What bike for King Alfred’s Way? Bike and kit choice for Cycling UK’s new gravel route.

King Alfred’s Way is being launched by Cycling UK today and you can buy the route guide I wrote here: https://shop.cyclinguk.org/king-alfreds-way-route-guide
And if you want to know what sort of bike to use and kit to take on this fantastically varied 350km route through 10,000 years of English history here’s a run through of my Santa Cruz Stigmata bike packing set up. Plus some kit and clothing tips from the recce ride I did before I finished writing the route guide.
Thanks to Kieran Foster and the team at Cycling UK for creating this fantastic route and involving me in the project, SRAM for the loan of the SRAM AXS Wide Range and Zipp 303 Firecrest equipped Stig, Altura for their Vortex bike packing gear and Gore, Giro, Red Bull Spect and 7-Mesh for kit.

My name’s guy kesteven and i’ve been a 
professional bike writer and tester for magazines and websites for nearly 25 years and i’ve been 
lucky enough to be the writer of the guidebook for the fantastic new king alfred’s way route put 
together by kieran foster and the team at cycling uk it’s a 350 kilometer route around the south of 
england uh but starts in winchester works it’s all the way over salisbury plain uh the ridgeway 
down through reading the surry hills and then back into winchester and it’s an amazing historic 
route that covers over 10 000 years of history and pre-history but it’s also a really really varied 
route between you know the tank roads of salisbury plain the covered roman road bush tunnels between 
winchester and salisbury uh the Ridgeway with its you know massive views but kind of quite slippery 
sort of chalky landscape and lots of ruts on there and then the surrey hills with sand and flint and 
then the south downs way with even more flint even more hills and some quite a little challenging 
tasty bits of single track and steep climbs and stuff so i thought i’d do a quick talk through 
on the bike i used uh for my reconnaissance ride before i finished writing up the guide and 
also kind of the kit and considerations so you guys you know have an idea what will suit 
you and what suits the route obviously what bike you use depends on what bike you’ve got and what 
your preferences are but the route is pretty much perfect for a modern uh gravel adventure bike like 
this santa cruz stigmata as you can see you’ve got a fast rolling but reasonably chunky tyres on here 
these are 40 mil but 50 mils have worked really well too uh it’s got a reasonably wide range gear 
set i mean there were some bits i was virgin on pushing uh with a load on uh butts a hill is a 
particular low point for your legs especially if you had too much soup and sandwiches at queen 
elizabeth country park but having a drop bar on the front means you know it’s a little bit more 
aerodynamic when you plug into a headwind across salisbury plain or on the road sections that give 
you more hand positions and also having a narrower bar was quite useful on some of the tighter sort 
of heavily overgrown uh shrubbery sections uh over near salisbury it doesn’t have suspension 
which is where the fatter tires come in handy but with i was running 30 psi in these 40 mil tyres 
they’re set up tubeless and you know that was just about the right balance of sort of smoothness and 
easy speed on the road sections but i mean there are sections where a mountain bike could be more 
applicable certainly a lightweight cross-country one would have been great for the south downwards 
way sections would give me a slightly wider gear range you could get by on the touring bike but if 
you’re using racks and panniers uh be careful of ground clearance on some of the rutted sections 
and also uh all that rattling on the route is likely to loosen bolts all over the place which 
is why i went with a backpacking rig on my bike and also make sure you’ve got enough tire volume 
in there uh anything sort of down near 30 mil you really are going to be nursing it through a lot of 
the rougher sections and you know there’s a lot of flint on this route that’s why this area was so 
popular with prehistoric people those flints that they napped into really really sharp blades will 
cut through tyres even more easily than they’ll cut through you know an animal hide so make sure 
you take a puncture repair kit make sure you take a pump co2 cartridge whatever you use i strongly 
recommend running your tires tubeless if you can and i’d probably take a tire boot or two uh just 
so you can actually repair the carcass of the tire if there’s a big split in terms of other 
essentials as you can see i took three bottles on most of the days there’s there’s water taps 
available there’s plenty of stops close by so i was fine just alternating between those two 
bottles but i did have a third underneath the down tube and that proved useful on the big stretch 
across salisbury plain which was pretty hot so although you know you don’t want to be drinking 
out of that spout it’s handy to have that bottle to refill the other bottles uh again you know 
