ONE FOR ALL
FIRST RIDES DON’T GET MUCH MORE FULL ON, OR STORIES MORE POIGNANT, THAN OUR ADVENTURES ON THE LATEST IN THE KINESIS TRIPSTER SERIES, THE AT (ALL TERRAIN). BUT JUST WHERE DOES THIS NEW BIKE SIT IN THE INCREASINGLY POPULAR, GRAVELLY AREA BETWEEN ROAD AND OF
There’s a lot of wisdom in the warning never to try out a new and unproven component on an important ride. Then again, following words of wisdom has never been my strong point. That’s seldom been more obviously illustrated than now as I wander to local Kinesis stockist, Prologue Performance Cycling in Harrogate, to pick up a new Kinesis Tripster AT on the day of its release. Not only is the AT a brand-new frame, my bike is running my own experimental singlering electric shift transmission using a mix of Shimano Di2 road and mountain bike components. It’s also running tyres I’ve never used before, which might not seem a big deal, but I’m possibly the most hysterical pea-sensing princess when it comes to pneumatics. Plus, I’ve only got three hours to get it packed up with a selection of new Apidura bags and meet Rory Hitchens from Kinesis distributor, Upgrade.
To complete the idiocy of this adventure I don’t know exactly how far we’re going. I do know that getting from North Yorkshire to the Welsh mountains near Aberystwyth is far longer than I’ve ridden before, especially on a largely nontarmac route, but we’re relying on a mix of appcreated GPS routes and friends’ local knowledge to join the dots.
As a pioneering adventurer who put ultradistance racing and record breaking on the map, I’m hoping Mike Hall would approve. Two months after he was killed in a road accident in Australia, we’re taking his ashes from his Harrogate birthplace to his Welsh home at Abbeycwmhir for a memorial ride on his birthday weekend. Fighting for the lead 5000km into the coast-to-coast Indian Pacific Wheel Race, with only 500km to go, it was a death that devastated anyone who knew this incredibly humble, deeply thoughtful and truly inspirational individual. It’s an emotional start as we head out into a summer evening up a road Mike and I had duelled up many times in the previous 20 years.
We’re relying on a mix of app-created GPS routes and friends’ local knowledge to join the dots
Bike collaboration
The Tripster AT bikes Rory and I are riding are the first results of a planned long-term design collaboration between Mike – a passionate engineer who worked at JCB and Rolls Royce – and Upgrade, whose Kinesis UK and Pivot bikes Mike was already riding. In keeping with Mike’s passion to make ultra-distance riding accessible, the AT uses an alloy frame, while the £1849.99 Tripster ATR frames are titanium with a carbon fork.
The design already had three bottle cage mounts and thru-axle fork and frame, with clearance for 700x45mm or 650x52mm (27.5x2in) tyres between the stout A-frame rear stays and chunky, full carbon fork. Guard and rear rack mounts for three- or four-point fixings are kept well away from the direct-mount rear disc brake, and switchable internal routing ports allow any analogue or electric shifting arrangement. Mike’s late-in-the-day input was a second frame bagfriendly lower bottle position on the down-tube and a flattened section for stable top-tube bag placement. He also worked on the graphics so they complemented rather than clashed with luggage
straps. The high visibility Seeon Yellow colourway was added alongside a subtler Arran Blue.
As we turn off tarmac onto forest track the 40mm Vee Rail tyres are a welcome cushion under the tough, stiff frame that’s powered us off to a flying start in our honour guard peloton. At the Stainburn trailhead car park we’re joined by Paul and Talulah Miles on an ancient Nishiki and trailer bike combo, while 10-year-old Jude joins the charge on his Islabike, another generation learning that time on a bike is very well spent.
As we rattle down an overgrown bridleway, the proven geometry of the Tripster adds welcome stability, while the Ultegra disc brakes aren’t phased by our loaded weight. Those big tubeless tyres thump off grass-hidden cobbles unscathed.
Our motley crew of cyclo-cross and mountain bikes cracks on around the reservoirs and up onto the next moor at pace, meeting John Pitchers, long-term friend of Mike from his 24-hour racing days. We overlook the descent to Ilkley where Mike rode so much with his fellow adventurer and best friend Mark Richmond.
