Photo Story: A 5-Day 200km Sufferfest in the Lake District in 'The Best Bike Ride Of My Life'

The other week I went on a bike ride.

It was the best bike ride of my life.

Across five days we cycled over 200km.

200km of mountain passes.

Beautiful woodland.

Dusty trails at sunset.

200km of great friends.

Laughs.

And wild discomfort.


I remember hours of hike a bike.

I remember falling off.

I remember rain.

And I remember the roughest trails I’ve ever seen.

But I also remember enjoying it all.

Almost every single minute.

Actual type 1 fun.

It’s weird.

It was super hard but also easy.

That sounds mad.

I know...

But that’s how it felt.


We were riding the Lakeland 200.

A big loop around the Lake District, designed to pull together all the best bits of trail in the area.

I would describe it as a wonderful sufferfest.

Imagine pushing your bike up the stairs for two hours.

That’s what some bits were like.

But just about anything can be fun with the right people.

I was with my friends Tom and Hugo for the five days.

And Will and Issy joined for some parts.

These are great people.

They made this pretty special.


Towards the end of the fourth day we were on our third hike a bike mountain pass of the day.

It was a long day.

Wow.

We crested the ridgeline to the golden hour light and 350 vertical meters of descent down to camp for the night.

The smiles dwarfed the mountain.

The dusty, fast, perfect trail was glowing in the evening light.

Maybe the best moment of the trip.

Yeeeeeeewwwwww!!!!!

There were many other moments of pain and so many more smiles.

Stories impossible to communicate in any way I know.

So yeah.

That was the best bike ride of my life.

Would I recommend you give it a go?

Absolutely not.

Absolutely YES!

- Jacob










































All photos taken on film.

Photos and words by Jacob Martin.

Follow Jacob's work on his Website and Instagram.