Yesterday, I rode over to Bournemouth to meet up with the Woods Cyclery’s Tom Farrell, to talk about the Woods Rat Run – his impending long weekend bikepacking route, connecting the New Forest to the Isle of Purbeck to Cranborne Chase. Tom has quite the collection of fine steel steeds – including a clutch of Big Bros, Singulars, and a Riv – but it was his gorgeous Stooge Rambler ‘Dinglespeed’, fitted with Crust Towel Rack curly bars and a black hole-like Fabio Chest, that I grabbed photos of.

It’s a real delight to ride bridleways and forest roads all the way from Kimmeridge, where my folks live, to the chain ferry at Shell Bay. From there, a £1 coin covers safe passage to Sandbanks, connecting cyclists with a bike path to Poole, Bournemouth, Christchurch, and bridleways to the New Forest beyond. I seem to have missed our fabled British summer this year but still, the sun’s occasionally graced us with its presence and I’ve headed out on a number of solo rides – often just quick little leg stretchers, or ridgeline climbs to gulp in fresh and blustery seaside air. As ever, the Jones is such a fun steed for this style of roughstuff, bridleway and forest road riding. Its upright riding position means I always make the most of these grand coastal views.

In other news, Outdoor Provisions sent me a stash of energy bars and nut butters to keep me fueled for these outings. I’ve long been a fan of their products, as much for their delicious recipes, as their compostable packaging. I appreciate the way this small business is doing its best to navigate the complicated waters of packaging, carbon footprints, and food waste.

Photos and deep-dive details below!

It’s always sunny in Purbeck! (until it isn’t…)

At last! Hammerhead has updated the firmware on the Karoo 2, so it’s now possible to flip a route on the fly, and ride it in reverse.

In other gear news, I’m trying out this Fidlock-mounted bottle from Austria-based Keego. It’s metal on the inside, light and squeezable, and is made from titanium and recycled plastic.

Fern alley. If I squint my eyes a bit, I could be back in Oaxaca…

Up on Rempsone Heath.

I love this bike. Such a comfortable and capable steed. It’s seen here with a Tailfin rack and a proto 16L pannier, along with a Frost and Seker front bag for that nouveau meets classic look.

Grand views before my eyes, great music in my ears = smiles for miles. I’m a little obsessed with this album right now. Thanks for the recommendation, Simon!

Gotta ride, gotta eat…

About those bars…

Outdoor Provisions offer a range of delicious bars, and more recently, nut butters. I’ve known Lucas, one of its co-owners, for a few years, after we met up in Manchester to chat about a route he created – the Second City Divide. He also donated a handful of Outdoor Provision bars to our trip – a 2-week tour that aimed to be completely free of single-use plastics. You can read about it here!

There might be more companies offering snacks in home compostable packaging now, but at the time, I was impressed that such a small business were innovating in a space where corporations often run the show, with little regard for the impact they create. I’ve long been uncomfortable with the amount of trash I create on a bike tour, and short of dehydrating and prepping my own snacks pre-tour, these felt like the next best thing.

Lucas doesn’t kid himself that it’s a done deal – aside from the challenges of creating durable but compostable packaging, there’s food waste and carbon footprints to consider, too. But I trust that Outdoor Provisions are doing the best they can, and hopefully their range and reach will expand.

What’s more, the bars taste great, they’re vegan-friendly, and there are no dastardly refined sugars. Have you seen all those flavours?! Date and ginger, orange and tea, cherry and almond, to name a few… And, they deliver around 160 Kcals of bike power a pop.

Apparently, the nut butters work a treat in a bowl of camping porridge. I’m looking forward to trying that one out on the next campout…

And back to the Isle of Purbeck!

That’s Sandbanks in the distance, across Poole Harbour.

Shell Bay. Last chance for a swim!

Tom and his Stooge Rambler

Follow Tom on Instagram at fomtaz, or via the shop he co-owns, the Woods Cyclery in the New Forest. He’salways posting fantastic bike builds, too.

The perfect colour palette for British Roughstuff?

A Stooge Rambler, size 54cm. I’m intrigued by this bike, in part due to its rigid specific design, tall stack, short reach, and 55mm fork offset – kinda like my old Jones SWB, in some ways. Also, these framesets are £690, which seems like a killer deal.

Elsewhere, the build includes Crust’s shoulder-popping, 660cm wide Towel Rack Bars, as designed by the legend that is Ron. The framebag is custom-made for the Woods Cyclery by Wizard Works in London. Tyres come courtesy of a Teravail Ehline 27.5×2.5 in the back, and a meaty Onza Cannis 27.5×2.8s up front. Find out more about its ‘dinglespeed’ gearing in my past post – here. And yes, look at those Middleburn cranks…

Tom’s homemade camera strap, perfect for grabbing crispy shots with his Fuji XT30 and 56mm 1.2 from the saddle. He also packs an old Yashica point ‘n shoot film camera, great for a visual and mental shakeup, and gets his photos developed at Snaps Photo in nearby Winton (post service available).

If Tom isn’t riding his bike along the coast… he’s to be found surfing in its waters.

Love is… riding a bicycle that brings you great joy and pleasure with every pedal stroke (kicks bike fondly).

The clue is in the name. It’s a Rat Run!

Cheeky little cut-throughs and urban trails… my favourite kind of city riding!

And home again…

A little soggy… but still, even when it’s not sunny in Purbeck, it’s always a gorgeous ride.

Bournemouth out and back

For some gentle bikepacking ideas on the Isle of Purbeck, check out the Purbeck Bimble. And watch this space for more news on the Woods Rat Run…

Thanks for reading! Any questions, fire away!