A Beautiful Day in the Neighbourhood (Gravel)

NBHD Gravel’s 5th Birthday Overnighter

I spent Saturday morning filling coolers  and cruising through The South Downs in a Defender 90 that I didn’t really fit in. Lawrence and I were on logistics duty for Neighbourhood Gravel’s 5th birthday campout. This meant we had an early start to get all of our food, gear, and icy beverages out to Gumber Bothy before 30 dusty and thirsty cyclists, who were currently gathering in Shoreham with their bikes loaded down with camping gear, showed up later that afternoon. We made it back to the banks of the Adur in time for me to jump on the back of the group to help the rest of the ride leaders guide our diverse group westward through the parched hills to camp. 

Who is Neighbourhood Gravel?

Neighbourhood (NHBD) Gravel is a welcoming, inclusive off-road cycling club who seek to build a sense of community and never take themselves too seriously. They are one of a few groups around the Brighton area that run “gravel” rides and operate on a much more relaxed level than more traditional cycling clubs. (See also Portuer, Heavy Metal CC, and Abyss CC). NBHD Gravel started around 5 years ago as a spinoff of the road club, Neighbourhood Brighton CC.

Interestingly enough, my journey with gravel riding started around 5 years ago too. At some point in those early days my wife Kelly and I decided to try out this club we had run across on Instagram. We showed up to the ride start and were met with open arms by Tom, one of the founders, and a small crew of folks – many of whom I call friends now (looking at you Martin and Pete). In retrospect I’m not sure Kelly and I were fully prepared for a group ride, but everyone took us under their wing and got us part of the way around the route before we took our planned early exit. 

Over the years NBHD Gravel has established itself in the off-road cycling space and built a following around its ethos. We’re constantly surprised when we meet people at events in other parts of the country who know who we are, or we get a group of folks down from London to ride with us. A couple of years back, life happened and there was a chance that NBHD Gravel would fizzle out; but a group of us jumped at the chance to make sure this really special thing didn’t go away. In this new era we’re seeing the community flourish and grow with every outing. There is an energy around our rides that’s welcoming and exciting.It’s infectious to be around and makes me really excited to be a small part of making it all happen.

Go West Young Club

I strategically sprinted (well… moved more quickly than the larger group) up to the first gate, not only because that’s what you do on a group ride, but because I wanted the opportunity to say hello to everyone since I missed the start due to the previously mentioned logistics; and boy did it get me excited for our ride. That trademark NBHD Gravel energy was evident in every rider as they made their way through the gate – smiling, waving, and genuinely seeming excited about hauling their loaded bikes up the first climb. As you would expect with 30 people with varying levels of abilities, the peloton split into two more manageable sized groups and we proceeded west in roughly that configuration for the rest of the day. 

The lead group (or in NBHD-speak, spicy group) set off on some premium gravel towards Cissbury Ring and we all realised just how dusty of a day it was going to be. Nearing midday there were already water shortages after 15km so we pulled into the Findon Village Stores for a resupply. A large group of cyclists descending on a small village shop is one of my favorite things to experience – all at once this sleepy little shop being staffed by either a pensioner or a teenager gets bombarded by a herd of sweaty folks wearing weird shoes and helmets with a shopping list of questionable choices and quantities. As the ice cream and the best scotch eggs ever were being polished off the rest of the ride caught up to us, only having one small mechanical involving a wayward fork-mount bottle cage. So as not to take up the entire square in front of the shop, we set off again after a brief catch up with our pals. 

The remainder of the spin towards camp continued nicely along the dusty, fast running trails with some nice variation between open downland and some forested sections that were very welcome in the heat. Of course there were some various punctures and the occasional faff, but vibes were great as we kept moving west. As we started the descent towards Amberly, the chalky dust clouds made choosing your line more of a guessing game than a calculated choice. I’m lucky enough to be a fairly competent descender, but once I was passed by a certain man on a bike with monster truck tyres it was like he deployed a smoke screen behind him, leaving a nice coating of dust on me, my bike, and in my mouth. Seeing as we had all dried our throats out a bit we thought a stop off at the conveniently on-route George and Dragon for some hydration might be a good plan. 

Sitting in the lovely beer garden with some isotonic carb drinks (wink) and watching the second group coming across the Amberley Brooks to join us at the pub I reflected on how great it is that when we split our rides it doesn’t feel like a hierarchical experience, but more so what you want to get out of the ride. Want some extra climbs or to push yourself a little? Get in that spicy group and go for it. Want to ride at party pace and have a nice chat with the folks around you? Stick with the main group and have a lovely time. If any group is looked down upon at all it’s the spicy group because they want to subject themselves to extra climbing like crazy people. I think Gareth touched nicely on this feeling when writing about the beach ride we did earlier this year, where the passing groups were high-fiving and stoked to be passing friends on the trails. Not saying other clubs aren’t friendly, but this culture is really unique and lovely. 

In an effort to switch things up a bit and let some other leaders stretch their legs I stuck around the pub while the spicy group hit the trail towards camp. After everyone finished their drinks we saddled up and started the climb towards Gumber. While there is not exactly any easy way to head west from Amberley, I’m not sure how appreciated it was that the majority of the ride to camp was uphill. Luckily after the initial ramp the remainder of the climbing was through the lovely Houghton Forest. There was a little bit of faff with some additional punctures and I also learned at this point that absolute legend, Tony, had been single-speeding since Findon (!) where his rear mech packed up and our friendly neighbourhood mechanic and Land Rover enthusiast had assisted with the trailside repair. I decided it was only right to at least keep pace with Tony since he was working much harder than the rest of us and we rode to the top of the climb with a couple of other folks and then hit the reward, the super fast, wide, and flowy descent down Stane Street; where I hit a sick powerslide into the entrance to camp. There’s a video somewhere and I need it…

Celebrate Your Community

As the masses unloaded their bikes and set up camp for the night I switched back into logistics mode, making sure everything we dropped earlier in the day was in the right place, getting the BBQ fired up, and the all important quality control checks, namely making sure the beer was cold enough. All of the bikes were set up along the fence-line at camp so we could all vote for the coveted best in show award.  Walking along the lineup I really enjoyed my time checking out what made each bike special, no matter how generic it might have appeared at first glance. The trinkets, stickers, patches on bags, and other small bits of personalisation became evident the longer you looked.

Later while standing up on the edge of camp cooking dozens of sausages I took some time to reflect on just how special our little community is. It’s full of people who are cycling for the love of it, not to be pretentious or to show off how fast they can ride or how much money they spent on their new carbon fibre Cervelo. There is a genuine community being built around bikes. Community seems to be pretty tough to find at the moment for a lot of folks, and I’m thankful for my Neighbourhood. What other bike club hands out an award for people that bring the best snacks? I don’t know of any.

Your Own Neighbourhood

Not everyone has a community like we are so lucky to have built. If you’re able to come hang out with us, we’d love to have you. But if you don’t have a club like Neighbourhood Gravel nearby you can still be the change you want to see in the cycling world. There are so many awesome folks out there that  would love to ride with a club but may be too intimidated to show up and give it a go because of the gatekeeping that has gone on for too long. Creating an inclusive space takes intentionality; looking out for new joiners or people from under-represented groups who want to take part and making them feel welcome and part of the community is the first step. What do you want your neighbourhood to look like?