Through work I’ve been lucky enough to travel quite a bit this year - me and my bike have been all over the place. I’ve got a nice few weeks in the workshop now to service some bikes, build some frames and catch up with everyone...
Summer took it’s time to come to the UK, but the weekend they chose for the ENVE Stone Circle was absolutely perfect - a cool sunny start to the day, bright blue skies and miles of champagne gravel! The event is based in the old iron age fort at Old Sarum in Wiltshire and the route covers most of the Salisbury Plain. I was helping the organisers, Hotchillee, and also showing off our OPEN bikes which we jointly stock - the weekend also gave me a great chance to hang out with the guys from ENVE, another one of our AEIGHT brands, chatting about upcoming bikes and components.
One of my jobs on the event was to “sweep” the short route - basically once all the riders are out on the course, we give them a decent head-start and then head out on the route to sweep up any stragglers. We work backwards from the time which we expect everyone to be home by, which meant I had the whole morning to shoot the breeze with some customers, help with some mechanical issues and hand out a few number packs. After 1pm I headed out with a couple of the other Ride Captains to sweep (and also enjoy the trails for ourselves).
The gravel on Salisbury Plain around Stonehenge really is some of the best in the UK, and is the closest thing we have to races like Unbound. Dan from Hotchillee had done an incredible job with the three routes that are on offer - Pip rode the long route and reckons its just the right mix of tough versus fun, with well thought out and well chosen climbs, descents and some quiet road sections to help with some active recovery. It’s not a race, but of course we’re all trying to get the shortest time possible. The short route is equally good and would make a brilliant introduction to gravel - I also found it was a brilliant route for more advanced riders who just want a good fast thrash. A beer with everyone back at the fort was a perfect end to the weekend!
After the Stone Circle I cleaned and serviced my bike ready for the next trip, to Sri Lanka! I replaced my Schwalbe G-One RS tyres with some more general purpose G-One Bites, which are able to handle anything you throw at them - I really had no idea what to expect in Sri Lanka, but the Bite’s really did a great job as always. The majority of the terrain we covered was a sandy hardpack clay, with the odd bit of chunky gravel and some nice smooth tarmac thrown in for good measure.
We started riding from Sigiriya in the central North of the island, with a shorter acclimatisation loop - there were three of us Ride Captains, working for Hotchillee, as guides on the road, plus 15 riders, and a small team of Sri Lankan organisers/fixers to help make everything go smoothly. This time was a “pioneer” version of a larger trip which Hotchillee will run next year. For now we were focussed on testing routes and also enjoying everything Sri Lanka had to offer. Our acclimatisation loop was a great fun blast, and in true cafe ride style we all had a chance to get on the front and give it a nudge. This was a great chance to grade whereabouts the various riders were in terms of how fast people could, or more importantly would, ride their bikes for the next six days.
We spent the afternoon by paddling across a lake, cooking some local food, going to see some elephants and hanging by the pool, ahead of the first proper ride on day two - the off bike activities were really good throughout, and my favourite was a tour of a tea plantation on day three. Our second stage took us 100km to Kandy, firstly on some nice dusty flat terrain, before heading into the foothills of the highlands. The challenges started early as one of our riders was having issues, firstly with his tyre, and then later with his freehub body - one of my fellow RC’s used his spare tube, gas and his electric pump to get the rider to the first feed. It seemed unlikely that the freehub would hold out much longer but the rider wanted to keep going so off we went into the unknown! A couple of tubes, a bicycle repair shop (which also serviced tuk-tuks too) and plenty of pumping later and we were getting further behind but the rider was sure they could get to the finish. When our final tube failed, and the freehub body bearings had completely disintegrated, the rider was left with little option but to admit defeat - our local guide on the motorbike managed to get the rider, his bike, and about 40 litres of water to balance on his vintage motorbike - it was quite a sight to follow up the road, amongst the British Leyland buses and constant flow of tuk-tuks, motos and HGVs!
