@jbhague
Chris Hall’s Perimeter Challenge
This summer, starting on July 11, endurance rider Chris Hall took on the challenge of riding around the entire perimeter of Britain, starting and finishing in London. We spoke to Chris shortly after he finished this quest on August 14, to discover how he got on.
QWhat made you want to ride the perimeter of Britain?
I've ridden the widest part of Britain, the longest and coast-to-coast at various points, and the natural progression was to ride around the perimeter. Part of it was areas that I know well. Also, there's areas that I've never been to, like the Northwest of Scotland, and I wanted to experience that.
QWas Northwest Scotland an area people had recommended?
People had said it was a beautiful part of the country. I wouldn't say it's a great place to ride, it's very touristy. The North Coast 500 is a famous route that people will drive and ride, and it's incredibly beautiful. But the roads are very narrow, lots of close passes, which meant it didn't feel very safe. And I had terrible weather.
Q Out of the bits that you rode, which would you recommend?
North Wales is beautiful, absolutely stunning. And along the whole Welsh coast, North Wales and then the western coast, I really enjoyed there.
@jbhague
Q Were there any other highlights?
The highlight was made by the people I rode with more than the scenery. Scotland should have been the highlight, but the conditions were bad and I had a lot of issues. Got hit by a van, got a series of mechanicals and just bad luck.
The Welsh bit, I didn't expect it to be so nice. I also got to ride with a really good friend of mine there, so that helps.
Definitely the biggest highlight was riding with people. Even when we rode into Saddleback, having a crew that came out to meet me and rode in with me, and I was fucked. I was absolutely fucked. But having people just made it more special.
Q Did you have lots of people riding with you?
There were days in Scotland when I was on my own a lot. It might be that I had one or two people for a couple of hours a day, but I could be riding for 12,14 hours each day. It was quite consistent; it wasn't necessarily for long periods, but it broke the day up. It meant I wasn't thinking about how much my body hurt. I was chatting to people, which made it better. Time went faster.
Q How did you motivate yourself to push through when things went wrong?
My superpower is being the most stubborn person I know. That definitely helped me. This was something I've been wanting to do for a long time, and I kept reminding myself that people would kill to have this opportunity.
Then, being able to fundraise for Movember. Movember is a charity that means a lot to me, so being able to do something for them was quite pivotal. The motivation to keep going.
There were points where I thought I was going to stop, and you manage it as best you can. As I got into Glasgow, about 5km from where I was staying, I got a puncture. It had been a really hard day, it was 200km, it was terrible weather. I was soaked, I was cold and I was so pissed off. I remember being like, “What's the point of carrying on?”
But in reality, Glasgow was maybe three quarters of the way round. You have to reset it in your head, going, “Okay, I've done the majority of it.” There were definitely points where I was like, “What the fuck am I doing? This is stupid,” but you have to allow yourself to reset.
That could be having a day off, getting a good night's sleep, having a good meal. It could be just having a conversation with a friend.
@jbhague
QYou wanted to have health conversations with people. Do you feel you achieved that?
Massively so. One of the things I think is really good about cycling is, it's easy for conversation to flow and, for my own mental health, riding a bike is so pivotal. I perceive it as being quite non-confrontational. I think men really struggle with things like eye contact and confrontational situations.
Cycling is good for that, because you are next to each other. The conversation tends to flow, because the scenery flows. You’d ride with people, and you’d have a chat for a while, and then the trickier conversations start to happen. I'm quite open about the shit I've gone through in my life. And I think because I'm quite open, other people understand that it's a safe space to be open.
QIf you were doing the challenge again, is there anything that you would change?
I wouldn't ride it in the UK – joke! I would probably change the time of year slightly, to not do it during school holidays. I think if I'd done it either side, the weather would be the same, but there'd be less traffic.
In terms of the bike and the setup, I wouldn't change anything. It was fantastic. I had a few mechanical issues, but when you ride nearly 6,500km things wear out, things happen and that's fine. But that doesn't mean I'm going to do it again!
QYou're not tempted?
No way. It's a one and done thing that I've wanted to do for probably 20 years. I think there's something humbling about seeing a place on a bike compared to being in a car. You don't engage your senses in the same way. While you're riding, you touch, you hear, you smell, you see, all your senses are engaged by what's going on around you. You create a closer relationship with the landscape you're riding in.
@Stu Powers
QWhat was your desert island kit?
Number one is a rain jacket with a hood, because it keeps the rain off your head and it helped me stay warmer.
The other things which are incredibly good and useful to have are the 8-Bit tools from Wolf Tooth. I take Wolf Tooth tools on everything I do, because they can do everything that you might need to do.
A weird one that I found on this trip is Chamois Cream by Squirt. When it rains a lot, it doesn't wear out.
I would ride that bike again in that exact same setup. Argon 18, Krypton and Tailfin bags, ENVE… we went through two different sets of wheels because I was running Foundation 45s to start with. They're not a sponsor wheel, I bought these from a friend a long time ago, and I was like, “These are my wheels. It feels cool.” Then I broke a spoke 80km away from Fort William.
I got a lift into Fort William. I got it repaired and I called up Josh (Saddleback’s PR&Events Coordinator). I was quite upset and emotional. Josh was just like, “Don't stress. We could swap them out. It won't be repaired to how Saddleback would repair them; we’ll get another set of wheels to you. We'll put everything in there so you can put them on your bike and go.”
It took a huge amount of weight off my shoulders. When you're absolutely fucked, the tiniest things cause you to spiral. Josh took that stress away. Then I ended up running SES 3.4s, so I got an upgrade.
QWhy has testing yourself been something that you continue to do?
I think that it's fascinating to see how our bodies adapt to the situations and if we can or can't do things.
I still do races, an ultra is still a race to some extent, but it's being able to test and push yourself within a safe and reasonable level.
I don't know, maybe I will do some stupid shit again at some point. I still do stupid shit, but I do it with a brain that now goes, “Please don't crash,” because injuries take a bit longer to recover from now that I'm older. But I rode around the perimeter of Britain, that's pretty stupid.
QAre you planning something else now or waiting for motivation?
When I was younger, I was always thinking, “What's next?” I think it's been the last year or so, I've gone, “Actually, no, that was fucking epic. I should live in that moment for a bit and relish that.”
@jbhague
