CYCLE SHORTS

Emily with everything she needs to cycle across

on concrete and gravel. I also carry a merino vest in there, a spare pair of socks, and some spare food. I have a half-sized frame pack Isla Rowntree has encouraged Emily to that’s got tools, spare gloves, arm warmers, spin smaller gears Right: by Kristian Pletten. Far right: Emily Chappell and spare lights in, plus a top tube bag, and a couple of food pouches.’ My Bike The priority on any long-distance event is to keep moving, which is why Emily favours EMILY CHAPPELL mechanical disc brakes and shifters. ‘I can fix cable discs myself, unlike hydraulics,’ she For long-distance bikepacking like the Transcontinental said. ‘And I don’t trust electronic shifters not to let me down in the middle of nowhere.’ Race from to , Emily Chappell uses a People are drawn to adventure racing custom-built Shand Stooshie. Dan Joyce spoke to her from different backgrounds: racing, triathlon, audax, touring, and more. Emily’s background as a cycle courier isn’t an obvious advantage, MILY CHAPPELL IS an endurance quite a lot of women. Also, the front end of yet she’s done very well in past events. ‘I am cyclist in the mould of the late my old bike was too high. I ended up with the used to getting on the bike every day, even E Mike Hall. A director of the hoods rotated too far around the handlebar, when I feel rubbish,’ she said. ‘As a courier, Adventure Syndicate, a Cycling UK affiliate to try to get lower. It was uncomfortable.’ it’s your bread and butter. Last year I came group encouraging women to undertake Isla and Emily are still making tweaks to the first by about two days – as long as I carried challenging rides, she was one of the guest Stooshie. ‘Bike fitting is a difficult art because on, I was going to win. This year, there’s speakers at Cycling UK’s ‘100 Women in there are so many factors,’ said Emily. ‘And people like Paula Regener, Janie Haynes, Cycling’ event. She came to long-distance it’s a moving target: people’s bodies change and Shu Pillinger, who’s done the Race Across events through touring and a career as a over the course of their cycling career, and America. So I think it will be quite exciting.’ cycle courier. When we spoke, she had just even over the course of a ride.’ That was The TransContinental Race starts on 29 returned from the 2,500km TransAtlantic why she rode the TransAtlantic Way ahead of July. For more details, or to follow Emily’s Way race in Ireland, pulling out after the Transcontinental: ‘You don’t know what’s progress, see transcontinental.cc. 2,000km due to pain in her hands. going to happen on day seven if you’ve never The Adventure Syndicate website is She had been testing her long-distance ridden that bike for seven days in a row.’ theadventuresyndicate.com. bike, a Shand Stooshie. ‘I was originally Overall, the new bike was much more interested in the Stoater,’ she said. comfortable. The hand problems will be ‘The Stooshie is lighter and more racy. It’s addressed by adjusting the position of the Emily Chappell’s Shand Stooshie designed to go on and off road. It’s excellent handlebar or brake hoods – or perhaps by on gravel. I think everybody is trying to achieve adding tri-bars. The smaller frame has had FRAME & FORK: Custom-built Columbus/Dedacciai steel frame, an ultimate do-anything bike. For me, this one other repercussions, however. TRP carbon fork is close to the Holy Grail.’ ‘With a shorter head tube, there’s less WHEELS: Schwalbe Pro One tubeless It’s a bespoke bike, built by Shand in space before the bottles bump into my tyres, new Hunt carbon wheels, front hub is a Schmidt SON dynohub collaboration with Isla Rowntree. ‘Isla applied frame pack,’ Emily said. ‘You have to be TRANSMISSION: carbon Time pedals, her brilliant obsession with detail to get me more ingenious if you’ve got less space.’ 46-36 Sram chainset, 11-32 cassette, in the right position,’ Emily said. ‘She did the Fortunately, Emily does travel light: ‘Over Shimano Ultegra mechanical shifters BRAKING: Avid BB7 mechanical discs eventual drawings for the bike. It’s adapted the years, the bags I carry have got smaller STEERING & SEATING: narrower to my size and also to my style of riding, and smaller with less and less in them. The handlebar, Specialized Ruby saddle which she observed by coming out on long most recent event I did, I used Apidura’s EQUIPMENT: Supernova dynamo rides with me. Before this, I was riding much smallest seatpack containing a sleeping bag, lights, Sinewave USB, Garmin, Apidura luggage more stretched out, because I’ve always a bivvy bag, and a foil blanket; I don’t carry a ridden bikes that are too big for me, like mat, because my back seems to like sleeping

10 CYCLE AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2017