in tube nice and handy there multi-tool nice and handy there although if you are going to try 
and be clever with a bolt-on strap like that make sure your interview doesn’t rub on the 
chain ring uh because one of the guys i met up with for on the soldier playing section russ 
uh got a puncture and i was just about to hand in my tube and found out already chewed through 
the inner tube on there so if you’re wondering what the main thing i would do i would do 
differently it would be not put my tube there just because i thought it looked cool instead you know 
just put it into your saddle bag or your top to be honest the top two bag was great uh that was where 
i put kind of most of my uh things that i might need in a in a hurry like me me spare gopro was in 
there and me a light i think was in there and also a little bit of lube is always handy the day 
across the ridgeway was quite sticky so it was nice to be able to refresh refresh the lube 
when we had a cafe stop and also you know snacks all kinds of instant access things can 
go in your top tube bag and then the front end this bar bag here i mostly just kept for food and 
if i whipped a waterproof off it could just go into the strapping at the front and also my phone 
sat in there if it wasn’t in my back pocket but to be honest i mean i did it in three days and i 
overnighted at people’s houses or had a premiere in stop halfway around and i was pretty much 
over bagged to be honest i could have done with probably just two out of three of these bags 
uh because the back is just clothing on there and some of the heavy articles uh what i would say 
obviously this is a sort of classic bike packing setup these are altura vortex bags uh turned out 
to be really really good fully waterproof which is definitely a bonus uh given the english weather 
but if there’s anything you specifically need to keep dry like your electronics uh take a separate 
dry bag as well just so you can be sure nothing leaks in there in terms of other spares you know 
just be sensible i mean the great thing about this route is even though there are some amazingly 
remote feeling places in actuality you’re never far from civilization and a bike shop or a garage 
or something that’s probably help you out but you don’t want to be making unnecessary details so you 
know take a multi-tool that you know fits all the things you need it to fit check a spare chain link 
and like i say definitely take puncher equipment uh because this is likely to be i mean i was lucky 
uh i didn’t have a single issue with a puncture uh all through the ride but you know i had my pump 
ready there uh like i said rust punctured when i was riding with him and uh anna punctured when 
i was riding with her on the first day so don’t expect to get around it completely inflated and 
uh have the kit you need to repair it there’s very very little busy road on the route but you know it 
just makes sense to take a back light to help with visibility whenever i hit the road just reach 
around get it flashing give yourself a margin of safety i also took a front light just in case i 
got behind schedule and it there’s a lot of lights now where they work as a spare battery uh for 
recharging lights recharging phones recharging gps which is quite a useful feature for sort of 
an adventure light and that’s certainly the case with that nog light there and then i used 
a wahoo roam as my gps unit there’s a gpx link free downloadable on the website and then there’s 
a kind of special edition gpx route that you only get in the route guide which has even more 
highlight it has a what i think is a better route around stonehenge and a really nice diversion 
around near winchester and it also puts you onto the beijing stoke canal which is the route i rode 
for the reconnaissance and i definitely recommend that another point if you’re using bike packing 
bags uh there is a lot of rattling and a lot of bouncing around on this trail you know some 
of the off-road sections are really quite fun uh so make sure you know you pad your frame up 
tape it up tape any components up just to avoid any scratching and uh damage to your frame because 
uh these bags will move around uh especially if you’re charging down off old winchester castle i 
think that was probably the descending highlight but you know there’s loads of really really good 
fun single track and double track trail on this route so you know make sure you enjoy it but make 
sure your bike doesn’t suffer too much as a result and again obviously what you wear is entirely 
up to you and whether or not you wear a helmet is entirely up to you but i would say there are 
some low hanging branches in sections so you know even though it’s a very very low traffic route uh 
having a bit of protection on your head isn’t a bad thing and uh also you know it’s especially 
for running summer a bit of eyewear protection certainly came in handy whether it was rain or 
insects or the occasional bramble whipping across the trail uh i i could say i went light i did it 