The following morning we jumped on the train for an absolutely stunning journey to Nanuoya which started in the towns and cities before heading deeper and deeper into the highlands. Having let the train do the hard bit we still had 650 vertical meters to climb over the short 22km special stage! Immediately we were riding through tea plantations on the steep clay tracks which lead in all directions - this was my favourite ride of the week as it just got more and more epic, including topping out at nearly 2100 meters! Day four looked like an easy run on paper but it was easily the toughest due to the relentless short climbs, which personally I love - for some of the riders this was a proper challenge, but they all stepped up, and it was so awesome to see people achieving something which was pushing them well above their comfort zone. We had a gorgeous day for it and the altitude kept the heat down, on the 80km route to Ella.
From Ella we did a short climb at the beginning of day five and then basically dropped like stones for the rest of the day - the route profile looked like a ski jump and we descended for almost two hours! As the elevation dropped (from 1250m to 186m), so the heat rose (from 24 to 38 degrees) and by midday we were cooking in the high 30s. The terrain changed so much too, from tea plantations and gum trees in the mountains, to dusty sandy desert in the valley, it felt like having travelled from India to Africa! Lounging by the pool in the evening we realised we only had one day left, but it ended up being a really great one. We started out along irrigation canals, avoiding the Water Buffalo and countless (friendly) dogs, with stunning farmland on either side of us the whole time.
Our first feed stop on the last day was a proper local feast - the food in Sri Lanka is really good, and surprisingly not too spicy. This was one of the best ones we had and set us up perfectly for the final rolling 60k of the trip to the coast. The sandy clay had turned to dusty gravel as we headed south and as we headed for the sea, the heat became a bit softer and the air cleaner. As we rounded a corner with about 10km to go the beautiful white beaches and surf came into view with huge breakers smashing onto the rocky shore. It suddenly hit me that we were at the end of our 500km tour of the “teardrop of India”! The run in to the final hotel was great, with a couple of proper steep climbs, and we finished with a swim in the sea to cool off.
From the Indian Ocean to the North Sea - back in the UK, Pip and I headed up to North Norfolk for the Glorious Gravel event. With the Sri Lankan dust still on my tyres we went in search of some Cromer Crab, sneaking out the day before the event, for a Friday on the sandy Norfolk coast! Blessed with sun and pristine trails we blasted along the rolling bridleways that cover the county. On the Saturday we rode 114km with a couple of the guys we’ve met through Hotchillee. That’s one of my favourite things about doing the trips - you very often meet people who you’ll ride with again and it’s mega when they get to show off their local trails too.
It’s been a mega summer of events, guiding, and race support which has taken me to six different countries and kept me busy every week for three months. Fitting all my normal servicing and frame/bike building in around all of this has been hard work, but everything ended up slotting together nicely and I’m so grateful for all of the experiences I’ve shared. The gravel bike has transformed riding and racing for me, as it’s such a brilliant way to travel, and it really takes me back to why I started riding in the first place. Now for some time in the workshop to get everyone's bikes ready for what’s next and to dream up some new adventures!
Photos by Dan Fisher, Matt Buckley and Glen Whittington
2024.RIDERS - GLENWHITTINGTON
#aeightracer – Glen’s an ex-racer who still finds time to ride bikes as much as possible - follow his adventures on Instagram. He started racing in 1998, initially specialising in XCO, Marathon and Solo 24-Hour Mountain Bike. He became a mechanic in 2002, working in shops and also for professional race teams. During this time he spent more time racing ‘Cross and Road, and then also TT. In 2013 he built his first bespoke steel frame and then spent several years at Roberts learning the art. Since then he’s designed his own range of bikes, frames and wheels which he now offers to the public, alongside servicing and race support, as part of his ÆIGHT brand - you can find his business Instagram account here.
GOT WHAT IT TAKES TO RACE WITH US?
We’re always looking for riders to be part of our ÆIGHT CØLLECTIVE. The #aeightbikeco is about doing things a little differently - Rather than a jersey being the common theme, we kit our riders out with bespoke steel bikes and handbuilt wheels made in our Sussex workshops, the ÆIGHT WHEELWØRKS and the ÆIGHT MANUFACTØRY. We then support each other at events and races regionally, nationally and internationally - whether that’s for mountain bike, ‘cross, gravel, crit, road or TT - it’s what we call, the #aeightbikeco
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