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My greatest adventure so far has been my epic journey around the world on two wheels, determined to break the Guinness World record for cycling unaided around-the-world.
I was 38 years old, carried all my kit on a steel Shand bike, and I did it – cycling by day and by night, sometimes for up to 300 kms at a stretch, across four continents. I battled exhaustion, the elements, traffic and even a fear of bears as I traversed remote areas, magnificent scenery, terrifying trucking highways, across deserts and through dramatic wilderness.
I kept an audio diary of the trip, which inspired me to write a book about the experience to share the story. It was an extraordinary ride, not only because of the physical and mental stamina it required, but because of all the wonderful people and incidents I encountered on the way.
Around the world was a monster of a ride but was simply an extension of how I was already living my life. Living on my bike, whether touring or racing, had become second nature to me and I very quickly cut my feral bikepacking teeth on routes both close to home and in far flung lands.
Here’s a few of my most memorable challenges:
A 550-mile long mountain bike race in the Highlands of Scotland – is where it all started for me, and this race has a special place in my heart. It’s easy to romanticise the route when you’re not out riding it but traversing remote glens, technical terrain and endless hike-a-bike stretches is amongst the most formidable in the world.
(“The Puffer”) 24-hour mountain bike race is held each year in January in my local area in the Scottish Highlands. this challenge involves miles of gruelling terrain, a brutal mix of ice, wind, hail, rain, mud and snow, with 17 hours out of the 24 swathed in darkness. I can happily say I’ve earned my stripes with this event, having competed and podiumed in Solo, Pair and Quads categories. I most recently participated in this race as a chaperone for a girls’ team who were under the age of 14. This team of four lassies from Dingwall Academy smashed it out of the park with 16 laps!
One that really stands out is the “Lejogmanay” – perhaps the silliest of silly bike rides from Lands End to John O’Groats – undertaken over new year with two good friends, Huw Oliver and Emily Chappell. The mission was to make it from one end of the UK mainland to the other in four days, unsupported, in horrific weather with only six daylight hours to see in. We’re all still fairly traumatised, but we’ll be talking about it for many years to come. It was all worth it though as we raised 3k for Social Bites charity.
When fellow adventurer Calum Maclean asked me to come hiking the Longest Line I said – HELL YEAH and then asked WHAT IS IT? But by then it was too late we were off: climbing, scrambling and wading our way along Britain’s longest linear line without encountering a single road. The 78.55 km took us 4days from the A9 to the A939 through the Cairngorms National Park with a total ascent of 5706 metres. The trip was commissioned by Montane and Exped and in collaboration with The Ordanance Survey. Filmed by the very awesome Summit Fever Media and all the banging stills by Johny Cook.
Explore Your Boundaries concept was created by long distance friends Markus Stitz and Mark Boumount. Inspired by the desire to create adventures close to home the duo mapped 24 Scottish council boundary routes to encourage people to stay active, and in 2022 they asked me along to explore Argyll and the Isles with them…
I was 38 years old, carried all my kit on a steel Shand bike, and I did it – cycling by day and by night, sometimes for up to 300 kms at a stretch, across four continents.
I co-directed The Adventure Syndicate for a time post round-the-world. Many of the projects we collaborated on reflected my drive and desire to facilitate gender and socioeconomic equal opportunities. Some of my best examples would be;
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