How I got into Adventure Cycling.

I never really “got into” cycling when I was young, despite living in “cycling” university towns. I was even resistant to bikes when I first moved to Copenhagen, “Why cycle when I can walk?”.

However when we moved office out of Copenhagen (well 20 minutes on the train) I found I really wanted to try cycling home some days. It was mainly cycling on gravel: I could cycle 30km back from work along the coast and realised that in Denmark you can cycle most places without really sharing the roads with cars.

Over time this became more of a habit and cycling became a place of calm to get away from everyday life for an hour or two. Back in 2010 I couldn’t find a bike for gravel and so used a “hybrid bike”, which was fast but had relatively narrow tires. It was unsuitable for more hardcore off-roading that I found in the forests north of Copenhagen.

Slowly over a number of years I developed my approach to cycling:

• Mainly off road; avoid sharing space with cars.

• Mostly in natural areas, and particularly forests (shinrin-yoku).

• Preferably one way trips where there’s a clear goal for the route; going round in circles just doesn’t feel right for me.

• Something that connects the route to the land: a purpose more than just destination such as a historic trail, or stops in culturally interesting places.

• I take my own time, usually slowly, but I do “record my numbers” but mainly to see “yes I can do it” or “I did that last year, I can do a little more this year”.

This approach to gravel cycling has manifested itself in my off-road trip on the Via Francigena from Canterbury to Rome, one week a year between 2018 and 2022. More recently I’ve done some trips in Denmark with an increasing bikepacking focus.