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Hunt Beyond Brand Manager, Josh, getting ready for Bikingman

PODIUM FOR JOSH AT BIKINGMAN OMAN

After starting his year with a Costa Del Sol epic, our man Josh has put in a solid performance at this year's BikingMan Ultra in Oman. Ahead of his crack at the Tour Divide, we'll be filling you in on how Josh prepares throughout the year. Everything is just training, until then.

To add just that bit more difficulty, Josh decided to fly into Dubai and ride 515km to the race start over two rides. What's more, is he did the first 310km ride at an average speed of over 30kmh... Unreal... Oh and he also bagged the KOM on the brutal Jebel Shams climb during the race itself.
Getting sendy on a gravel bike

GROVE GRIND 100

Right then... we've had a couple of sunny days now, so it's time to start fantasizing about summer. Short sleeves, no leg warmers or tights in sight, tan lines a-plenty, maybe even a cold alcoholic beverage or three.

To get you all in the mood, we thought we'd share this video of Grove Bike Co'sinaugural Grove Grind 100 over in Australia - a ride comprising of "100km of rough and raw fireroads around Sydney's Northern Beaches, the home of Grove Bike Co. Scorching temps, pounding sandstone, an arvo storm and locally-brewed beers from Nomad Brewing Co to round it all out - a cracking day indeed."
Steve and partner picking up gold

ON THE DROPS WITH STEVE BATE MBE

This week, we've been catching up with a rider who needs no introduction (mostly because we've already featured loads of his ridiculously epic riding). Steve Bate was a prolific climber, with sights on a solo attempt at the ridiculously tough El Capitamn in Yosemite, until he was diagnosed with Retinitis Pigmentosa in late 2011. After losing his driving license and ability to independently do the thing he loved, he turned to cycling.

For a hobby taken up as a second choice, Steve happens to be quite handy on a bike. This guy covers ground like carpet, it's absolutely unreal. He recently rode 501km across Scotland in 22hrs and 20mins. Not bad for a guy who's rapidly losing what remaining vision he does have left. He's an inspirational rider and all-round decent bloke, who won't take no for an answer.
Steve riding in the hills of Argyll

"Wild about Argyll" by Steve Bate

It was quite a challenge to convince Ibrahim to head to the south west coast instead of the north west, like we usually do for adventures in Scotland. We’ve shared many outings, climbing and biking in the north west, as it offers endless possibilities for people in search of remote adventures. But heading towards the big city of Glasgow instead of away from it, ran against the grain of our long time adventure history. I’d come across the Bike Packing Scotland website, when they had just released a short film called Wild about Argyll. Apart from getting married on the banks of Loch Lomond six years ago, almost to the day, I hadn’t spent any time in the south west and this little video sparked my interest.
Jenny Graham riding with all smiles

LESS THAN 1000KM TO GO IN ROUND-THE-WORLD RECORD

Round-the-world rider Jenny Graham is edging nearer to her final destination in Berlin. With less than 1000km to go, the Adventure Syndicate at the time of writing is crossing the Belgian/Dutch border. After putting in some huge miles, including a huge day which clocked in at over 300km with only 5 hours sleep, Jenny is determined to reach Berlin and smash the world record of 144 days.
Steve Bates smiling, ready for the adventure

PROJECT24: EDINBURGH TO THE NORTH SEA

Stephen Bates is more than just a bike rider. He is an adventurer, World Champion, Olympian and being a vision impaired rider and inspiration to what is possible. Coming off his win at the recent World Championships in Vancouver, Canada on the Velodrome, Stephen decided to take on a more endurance-focused challenge. Here is his story riding from Edinburgh to the North Sea.

Hunt Open Dev Team

GRAVEL RIDING HEAVEN? ROB HARWOOD HEADS OUT TO WALES

If there is one rider who embraces the weekend epic it is OpenDev rider Rob Harwood. Not one to shy away from distances which exceed 300km, Rob is the man when it comes to riding a really long way in a single day. He's not out to break record, nor is he out to impress, but he's out to do what we all love - ride his bike.
As the co-founder of Colvelo Collective, he organises a range of weekend 'monuments' throughout the year as well as the odd trip from their native Colchester to the Welsh hills.
Josh's bike in the Gloucestershire countryside

ON THE DROPS WITH JOSH IBBETT

Josh 1

Adventure rider, Josh Ibbett, has now returned to the UK with us extending out a big warm 'welcome back to the team’! We can’t believe that it has taken so long for us to catch Josh for the dreaded On The Drops! probably because he has been on some col in the Pyrenees or in a Mexican desert…

Cal Nicklin, Mason rider and staff

ON THE DROPS INTERVIEW: Cal Nicklin

Cal 1

Cal has been with the Mason tribe since the early days. As Mason’s first full time employee, he has seen the company go from strength to strength. Spending time pedalling around Sussex on his road machine and mountain bike, Cal prefers to keep it real and simple with his riding... although on the morning commute with the rest of the Hunt guys, you wouldn’t be able to tell!

Endless views of rapeseed fields

JOSH IBBETT: The Trans Canada Experience

Not much here...

It seems like yesterday that we featured world traveller and long distance cyclist, Josh Ibbett's last blog post. However, he is still out on the road and still heading along his planned route. There have been a few variations and at the time of writing, Josh has been in company with his partner Caroline. Heading south has given him time to reflect on his ride across the interior of Canada.  

This time round, Josh's trip has taken a slight turn. The endless landscapes, which those from Canada, the US and Australia can easily relate too, have challenged the Englishman who is more familiar with geographically condensed Europe/UK. It sounds like the pure openness has taken its toll. And rightly so! But in typical Josh fashion, he had made the best of it and stayed true to his 'experience-the-world' mantra rather than riding for the sake of it.

The USA is big! Flying into to New York for my first ever visit to the United States was certainly an eye opening experience. The streets are bigger, the buildings are bigger, the cars are bigger and the portions are bigger! Flying in after a month in culture filled Spain it certainly was a shock. 

Read on for more...

 

screenshot of the route of the Vatternrundan 300

SWEDISH MADNESS: The Vatternrundan 300

The Vatternrundan is a 300km race around the second largest lake in Sweden, on or near the longest day of the year. Riders go off in groups of about 60 at a time, in 2 minute intervals and this year nearly 23,000 rolled up to the start line between 8pm to 8am to follow the midnight sun.

The Swedes do make something of a thing of midsummer. They celebrate it as a national holiday and general excuse to eat herring and drink lots of Akvavit (Scandinavian spirit).

300km of Swedish madness

300km of Swedish Madness.

Elaine riding in Nepal

RIDING ON TOP OF THE WORLD | NEPAL ADVENTURE

First thing that came into my mind when I woke up this morning.

“I’m going riding.”

Second thing that came into my mind;

“My medical insurance probably doesn’t cover this, best not crash!”

I had only made contact with Himalayan Singletrack the day before I left the UK so I was really pleased that they managed to come up with a single day trip for me to get out of the city and see some of Nepal from a bike. Expecting the terrain to be somewhat mountainous I also tentatively asked if it could not be too gnarly as I had a course to teach the following week!