Go The Distance - Kinesis Bikes

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Go The Distance

GO THE DISTANCE

Words by Jo Burt onboard the new Kinesis 'GTD'.

Filmed & Edited by Olly Townsand at Orange Trike Media

Photography: Rupert Fowler | Route by Gavin Peacock Map


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Escape can be simple if you want it to be. Straight out the front door and ride down the road to catch the late night ferry.

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A pint in the pub across the harbour to help with the snatched moments of sleep trying to get comfortable on a hardly reclining chair while someone snores enough to rock the boat two rows away. Experience has brought ear-plugs. Off out into the dark, Dieppe – Le Havre – Dieppe, 250 kilometres or thereabouts via a route nabbed from a long distance cycling partner, thanks Gav. Should be easily doable before the midnight ferry back, with time for supper.

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Quiet and empty in the dark, sun up in about an hour to become quiet and empty in the light, as a respite from the endless hassle of home roads just across the water it’s beautifully easy cycling here.

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There’s a mild intoxication in the hushed calm yet determined bubble of this kind of riding from A to B with some of the letters of the alphabet in between. Almost a ghost passing through the landscape minding its own business with a scrap of paper in its back pocket containing a list of places where there might be food and water but mindful to take advantage of any resupply opportunities along the way.

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Bakeries for buns and cemetery taps for water in the heat of the day. Stop on a step to eat while watching other people’s worlds meander by for a while. Whaleback rolling lanes dropping to the Seine to climb back out into long straight endless headwind roads towards Le Havre, a big horrible scrappy mess of a town. This way of travelling isn’t all catalogue grade tarmac and photogenic views but it’s halfway and time for lunch.

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Muddle back out of town into the lovely nothing much again, tailwind all the way home, loping joyfully along the coast and spiralling in and out of seaside towns, some hellish swarmed with tourists that need to be hurriedly slipped through unnoticed, and others just right enough to pause, for more food. Keep an eye on the go the distance to go and the feeling in legs ratio and realise that you got this.

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Happy songs in the head and clatter back into Dieppe just as the sun nips behind the hill. Quick dinner, ferry, cabin booked for a bed not a chair and a brief but proper sleep, ride home, nap, large breakfast. Done.
Escape is easy. If you can ride 10 miles you can ride 20 miles. If you can ride 20 miles you can ride 50. If you can ride 50 miles you can ride a hundred and if you can ride a hundred miles then you can ride round the world. It’s really that simple.

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The route It's mostly very nice. There may be some wrong way down one way streets, some very steep bits and possible steps or gravel involved but you're all adults and can work out ways around if needed. That's part of the fun.

The Route: Dieppe, inland to Le Harvre, coast back to Dieppe.

The Bike: The New Kinesis 'GTD'. It's not just a Sunday best bike, it is the perfect Audax or fast paced touring bike. Comfortable, fast and adaptable the GTD is designed to take on everything from a local Sportive to an Intercontinental race epic like the 'TCR'.

Produced by KINESIS UK

Featuring Kinesis Ambassador Jo Burt.
Filmed & Edited by Olly Townsand at Orange Trike Media
Narrated by Jo Burt
Thanks to Rupert Fowler for Photography / Gavin Peacock as Route Planner / Matt Gray the Project Director.
Music: "Hopefully Future".

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