The femme bikepacking group making meaningful adventures

This story is originally published in Huck 84: It Starts With Us – The 20^th Anniversary Issue. Order your copy now or join Club Huck+ to make sure you never miss an issue.

Gravel crunches beneath tyres and wind whips past as we descend a severe hill somewhere in Powys, the largest and most sparsely populated county in Wales. Beside me, a 52-year-old flies downhill, a blur of bright florals. Just moments earlier, she was receiving advice for the descent: keep arms and legs loose, breaks pumping, eyes set ahead. 

Now, as we race downward, she shouts to me across sweeps of warm air. In the past year, her confidence has been knocked – menopause, single motherhood, and the loss of a friend who was doing exactly what she is doing now: cycling downhill. Later, I find her at the lodge and ask her how she’s feeling. She looks wiped, but rosy-cheeked and grinning. ​“Invincible,” she tells me.

More than 50 people have traveled to the heart of Wales for a gravel cycling trip with Sisters in the Wild (SITW), a passion project and bike-based adventure group for women, trans, and non-binary people, in partnership with Passenger. For five days, riders traverse through sideways rain, overgrown fern, mud puddles, and the occasional patch of sun. Women from all over the UK and Europe arrive to cycle hard, day after day, on routes of up to 40 miles with 4,425ft (1,350m) of elevation gain. From their 20s to their 60s, the age of attendees varies, as do their skill levels. While some have never ridden off-road, others have quietly completed ultra races. 

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On this trip, bruises, scratches, or bad ankles are carried with graceful nonchalance. 36-year-old Hillary Platt tells me about her corrective foot operation which involved breaking four toes. After almost a year of recovery, she began her prep for the trip two weeks prior, squeezing in a couple of bike rides beforehand.

Initially worried about falling behind, she found herself feeling strong as she took on the inclines. ​“Still, some of the women in this group in their 60s are passing me,” she laughs. ​“These people are fucking beasts. They’re crushing it, but no one has an ego about it.” 

After moving from California to London, Platt found SITW at a time in her life when she was seeking deeper friendships. Her first gravel cycling trip in Scotland finally gave her something to look forward to – in the friendships she developed and the physical milestones she achieved. ​“It shows you how powerful you are. You’re not getting that many chances in your normal day-to-day life to be proud of yourself for such a feat.”

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Charlotte Inman, SITW Director, adds, ​“You can flip between talking about tyre size, and the next moment you’ll be having a super emotionally vulnerable talk about attachment styles.” She’s sprightly, tall, and holder of a permanently relaxed smile.

In 2020, Inman joined the first SITW trip to Slovenia with 11 other women. Led by Neža Peterca, the group spent four September days sharing hopes, fears, and bikepacking knowledge. ​“It was incredibly special,” says Inman. ​“We didn’t even ride bikes that much. It was about bringing people together and sharing stories.”

This was a turning point for Inman, who was moving through an extremely trying year. After losing her partner during a packrafting trip nine months earlier, Inman found herself questioning her identity. As a long-time traveler and explorer, what form would outdoor adventure take in her life? It was in the hills of Slovenia, on her bicycle, and among like-minded women, she reclaimed this part of herself.

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Now, as the group advances into its sixth year, it continues its global expansion, heading next to Mongolia, Patagonia, and Vietnam. Inman’s purpose for SITW remains simple: ​“We have this amazing opportunity to meet people who are going through all kinds of things,” she says. ​“I remember what that feels like, and what it’s like to find your spark again. If we can create that, it’s really special.”

On February 19 of this year, Ellie Wildbore booked her space on the Wales trip. ​“I don’t know what possessed me,” says the 38-year-old from Sheffield. At the time, she was extremely ill and hospitalised, being fed through a tube. A Lived Experience Mental Health Researcher and Educator, Wildbore has struggled with complex PTSD, anorexia, and mental health issues for most of her life. On Christmas morning of this past year, she collapsed, and instead of spending the day with her family at home, she was rushed to the hospital and sectioned, her organs in a state of shutdown and her body hours from death.

She remained hospitalised and in recovery for the next four months, steadily moving from hopelessness toward a rekindling of her passion for movement. In the lead-up to the trip, she communicated her fears and doubts, both physical and mental, to Inman, who met her with encouragement and support. ​“I spent a lot of time being classed as a hopeless case. Too complex. Too risky,” Wildebore says. ​“You can get out there with the right support. And it can be life-changing when you do.”

On the last ride of the closing day, the sky opens up, wide and blue. The final descent is a smooth stretch of road, long and sweet after so many days on rough terrain. For Wildbore, whose legs were jelly and mind was spent after a challenging yet rewarding few days, this moment is a distinct highlight. She describes the feeling of freedom, and I imagine her flying down the stretch in the same way I’d seen Cathy – resilient in the face of life’s hurdles, wild and adventurous, invincible.

Huck 84: It Starts With Us is out now. Sign up to Club Huck+ to make sure you never miss another issue.

Sunny Sunday is a freelance culture journalist. Follow her on Instagram.

For more information on Sisters in the Wild, visit their official website.