Resolution Race
On the 26th December 2019, four women set out to ride two cargo bikes from Edinburgh to Copenhagen with the aim of arriving before the clock struck midnight on New Years Eve. Riding in pairs, they alternated between pedalling the laden bikes and being exposed to the elements sitting on the front every single hour. Long days, freezing winter nights and the responsibility of keeping your partner safe. This was not a challenge for the faint hearted.
As the environmental crisis strengthens its grip on our world, Resolution Race demonstrated the value of collective effort, collaboration and empathy. It showed what can happen when we place our trust in others and how a slower pace of travel can benefit us all.
Should
In 2020, The Adventure Syndicate and filmmaker Katrina Brown produced ‘Should’, with funding from Transport Scotland and Cycling UK.
'Should' examines the challenges that teenage girls face as they battle the pressures to conform to society’s ideas of what girls should be like. With bikes and the Adventure Syndicate’s positive role models they find the freedom and courage that comes from adventuring outdoors.
‘Should’ explores what it means to identify as female in the male-dominated world of adventure.
The Spring Gathering
For the past few years, The Adventure Syndicate has held a spring gathering, bringing together groups of women from different walks of life and enabling them in their own adventures.
Check out Jo’s story from the 2019 gathering in the Sierra Nevada , Spain. In an emotional and honest account, she takes us on her own journey during the gathering.
Colorado Trail Race
Read all about Lee’s experience of the Colorado Trail Race from 2019, an adventure which she admits ended up being one of the hardest things she’s ever done..
“The Colorado Tail Race might be the hardest thing I’ve ever done. Deep down, I knew it would be but when six of us assembled in Denver to ride the route west in early July, the question of reaching Durango and then turning around to race it back again was a distant and only vaguely disturbing possibility, not yet a reality and so no cause for alarm” - Lee Craigie
Round the World
In June 2018, Jenny Graham left Berlin on her trusty bicycle with everything she would need to circumnavigate the world.
18,000 miles later she arrived back in Berlin with a smile on her face and one heck of a story to tell.
Emilia’s story
Strathpuffer
Strathpuffer 2017
In 2017, The Adventure Syndicate teamed up with Dingwall Academy and mentored four teenage girls as they completed the Strathpuffer - a 24 hour mountain bike race known for it’s 17 hours of darkness and brutally cold conditions in the middle of the Scottish winter.
Read all about the 2017 Strathpuffer, how the Dingwall Academy girls got on and their first hand experience of the race.
“Finishing my last lap just minutes before the time ran out so that it counted for the team, I’ve learned that I can do things that I didn’t think I could do.” - Emilia (Dingwall Academy)
Divided
In 2017, Lee Craigie and Rickie Cotter rode the Tour Divide, a self-supported mountain bike race from Canada to the Mexican border. In an emotional journey spanning 2745 miles, Lee and Rickie navigated savage terrain, bear season, mechanical breakdowns and medical holdups. But even when the pair were divided, their journeys still continued.
Fear of failure can stop all sorts of adventures before they even start, but what if failing is the best part? Read all about Lee and Rickie’s stories from the trail and check out The Adventure Syndicate’s award winning feature film ‘Divided’.
Highland Trail 550
The Highland Trail is a self-supported mountain bike race spanning 550 miles of the Scottish Highlands most beautiful, and most challenging, terrain.
The Adventure Syndicate has a unique connection with the Highland Trail 550 and there are many Syndicateers who have their own stories to tell from the heart of the Scottish Highlands.