The Power of Slow Adventure

Hi Lee, where are you based right now and how’s 2021 been for you so far?

Right now I am between Inverness, Edinburgh and Aberdeenshire! It’s a long story but come October I hope to stay put for a while and enjoy the changing colours in the Cairngorm mountains.

2021 has been a mixed bag. I longed for freedom of movement during lockdown but when it began to happen I found justifying travelling far from home as I’ve always done before harder. I’ve also think Covid and our heightening climate crisis has pulled a veil from my eyes and I find myself keen to get as far away from screens as possible but not necessarily to far flung places.

So for those who don’t know, can you explain the Adventure Syndicate?

The Adventure Syndicate was set up in response to the bicycle and outdoor industries fixation with being the strongest, best, fastest and first. I was a pro mountain biker for many years and an outdoor instructor before that but became pretty disillusioned by both industries over time, so were all the other strong, capable women I was surrounded by. We were trying to be genuine and act with integrity while racing or encouraging others into the outdoors but our ways of being were overlooked and considered less worthwhile or weak. It seemed speaking loudly and definitively about your own competence was the way to get ahead but deep down we know that this way of being doesn’t make the world go round.

As women we were tired of never seeing ourselves represented in adventurous contexts and of the boring traditional narratives of conquering, defeating and treating our natural environments as big playgrounds exclusively for our own pleasure. As a group of endurance adventure riders who excel at big bike rides due to an ability to collaborate, communicate and respect the natural world, who could be gentle with themselves and inclusive of others, we thought it was worth retelling some stories. So we set some records and rode some very long distances but were humble and had fun too. Importantly, it encouraged others to do the same.

We wanted to dispel the myth that you need a chiselled jawline and huge biceps to belong in the outdoors. Everyone belongs here. It’s where we all come from and connection with wild spaces is the most natural, inclusive thing a human might experience. So we make films, give talks, organise challenges and gatherings of like-minded people, race long distances and tell stories about our failures as well as our successes. It’s honest and fair and as a result, we hope, inspiring.

So why the River Dee to start with?

Because we love the mountains and the Dee starts high up in the Cairngorms at nearly 1200m before gathering momentum and reaching the sea in Aberdeen. So many kids in Aberdeen have never even seen the Cairngorms but making the watery connection between the river that runs by their doorstep, what life it gives to living things along the way and the wild high lands it originates from is pretty powerful stuff.

How did you find the journey?

It was a bit weird to begin with to be honest. We’re used to travelling 100s of kms each day on our bikes and really challenging ourselves physically. This journey asked us to really slow down and notice things. To take time and invest in the connections with people and the places we were passing though.

We know this a valuable thing to do but we get just as caught up in the fast paced high achieving ways of living that everyone else experiences. We also feel that we owe it to ourselves to slow down and notice things once in a while as we travel smaller, more sustainable distances each day. Not every challenge needs to be a smashfest! Thirty miles a day riding and packrafting means there’s time to eat and sleep well, to tell the story of why we’re doing this and to encourage others to get involved.

And in September you guys are following another Scottish river source to sea, right? What can you tell us about this?

Yeah! During the Dee we focused on how travelling self supported by bike benefits our mental and physical health. In September we’ll be journeying down the river Tay and looking at ways travelling sustainably can be a social leveller. Not everyone can afford a car and those that can often make it harder for those who can’t to get around safely.

Making the watery connection between the river that runs by their doorstep, what life it gives to living things along the way and the wild high lands it originates from is pretty powerful stuff