets you experience sunsets and sunrises in secluded places, and lets you truly escape from civilisation on your bikepacking adventures. There is also the fact that wild camping is free, and it is often the only choice for back-of-beyond bicycle touring. This blog post details my personal top tips for wild camping. The advice comes from experiences on hiking trips, and bicycle touring or bikepacking adventures such as the #RoadsFromRome , #7Countries7Passes , #CelticCrossTrail , and #CoastsandCols tours. Camping in the wild is an unforgettable experience—one that should be enjoyed by all. Hopefully, this wild camping g...

This year has been the first in decades that I haven't (yet) had my 'Mountain Fix'. The start of family life has been a wonderful adventure, but it has put many of my adventure plans on hold. Books have provided one means for me to live out those adventures vicariously, and to make many great plans for future ones. The Cairngorms and Perthshire are a beautiful and surprisingly accessible part of Scotland, which I have only very briefly visited in the past; a visit that left me with a strong feeling of wanting more. Markus Stitz's latest book provides everything you could need for planning a gravel adventure in the wild and wonderful Scottish landscape. With detailed route plans, genuine 1:50,000 OS Map inserts, GPX files, and stacks of local information on places to visit, equipment to take, and general safety advice; ' Gravel Rides Cairngorms and Perthshire ' is an indispensable resource for anyone wanting to visit Scotland and ride in this beautiful area. ...

The OpenRock S2 is a set of open-ear headphones that delivers on all fronts. These open-ear, hook-clip earbuds are designed to give cyclists—and all active users—a high-quality sound experience without sacrificing awareness or comfort. After a few weeks of riding with them, I am convinced that they are one of the best open-ear headphones I have tested to date. Lightweight Design Weighing in at the lowest end of its class, the OpenRock S2 is a masterclass in minimalism. Thanks to an ultra-fine titanium wire construction and a smart 3-point ergonomic support system (ear rim, ear clip, and ear wheel), the S2 rests on your ears very naturally. The design is both firm and feather-light, staying securely in place during aggressive rides, sprints, and rapid head turns. A “20° golden angle” optimizes the tilt of the earbuds to match your ear canal's natural curve, making for a truly universal fit. Unlike traditional in-ears, these do not require frequent adjustments and never cause e...

Sleep is the unsung hero of so many aspects of life. Good sleep is critical to recovery, physical performance, and mental health; for cyclists and athletes, a good night's sleep will probably make more difference than weight savings on your bike, or what you eat the night before a big ride. Yet, we do not, or sometimes cannot always prioritise sleep. There are multiple factors that can deprive us of good sleep: life factors such as work or family, as well as controllable factors known as 'sleep hygiene'. I became a dad at the start of this year – a 'life' factor, and the sleep deprivation is very real and uncontrollable. I have felt the effect on my energy levels, recovery and performance. The feeling of getting poor sleep, sometimes 2.5 hours a night for several weeks, made me realise how important sleep is to your wellbeing and your cycling. It also got me wondering, how many people suffer from poor sleep longer term? And while we cannot always control 'l...