in three days so most of the time i was wearing this uh gore phantom pro uh it’s a lightweight 
sort of almost waterproof but very windproof and just warm enough jacket it’s got the zip off 
of all sleeves uh there’s a full video review up here so we’re going to look at that if you 
want and then i wore several seven merino shirt underneath it because merino’s really good and 
that it stays warm if it’s damp and it doesn’t smell too bad several days into a ride shorts 
uh go with what you’re comfortable with i made a big mistake i took a new pair just to try them out 
they look promising uh first day was not fun uh so yeah i went back to luckily i had a couple of 
tried and tested pair of gore shorts with me and again fresh shorts if you can take fresh 
shorts for every day it makes a massive difference your comfort and fresh socks as well and in terms 
of shoes i just wore a lightweight mountain bike shoe that was just you know easy to walk in and 
drive quickly in terms of other kits spares again i was traveling light so but these proved really 
useful on the ridgeway on the wet morning there a pair of really light waterproof shorts and 
just to keep the grits out of your particulars stop it turning into grinding paste up there and 
a decent waterproof jacket or at least a decent weatherproof jacket and i would suggest going 
for something uh light but relatively durable and obviously if it’s a more civilian style jacket 
uh you can you know wear it sort of just you know while you’re waiting for your take away curry or 
you know just taking in the views it’s just nice to have a bit of protection and a hood just to 
rather than going for like a microlight race cake but again you know if you’re wanting to do it as 
fast as possible then you know dress accordingly again uh spare shorts massive bonus in terms of 
comfort and freshness spare socks also and then i also took a uh long sleeve base layer takes up 
minimal weight uh but can make a real difference to comfort and warmth whether you’re wearing it 
under your waterproof or your windstopper or just you know starting early in the morning or late in 
the evening and he’s wearing it under your jersey in terms of food again i kind of overestimated 
most days because i ate going hungry it’s one of the worst things can happen on a kind of 
extended tour so i pack plenty of snack bars and sort of energy food but also kieran very kindly 
sent me uh a bunch of pork pies before i set off so yeah i had a pork pie every day it was just 
really really nice to have sort of a savoury treat to look forward to and i could share and share 
them with anna uh shared one with russ as well so that gave me quite a nice little you know it came 
like a little bit of a ritual on the day you know whoever was joining me on the route i’d share a 
pork pie with them and it was quite a nice touch and obviously but there’s plenty of places 
especially now you know covid’s lifted uh i rode the reconnaissance ride just as covered had 
lifted so not everywhere was open but there are plenty of places to get food and get drink you 
know you know ranging from farm shops to cafes you know you’re passing very close to salisbury 
you’re actually going through reading so there’s plenty of opportunity to stock up on supplies 
or just nip into a local pub for a bit of lunch or a packet of crisps and another place where 
pubs and cats can come in handy is if you’re thinking of taking an e-bike you know it’s a 
very suitable route for e-bikes uh there’s no head places where you’ll need to lift them over a 
fence or a gate or anything like that and you know you can cut the route down into battery friendly 
segments depending on how much assistance you need but if you ask nicely or even even better if 
you ring a head and act nicely a lot of pubs and caps will let you partially recharge you 
know top up your batteries so you’ve just got a bit of peaceful peace of mind uh when you’re 
pushing on and you don’t want to run out of power and then the absolute essential piece of 
equipment that you need is uh the actual king alfred’s way route guide you know i used 
to be an archaeologist so this was an absolute gift of a route to write up in terms of all 
the points of interest and all the stories uh that ten thousand years of english history 
uh puts alongside the trail that’s the cover i haven’t got a copy of the actual book yet but 
it will be uh well that’s our it’ll be this a5 size but not quite as thick because that’s the 
800 mile long great north trail ride and it’ll have uh os maps in there and you know any points 
where the navigation is particularly difficult or whether there’s something to watch out for all 
of that information is included in this book so thanks for watching me rattle on uh hope some 
of the information and hints and tips i’ve given have been useful and i can’t recommend this route 
enough it’s been fantastic to write it up it was fantastic to ride it and i hope you really really 
enjoy riding it yourself thanks for watching i’ve been guy kesteven on guy kez tv talking about the 
brand new king alfred’s way route from cycling uk