The mountain bike trails on Cathkin Braes were custom-built to host cycling events at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. This gives you a certain guarantee of the trail quality and, sure enough, there’s some serious infrastructure up there. We had planned to ride with Andy and Robert Penn originally. Robert has written a book called 'It's All About the Bike', where he travelled the world to assemble his dream bicycle. I have a German translation and watched a documentary about it as well. I got to stay with Robert when I was in Wales researching the route. He's a super interesting character and the story of [Andy's business] Twmpa Cycles is really interesting - they make bikes out of wood. Stitz’s companion for this ride was gravel rider and furniture-maker Andy Dix. We actually rode this route on wooden gravel bikes... The book is extremely well illustrated as he is not only good at plotting routes, but Markus is a fine photographer which adds to the tease of the book.’ Jeff Price, fat-bike.com

With a social ride the day before the action begins, and the accompanying festival Raiders Gravel has the optimal mix of competition, adventure, exertion, culture and relaxation, making for an unforgettable cycling event in one of Scotland ’ s unspoilt gems.For each route, Markus sought out a gravel rider based in the area, from GBDURO winners Josh Ibbett and Gail Brown in East Anglia to Markus’ fellow round-the-world record holders in Scotland, Jenny Graham and Mark Beaumont. The end result is a guidebook which is not only full of local expertise and exceptional bike routes, but which also has more of a human edge. Stitz 26 routes are split between Wales, England and Scotland, and each is based on the expertise of local riders. Photo: Markus Stitz I follow lots of people on Komoot that I find really inspiring and they get me amped up to explore and ride more. That’s really useful if you’re all out of ideas.” The route is inspired by an old Drovers trail – the Drovers being men who would bargain for cattle, then form a herd to take south to towns like Falkirk or Crieff to sell as summer arrived. It’s a particularly unusual inspiration for a route, and a ride that follows historic footsteps through lesser seen parts of Scotland. If you like ferries, you’ll love this circular route that starts in Ardrossan on the mainland under an hour for Glasgow. From the bluebell woods and west country ridgeways of Wessex to the rolling hills of the Yorkshire Dales, we head to some of the most stunning corners of the UK in 2023.

With over 20 years in the cycling industry, we’ve built up a fantastic amount of in-house experience, talent and depth in our team. Our knowledge and expertise at selecting the best materials, the right components, design, construction, engineering and manufacturing partners through to colours and design. We use international elite cyclists to test all of our bikes and this culmination has seen Kinesis UK flourish and grow. Big Rides: Great Britain and Irelandis an inspirational guide to the most iconic, epic and popular long-distance cycle trails in England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and Ireland, including two excursions from mainland Britain to Northern France. The twenty-five featured routes showcase the best of Britain on two wheels. For those who prefer to pedal on-road, the routes take you along the historic Way of the Roses trail through Lancaster and York, as well as across Scotland’s Atlantic perimeter on the Hebridean Way. The trails head off-road to Northern England’s hills on the Sea to Sea (C2C) and past iconic monuments in Southern England on King Alfred’s Way. Mountain bike enthusiasts will find plenty to challenge them in the Sarn Helen and through the Scottish Highlands on the renowned Highland Trail 550. The routes then head offshore, to Ireland’s coast on the Wild Atlantic Way and from Devon and Dorset’s Jurassic Coast to Normandy’s alabaster cliffs on the Tour de Manche. Vertebrate Publishing’s Big Rides books are designed to inspire big adventures. Rather than being carried along the route, this guide provides everything you need to plan and explore further, including a general overview of the trails, specific technical information, overview mapping, key information and stunning photography. As well as this, each route specifies approximate timings which allows for you to plan your adventure at your own pace. Whether you’re completing routes at a leisurely speed or racing towards the finish, let Big Rides: Great Britain & Ireland be your guide.

The Far North Way - stretching from the Highland capital of Inverness to the northernmost point of mainland Britain, John O'Groats. Ed Shoote and his wife, Marion, have ridden in over fifty countries. Their latest and on-going mission is exploring all the nooks and crannies of Scotland to find the very best bits of gravel riding available. This route is not super long and it's also not super tough to ride,” says Markus. “Plus, it's an easy one to get to from Edinburgh or Glasgow. It starts in Kinross, and there's an electric bus service that runs there, Ember, on the way from Edinburgh to Dundee.” Contains 28 routes, ranging from 31 to 128 kilometres in length, exploring the very best gravel riding that Scotland has to offer.

We love the coastal gravel roads in the Isle of Wight (if you have not ridden here, make sure it’s on your to do list soon) and by contrast, the hills & forests of North Wales make this one of our most popular rides.

Panaracer Dirty Reiver

The impact guiding has on people is what Aneela loves most about it. The effect it has, not just in terms of the journey or the ride itself, but also the social interaction and being connected to the environment. She has the ability to show people places they've never been, and enjoys how confident and happy cycling makes people. And does she plan to run any guided gravel experiences? Not yet, but possibly in the future. Tweed Valley gravel route Leading on from that, it’s versatile, instead of owning and maintaining both a mountain bike and a road bike, plump for one gravel bike.