During the Covid19-related travel restrictions of the last couple of years, many gravel riders were either confined in the areas they could ride or choose to ride local in order to minimise the risk of an accident. While you could have looked at these restrictions as a negative thing, endurance rider Mark Beaumont and filmmaker Markus Stitz flipped the restrictions on their head and used the new ‘rules’ to help them devise routes close to where they lived in Edinburgh, Scotland.
To create their routes, Markus and Mark used GPX mapping of the boundaries of 24 Scottish council authorities and then overlaid them on komoot trail maps of the same areas. They hoped that their finished routes would “encourage people to stay active, whether cycling or walking, and to inspire adventures that started and finished at their front door.”
With the help of local authorities of Clackmannanshire, East Lothian, Falkirk and Glasgow, the pair selected four of the routes and then created a film of their adventures as they rode them. Their film is now finished and will be shown for the first time in public tonight, February 22nd at 20.00 GMT. If you would like to watch the free premier of the finished film, you can find the link here:
If you would like to find out more about the project and download the various route files, you can do that here