Speaker: Jenny Graham. You might have already seen her on the channel before, showing me
the ropes of bikepacking. Recently, she's been busy traveling the world with GCN+, going
on some epic adventures. Jenny Graham: This place is magnificent.
Speaker: Who is Jenny Graham? [music]
Jenny: Hello. Welcome to the Scottish Highlands. Come on in. I have tucked myself away into
remote little corner of the Highlands to try and write a book about my round-the-world
adventures, which I'll tell you all about in a little while.
All I've actually done is arrive at the best adventure playground ever. Let me show you
around. [music]
Jenny: I wasn't actually introduced to the world of cycling until I was an adult. As
a kid, I was always into adventures and being out on my bike. I only found out that it was
an actual sport when I was in my 20s and I went to study outdoor education. I didn't
actually even enter my first bike race until I was in my 30s, and it was a 24-hour mountain
bike race called the Strathpuffer in the middle of winter in the Scottish Highlands. So if
you're going to have your first race there, then most other things seem quite easy after
that. For years, mountain biking was my passion.
I only actually got my first road bike a couple of years ago. As soon as I got on it and realized
the distance that I could cover when I was on tarmac, I became completely addicted to
that. Now, I don't limit myself to any discipline. I'm just delighted to be out on two wheels
and exploring this amazing place. [music]
Jenny: This is why I love Scotland. There's such a variety of terrain up here. I'm standing
now on a frozen loch that, actually, you could be up on a hillside, up on the mountain bikes,
or on some classic roads. When it's absolutely grim Scottish weather for when I'm out training
in the winter, I always think it just makes me a little bit tougher.
[music] Jenny: The type of racing that I like to do
on my bike is the adventure racing, the grassroots bikepacking-type events. Where you're out
there it's not just how fast you can make your bike go, it's about living on your bike
efficiently. It's about looking after yourself in these wild places for multi-days at a time.
As much as I love being part of something bigger that these events give you, what I
really enjoy is being alone, and the solitude of it.
[music] Jenny: My favorite bikepacking race is probably
the Highland Trail 550. It's a 550-mile self-supported bikepacking race around the Highlands of Scotland.
It's definitely where I first cut my teeth at bikepacking. I've had some of my best and
worst moments on that race. What I really, really enjoy about it is the
community that's around it. There are no podiums, there's no prizes, there's no entry fee. It's
just folk out there really wanting to push themselves mentally and physically, and be
part of this bigger, bigger community. With bikepacking races, often you're not sleeping
for very long. You just ride for as long as you can and then just find somewhere to bed
down for a few hours. It actually means that you end up sleeping in some pretty grim places.
Some of the worst places I've slept, maybe some of the public toilets that are bed, dine-in
for the night. You're only going to be there for a couple of hours but, actually, they
can be pretty grim. Can also just find shelter under the bridge,
in a random shed, in a bus stop, just anything to get out of the elements for a couple of
hours. There's something about the simplicity of living on your bike like that. You don't
carry any of the extra stuff that you fill your life full of. All you can afford to take
on the bike is what you need to survive, and there's something quite refreshing about that.
This might not be a classic mountain bike trail, but I find if you don't mind going
off the beaten track, you are rewarded with the most incredible views.
[music] Jenny: As much as I love traveling by two
wheels, it's actually the places that it takes you that I really love. Anything that gets
me into these wild places. [music]
Jenny: I have been so lucky in my life with mentors in the outdoors, people taking the
time to introduce me to all different sports, and to come out on adventures. I think, for
me, the real inspiration comes from that community of people that you've got around you that
don't mind going off for absolute epics and [unintelligible 00:07:01] and exploring the
place. It's only then where you've got that group of people around you that I ever found
out about the Dervla Murphys or the Beryl Burtons of this world.
I've had lots of amazing adventures, but my biggest one without a doubt is my round-the-world
record attempt in 2018. I set off solo, with no support crew, and cycled for 18,000 miles
in 124 days, and broke the previous world record by 20 days. It was just the most amazing
trip, four months away on my bike with the sole purpose of riding around the world as
quickly as I could. All my days were cut down so they were really,
really simple. I just had to ride for as long as I possibly could, get somewhere safe and
dry to sleep at night and eat as many calories as humanly possible.
I learned so much about myself on that trip, spending that much time alone, just pushing
yourself to the extremes. You go to some pretty full-on places and really get to know yourself.
For me, coming out of the trip, I looked back in it and it's giving me this sense of confidence.
Actually, we're all so much more capable than we imagine, like getting to that starting
line was a huge, huge deal. If I've got things that I'm a bit worried
about and nervous about, I think back to that. I think, well, if you can make it to the starting
line. Chances are, you can do whatever else you're wanting to get your teeth into.
[music] Jenny: Probably some of my best adventures
with GCN+ was when we went out to Colombia last year and made three brilliant documentaries.
They were so much fun. My top bits from each documentary were an Andes adventure. I rode
for Si, and we were on a mission to try and find the best coffee in Colombia.
One day, we had to cycle up this active volcano. The plan was to get to the top of it but we'd
all woken up the night before with tremors in the ground. There was smoke, properly pummeling
out of it. That was quite an exciting ride. Oh, 24 hours in Medellín. Best bit from that
for me was when I got to go up and explore Comuna 13 and meet Javi Savia, the local legend.
The third one was the road to peace. That was all about connecting with the people out
in Colombia. It was just incredible riding through these communities that hadn't seen
visitors, hadn't seen tourists. The country was just recovering from this horrendous civil
war and the fact that we were there on bikes and interested in where they lived and what
their world was like. They just welcomed us with open arms. I'm really excited about that
documentary going out and you getting to see it.
[music] Jenny: Woah, what a day. Well, that is me
in a nutshell. Absolutely live for adventures and I'm really looking forward to having more
with GCN. Make sure you go over and check out GCN+ and all the documentaries that we've
been making over there. Now, I really have to write this book. Where was I?