Tales from the Trails
We’re still buzzing!
Monday night at Track Brewery was something special.
A packed room, a brilliant audience, and speakers who brought the kind of honesty, humour, and grit that reminds you why we love doing this. Thank you to everyone who came down, asked questions, and stuck around for chats and laughs afterwards. The energy in the room was incredible.
Huge thanks to Track Brewery for hosting us, and to Kickback Coffee for supporting the event and helping make the night happen.
Photo credit: You’ll find a link to the full gallery at the bottom of this blog post.
Massive thanks to @samtaylorphotos and @monsterdonltd for capturing the evening. Please tag and credit them if you share any images.
Dicky Hibbert: Six days, three events, and a finish that came down to the wire
Dicky Hibbert took us deep into the story behind his UK Triple Crown.
He kicked things off with the Dales Divide, finishing second, less than an hour behind leader Angus Young. From there he stepped it up again, going on to win the Highland Trail 550, laying down a seriously fast time despite tough conditions.
Then came the part that had the whole room quiet.
After a huge crash, Dicky was facing nine broken bones, including his pelvis. Most people would have written the season off. Instead, he rebuilt, returned, and attempted the North Wales 400 not once, but twice.
Across the three events and six days of riding, it really came down to the wire. Dicky eventually beat the overall time set by Alex Berry by less than one hour.
Kerry MacPhee: From the Hebrides to the sharp end of the sport
Kerry MacPhee shared a beautiful story of where it all began: growing up in the Scottish Hebrides as one of five siblings, getting used to competing for absolutely everything from day one.
She discovered sport through triathlon, and somewhere along the way was told to sack swimming and focus on cycling. Thankfully she did, because it clearly paid off.
Kerry inspired the room to embrace challenges, create opportunities, and keep showing up. She also spoke about the work she now does to help create opportunities for others to approach the sport, and the impact that can have when people feel welcomed in.
Cal Dew and George Belk: From downhill battles to the Silk Road
Cal Dew and George Belk closed out the evening with a story that felt like the start of a film.
Two mates who used to battle it out in downhill racing, slowly stepping away from the high-adrenaline world of competition, then discovering bikepacking at Tor Divide 2024.
Then - allegedly while on a night out, and possibly after too many pints - they decided to sign up for one of the hardest ultra races on the calendar.
In 2025 they lined up at the Silk Road Mountain Race as a pair, supporting each other through highs and lows, doing far more walking (and a bit of swimming) than they would have liked, and being properly humbled by the scale of the Kyrgyz mountains.
Thank you, and what’s next
We finished the evening with audience questions, chats, and plenty of laughs. It was exactly what Tales from the Trails is meant to be: community first, big stories, and that shared feeling that none of us are doing this alone.
We cannot wait to see many of you at Tor Divide for that same atmosphere: big days on the bike, stories afterwards, and memories that last a lifetime.
See you out there,
Valerio