#bemoremike
Mike’s ashes, carefully wrapped in a backpack, are passed from rider to rider so they can all say their final farewells before peeling off into the darkening evening. Everyone who shoulders the responsibility seems compelled to dig deep off the front just as Mike always did. That means I’m as equally glad of the extra control of the Tripster’s flared 50cm bar on the moorland singletrack descent as I am of the 40x42 bottom gear of the Di2 transmission, as I keep John company on his singlespeed up the gravel grind over Ilkley Moor.
As we pull on coats and fix lights, a dynamo blinks into view over the crest behind us. A dynamo belonging to Terrence and his Spa Cycles steel tourer. It’s a chance meeting but our new ride companion knows all about Mike, and was an avid follower of his ‘dot’ on live tracker maps during his events. He’s clearly passionate about his bikes, quizzing Rory about the AT, delighted to have found a live specimen within a day of its launch.
“Get lost, then get unlost” was a typically simple yet wonderful Mikeism, and that’s exactly what we manage to do around the backs of warehouses, sketchy alleys and towpaths in downtown Keighley, while designated navigator and longdistance hauler Ben ‘Bengine’ Wolveridge tries to follow the twisting dance of our Ridewithgps.com app’s ‘minimal traffic’ route. As we gain serious altitude out through Haworth and Oxenhope, Terrence is still with us. He should be back home by now, so when he declares he’s joining us for the twisting descent into Hebden Bridge, he is given the honour of carrying Mike’s ashes.
As we reach the valley bottom we meet two riders who’ve been watching the dot from the GPS beacon in Mike’s bag wobble towards them on
As we rattle down an overgrown bridleway, the proven geometry of the Tripster adds welcome stability
the online map. Hannah from Singletrack mag had interviewed and ridden with Mike after his recordbreaking Great Divide ride, while Ash Sharp has raced the Transcontinental, self-supportedacross-Europe race that Mike set up and organised. His palmarès of punishing distances at unholy speeds mean we’re glad to hand our weighty, yet precious, cargo over to him for the steady tempo climb up England’s longest continuous hill – Crag Vale – where fellow Kinesis ambassador and adventurer Emma Osenton has promised us tea and butties.
Routecanal
After a slap-up feed, Ash, Hannah and Terrence head back down Crag Vale as Emma joins us to guide us off the moors and into the ring of old mill towns around eastern Manchester. As the sky begins to lighten, around 3am, the towpaths become flanked by trees and rolling hills not towering mills, and by 4am we arrive at Jon Doran and Alison Johnson’s to grab some porridge and a couple of hours sleep. It’s something Mike often did with them before heading to Manchester Airport to begin his next adventure.
Mike’s Peak District pal, Julie Greengrass, joins us at 8am as we head south, making good progress over the highest point of the day on the Midshires Way. Again, I’m very glad of the off-road capability of the Tripster as a rough lane turns into a proper rocky descent above Buxton. We loop around a quarry to avoid a main road, then form an express train south down the reclaimed railway of the Tissington Trail.
We refuel – as Mike often did – at a McDonald’s in Uttoxeter before pushing on into darkening weather. Ben folds a chainring on his ’cross bike but we’re guided into Henry Burton’s bike shop by a dot-watching guardian angel who meets us just outside Stafford. We set off for Ludlow through torrential, track-softening storms that threaten to rinse the resolve out of us, until we’re saved by Asda sandwiches in Telford. It’s the area my mum first took me cycle touring 35 years ago, and with its disc brakes and digital gears the Tripster is a very different beast to my old Raleigh Ace Jnr. The only similarities are that they both share a single chainring but, more importantly, I’m getting the same thrill of a big achievement behind me. Fittingly the figure dancing on the pedals towards us as the evening turns golden is the queen of kids’ bikes, Isla Rowntree. A regular riding companion of Mike and a multi-national champion and passionate cycling heroine.
Redirection
Thankfully Isla has altered her original ‘Rough stuff’ route over the Welsh border after realising that riding at least seven hours of challenging offroad routes and still getting to Abbeycwmhir church hall for 10am might be asking a bit much of her bedraggled guests.
We climb out of Ludlow as dawn breaks behind us and soon a lane Isla has always wanted to ride, but never has, climbs steadily away from us and the weight of Mike’s ashes on my back pushes down encouragingly through the pedals. A solitary hare hops out onto the trail and leads us west
I’m glad of the off-road capability of the Tripster as a rough lane turns into a proper rocky descent