Rebound is an annual challenge supported by Shimano where the aim is to be inspired by the Unbound gravel race in Kansas and do something similar wherever you live in the world. Olly had spent more than six months planning the route. He had spent hours poring over digital maps & satellite photos and reccied big chunks of it. The pre-ride accommodation was booked. The train tickets had been paid for. But then the gremlins struck…

Having to visit an emergency doctor on a Saturday is never a good thing. Particularly after I’d already seen one less than two weeks before. I hadn’t needed a doctor's appointment for nearly five years before this and my timing couldn’t have been worse. The first course of antibiotics seemed to clear up the infection, but then it came back with vengeance. My body knew what it needed. Eighteen hours of sleep. The prescribed second course of antibiotics should have killed off the remnants of the infection, but it seemed to kill-off the rest of me too. There was no way that I could ride 200+ km only a few days after having felt so unwell, so I messaged the rest of the team and told them I couldn’t join them. Time for Plan B.

The rest of Team Rebound - Clive, Graham, Rob and Sam, were still up for the challenge and headed up by train to Dunbar, not far from Edinburgh, for the start of the planned route.

Thanks to the incredibly enlightened Scottish access laws, the Fantastic Four were able to take full advantage of all the public rights of way on the Scottish side of the border. The route I had created was a mix of trails I knew, recommendations from the web and many hours of careful research. I’d hoped that the finished route would have the Goldilocks proportion of coastal singletrack, fast rolling gravel trails, minor back road and some shared use trails. I’d carefully researched potential stopping places for food/water, with something pencilled in roughly every 30 km. I had personally ridden around 85% of the route, so was confident it would roll nicely and everyone would enjoy it. Of course, with a 200+ km route, that unknown 15% could be absolutely hideous. No matter how much desk research you do, there’s nothing like actually riding a trail to figure out if it will ‘go’ or not.

I asked each of the riders to write a few paragraphs about their experience. Graham takes up the story right from the start “Having ridden an epic Rebound ride with Olly last summer, which involved riding from Newcastle to the far reaches of Kielder Forest and back, finishing in the dark, I had a good idea of the challenge that Clive, Sam (Clive’s son), Rob and I were undertaking. Clive and I took the train to Dunbar from Newcastle and met Sam, who had made his own way there from Glasgow. We stayed at the excellent Dolphin Inn bunkhouse, but I don’t think any of us slept particularly well, with the anticipation of the ride. We left Dunbar at 7am and were blown away by the amazing views. You can’t beat riding somewhere for the first time and I would have taken lots of photos if I hadn’t had to concentrate so hard on the riding! The first section stuck very closely to the shore and at times so close that we were riding on the beach, which led to some creative expletives.”

It seemed as though my route research had failed to spot that in places the riders would be funnelled along the shoreline. Fortunately this section wasn’t too long, but it had a negative impact on their average speed and gave them some worries about whether they would make it to the end in daylight. Sam, a recent convert to gravel riding, gave his insight “After a couple of rocky sectors, we quickly came to the realisation that this would be a proper gravel ride and not the fast flat ride I had naively imagined looking at the profile. ⁠Some snapshots that stuck in my mind - riding with very mixed success across a surprise beach; making the most of the one long-ish tarmac hill of the day and getting thrown all over the place because my tyre pressure was too high.”

After their early beach riding section, fortunately the trail conditions improved and it wasn’t long before the group arrived at the first “highlight” of the day. Graham described this section eloquently “A particular highlight was riding around (and it felt like we were riding through) Torness nuclear power station. It felt like a set from Doctor Who, with huge dystopian concrete structures towering over us. The riding was tough, as the ground was rock hard and tussocky and we played chicken with how far you could deflate your tyres to improve comfort without getting problems with steering or ‘burping’. The fantastic views up and down the coast made up for the pain, but after two hours we had only done about 25 km and I was beginning to think that we were in serious trouble. “

The further south the group rode, the better the conditions became. Clive takes up the story “Looking over horizons with blue sky vistas in the early morning that would be difficult to fit in one picture. The joy of riding in Scotland on any trail/footpath. Initially our average speed being pushed back caused by concreted mud. Dropping of tyre pressures made a huge difference. The need for lights at the end became more than an afterthought. The forecasted cross/head wind seemed to be behind us somehow! Felt like I had an e-bike motor. The smell of seaweed every now and then.”

