“I’ve ridden many thousands of miles on my bike all these years and I can’t say I regret anything… There were rough times but also good times. You just know it’s a challenge that you’ve got to overcome.”
We all have roads that lodge in our mind, routes we want to take. One such route is across the Sprengisandur, an uninhabited highland plateau crowned by an 826-metre pass in the central ranges of Iceland.
Plenty have tried to cross, and plenty have failed. In 2015, Rapha sent filmmaker George Marshall and framebuilder Tom Donhou to attempt the crossing. But after days of high winds, the pair were forced to stop. Four years later, George returned to lead another group across the 170 miles between the end of the tarmac near Reykjavik and the northern stronghold town of Akureyri. But they were far from being the first to make the crossing.
Over 60 years before, Ron Bartle joined Dick Phillips, Bernard Heath and their guide Raymond Bottomley for the first-ever unsupported ride across the Sprengisandur. They spent ten days in the wilderness, crossing rivers in inflatable dinghies and pushing their bikes for miles over boulder fields until they finally reached the first farmstead in the north.
Now in his mid-eighties and still an avid cyclist, Ron has recounted the story of his unexpected Icelandic adventure. And at a time when many of us cannot ride the roads lodged in our minds, he reminds us that they’ll still be there this year and the next.
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34 Comments
Another fantastic video.
wow!
Nothing hits more than him saying "You might have a few problems on your mind, but once you get out on the bike, you forget all these things" 👏
Very nicely put together.
Love these stories!
Inspiring. Thank you.
This is a LEGEND! And he still rides his bike every week!
Huddersfield Star Wheelers member. Just goes to show there’s not a lot new in cycling. Riders were gravel riding way back.
Love it.
An inspiration.
What a lovely film! Thanks!
I loved this video, thank you Rapha. I've been off the bike for most of January and February due to a health issue, and this video just whets my appetite even more to be well enough again to get back on – hopefully next week all being well!
This was absolutely brilliant. Properly inspirational stuff.
1:50 take a screenshot and read that. Something truly inspiring, sad, yet so totally wholesome and poignant in equal measure to see a life listed in such a way. What an incredible man, and what an incredibly full and well-lived life – with no sign of stopping the journey either! Would love to have a brew and a chat with Ron. Rapha, cap doffed to you for a fantastic feature of a brilliant human 👏
Love this! thanks for making these inspiring documentaries!
What an impressive man I'm 60 he's my new idol amazing
Absolutely outstanding way to spend the moments before calling it a day.
"Toughen you up maybe"
What a hero.
Fucking epic!
A wonderful spirit.
rapha film, lidl jacket. witty witty man 🙂
Beautiful work
Imagine the bikes, the gear and clothes they had back then compared to what's available to us now. True warriors.
What a wonderfully life-affirming and beautifully shot video! Wow! Thank you, Rapha! Please put all your films and videos up here – still not all the Festive500 are here 🙁
When someone says a person is badass this fella is who they are comparing them too to get that title. Thank you for sharing these amazing stories of pure adventure and sisu.🇨🇦
“ It never, always gets better” is the old ultramarathoner mantra and applies to all of life’s sticky points.
The power and persistence of the human spirit is an incredible thing!
Simply beautiful. A peaceful, quiet life, well lived. Indeed a great way to spend a life 🙂
Chapeau. So so good.
absolutely beautiful <3
amazing
Ron, and his like, are the true pioneers and heroes of cycling to me. From a fellow Ron I salute you and you have inspired a misanthropic 62 year old. Chapeau.
Ron is a legend
There is a folder containing letters, newspaper clippings, accounts of supplies etc for the organising of this trip. This was before Ron was involved. It is such a shame that this video was not made when Raymond Bottomley and Bernard Heath were still alive.
Despite continued asking over the decades, so-called 'Icelandic Dick' Phillips claimed all the photos and rock samples collected on the 1958 trip were "lost in the post". They only emerged once photographer Raymond Bottomley dies and Bernard Heath in a care home, 60 years later. Where did Ron acquire the slides and photos taken by, but denied to Raymond Bottomley…
I thought this was going to be another Rapha product promo masquerading as adventure but I was wrong. It dwells on endurance, spirit, attitude and character, exactly what expedition riding demands of you.
Good