Hunt Journal

VIDEO: The Dirty Reiver with Gosse Van Der Meer

Watch Gosse Van Der Meer take on the longest race of his life in this fantastic video from Bombtrack following the 200km Dirty Reiver Gravel Race.

Readers Rides Special

Throughout the years you've been sending us photos of your most precious belongings and we've been keeping a record of pretty much every bike we've seen with HUNT wheels on. We were recently going through the tons and tons of pictures and drooling over some amazing machines.

We decided to share some of our favourite ones with you

Dirty Reiver - by Elaine Burroughs

It was about the time I sold my campervan last year, that the little worm in my ear started plotting how I was going to spend the money I got for it. After all, we always need more bike stuff, it’s only the justification that takes some thought.

It’s safe to say that it didn’t take long for me to hatch both a plan, and an excuse for the plan.

2019 saw me turning 50, and in the usual panic and societally-induced need to do something stupid to mark the occasion, I found the obvious excuse...

FRTHR

Further is a small group of dedicated like-minded people creating something that is ‘further’.

There are three elements to Further:

1. The Race

2. The Happening // Rally // Festival

3. The Journal

HUNT at Dirty Reiver 2019

We were eager to see how Gosse would fare over the 200 kms of fast gravel around Kielder Forest and he didn't disappoint. Averaging 27 kmh (16.7 mph) over the 187 km course with over 3,000 metres of elevation, Gosse proved to be a Flying Dutchman crossing the line just 3 minutes after the winner.

The event wasn't short of drama, Gosse had a nasty puncture the night before, needing to patch his rear tyre and ride with an inner tube for the entire distance. With the help of Bombtrack, Weldtite, Panaracer, Lezyne and ourselves, we somehow managed to supply Gosse with everything needed in case of another puncture (or five), so he set off almost stress-free. If you've spent time around Gosse before a race or event, you'll appreciate this. Fortunately enough, he only suffered one. So, after a quick repair, he managed to get back on and continue with his bid for gravel glory.

Read on for the full story.

ELEPHANT - by Ryan Le Garrec

When Ryan Le Garrec came to us with his vision to produce a film that truly gets under the skin of ultra racing and what it means to those taking part, we were in from the start. We spoke to Josh, who confirmed Ryan is the real deal, and the two spent some time together at BikingMan Oman. The result? The trailer for what we think will grow to be a pivotal documentary.

LOST IN SPACE

Today is the first time in 2 months that an ever-shifting tug of war, between excitement & terror, has given way entirely. In its wake lies only a quiet anxiety. Why? I’m flying to Morocco tomorrow to go solo on my first ever bikepacking trip, and I’ve never bivvi‘d in my life. To borrow some wisdom from the fantastic storyteller Phil Knight; the accountant in me sees the risk, the entrepreneur sees the opportunity, and so I split the difference and keep moving forward.

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.

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."

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.

"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.

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.

Journal | Hunt Bike Wheels