Last weekend Gabe and I decided to ride a fun new local event called Trash Cat, organised by Hari who seems to be in her element organising things that put smiles on people’s faces. Bristol is fortunate to have a few of these people and I am in awe of their efforts. She went all in, with event sponsors, an afterparty with films and pizza, special musettes, free socks, all sorts. It was impressive. Also Thanks to Seun Alaba for letting me pinch some of his photos from the day.

We weren’t really sure what to expect from the event. It was sort of vaguely alleycat style in the sense that it involved a series of checkpoints and challenges, but involved a route right out of the city to the coast, and had gravel and road route options. Not your traditional kamikaze shred around the city, more of a saunter along the lanes. As long-retired bike messengers who take things pretty steady these days, we were both glad of this, but still decided to get our track bikes out, don our courier bags and cosplay our 20 year old selves for a bit of a laugh.

The focus of the event was to collect litter or trash. I resent calling it ‘trash’ because I’m some sort of dull pedant and it feels too American-English for me, but ‘Rubbish Free Trails’ doesn’t quite have the same ring to it. Anyway, language pedantry aside, collecting trash from the trails along the way was the big focus of the event, and to highlight the amount of single-use plastic wasted.

I was mind blown by the creativity of the checkpoints hidden clues, and how hard they were to find! at one point we spent at least half an hour looking for a piggy bank hidden in a hedge before giving up. It turns out it must have been right under our noses. Another clue was hidden inside a 3d printed plastic rock, inside a flowerbed. We had no hope of finding this but lingered long enough for some other genius to spot it!

Alongside the geocaching style checkpoint challenges there were a few prizes up for grabs for such fun things as ‘most trash collected’ ‘largest item of trash’ ‘longest route’ and ‘best team name’. Obviously, Gabe and I had been taken by the largest item challenge and had spent days beforehand musing over where we could find a car bumper, a mattress, or some other sort of big item that might be carryable. There were a few cargo bikes taking part which made me feel like trying to take on this challenge was a bit futile, but you’ve gotta try!

Rolling back into town via the Pill Path we started our search for some sort of big item. I suggested riding through Hotwells, but Gabe pointed out that south of the river was ‘grottier’ and we’d be more likely to find some fly-tipping. As somebody who grew up in Ashton Vale, I reluctantly accepted that he had a point.

Sure enough, we rode around an underpass near Smythe Park, Gabe got a front wheel flat and wiped out around the corner, and right there was a burnt out moped next to a shopping trolley. I really REALLY wanted the moped, but there was no way I was lifting it, let alone getting it all the way back to St Phillips. The trolley would have to do.

It’s surprising what you can get on the back of an Ortlieb messenger bag. As far as courier bags go they aren’t really the fashionable choice, but I’ve always loved mine and find that if you run a couple of ratchet straps through the solid plastic parts of the bag they are one of the best options for moving big stuff. Ortlieb hasn’t paid me to say that, I’ve just had one of their bags for 13 years.

I’ve thought about writing a section of this blog that reviews great products I’ve had for a really long time, as a sort of antithesis to influencer/amazon affiliate style review sites, where people will rave about any old shite because they’ve been given it for free. Unfortunately, most of my ‘ancient products I love’ aren’t actually available any more, which somewhat defeats the point. I’m also not sure that anybody really cares. Fortunately you can still buy the Ortlieb Messenger Pro and it will last you at least 13 years. probably 20, if not forever. Consider that a 10/10 review.

Anyway, I got the trolley loaded up and we headed back across town towards Silverthorne lane to grab some extra trash, Gabe found a kids bike and an old chair, along with a load of random plastic bottles and general shit, and we nabbed ourselves the biggest item prize, much to peoples amusement.

The best team name went to the brilliant ‘Rage Against The Polythene’, and most items collected went to Ted and Will with thier trailer and cargo bike combination, who must have gotten 70+ items of trash. It was a really feel good event, and I loved seeing so many sunny smiling faces out and about on the roads and trails along the way.

The day got me feeling so good, and the stresses written about in my previous post seemed to fade away into nothingness. Bikes and time outdoors can fix everything. Gabe and I pedalled up to The Fringe for a cheeky pint after the event, and both agreed it was one of the best days we’d had in a long time. This is something i’ve found myself saying a lot this summer. With so many good days, I’m going to have to recalibrate my base line.

I’m off on a little camping trip with Sofie next week and am so excited to be back in the tent and under the stars, and have a slightly mad plan to ride to London and back for a very large pastry in a couple of weeks. I’m sure i’ll have some words to write about that.