As they got closer to the Scottish/English border, the trio became a foursome and they had fresh legs to sit on the front and do some of the pace setting. Graham fills us in “The fourth member of the team, Rob, couldn’t spare Thursday evening to get to Dunbar, so he got the train to Berwick first thing on Friday and started riding north to join us. I don’t think he had expected to ride quite so far north, but we did eventually meet up and he had the joy of re-riding some of the trickiest sections again! Eventually we arrived at Berwick at 11am and were relieved to find that Northern Edge coffee was as good as we had hoped.  Fired up with cake and coffee, we headed off in the hope of easier terrain. Gradually the riding got easier, we found that the tracks were less challenging and the wind started to turn to our backs. We reached Beal Farm, home of the Lindisfarne Festival and we started riding tracks that we were familiar with and I started to think that maybe we might get home before having to bivi in a ditch somewhere. “

With Rob having joined the group, he added his story to the communal tale “Rebound 2025 was a wonderful reminder of life’s simple pleasures: a bike ride; stunning coastal scenery; friendship; camaraderie; humour; stoicism; good coffee, beer and a barbecue. Highlights included the stunning coastal scenery either side of Berwick, the first glimpse of, and the off-main road approach to, the magnificent Bamburgh Castle.”

Unfortunately as the group made it past the half-way point disaster struck. Graham explained what happened “As we approached Bamburgh from the north, the views of the castle were spectacular and we started to make good progress. Sam’s rear shifter cable snapped around this point though and he ended up with a 2x1, which he had to ride to the end. He was by far the youngest member of the team, but still it was an achievement to keep going without complaint for another 100 km.”

Sam is incredibly strong and stoic, but even so, riding 100 km of lumpy off-road terrain with only a functioning front derailleur doesn’t sound like a lot of fun. He gives his perspective on this section of the route  “We managed to keep the creeping exhaustion at bay coming into Belford with some very animated speculation about the final upcoming Giro d’Italia stages. My rear gear cable snapped at 100km, forcing me to only ride with two gears for the remaining 100 km. I quickly learnt to enjoy climbing "old-school Italian style" (out the saddle, on the drops, pushing a big gear), rather than the seated high cadence climbing I tend to prefer. At points I had to genuinely scream through gritted teeth trying to push up short steep off road climbs at about 1 rpm. I can vividly remember suddenly having to ride in proper aero group formation on long tarmac roads into a headwind (which I found quite a fun change of pace).”

As the riders headed further south they reached more familiar trails, but a combination of tiredness and an impressive energy burn rate started to make their presence felt. Rob described this section eloquently “I can remember tramping round the edge of field and through a gap in a hedge when we encountered a truly blocked road. I also quite enjoyed the sometimes bemused, but never hostile, faces we encountered whilst cycling through golf courses and holiday parks.” Graham described it like this “The rest of the ride was rather more of a blur, possibly as the terrain was very familiar to us and with tiredness beginning to take its toll. Nearing the end of the ride, we realised that none of us had any water or food left and it was decided that we should find a shop and get some supplies which kept us going.” Clive added his thoughts “I thought that seven energy bars would be enough. I can vividly recall the smell of BBQs and cooking as we rode through caravan parks. 30 km to go emergency Mars bar from a corner shop.” 

Sam’s memories are perhaps the strongest for the final section of the ride “I remember dramatically bonking on one of the last gravel sectors in the final 15 km, after massively underestimating the ride's fuelling requirements. We made a ⁠life-saving emergency stop at a corner shop for a drink and a Mars bar and then I can picture being basically towed the final km to Jesmond”

 The group arrived safely at Graham’s home at 21.15 – more than 14 hours after they set off. Graham’s wife and family had prepared an amazing BBQ dinner and it was warm enough to sit out in their back garden, with the riders practically inhaling the food. Graham described it eloquently “We finally got back to Newcastle at 9:15 in the evening for a very welcome cup of tea, barbecue and beer. It was a fantastic day out. I particularly enjoyed the coastline in the first section, despite how hard it was to ride and I’m looking forward to hearing from Olly what the next challenge might be.”

Despite having already ridden more than 200 km, Clive and Sam had one last challenge to overcome – a final 15 km ride through the suburbs of Newcastle before heading west to where they live. We’ll let Sam have the final word “My final memory is riding back home in the dark, shattered but proud to have managed to finish the ride.”

 A huge thanks to Clive, Graham, Rob and Sam for helping to put the story together and for letting us use their images. No thanks to kidney infections for messing up my plans to join them. Still, there’s always Rebound 2025 to look forward to…..