Interview and Photography by Fergus Coyle
Matt Swaine is an Audax rider and journalist, who has worked with a host of wildlife, outdoor and cycling magazines over the years. I caught up with him at his home in Bristol, to discuss his background in cycle-touring as well as a more recent, creative take on bike navigation.
How did you discover long distance cycling?
I probably did my first long ride when I was 12 years old, with my friend Stuart. We rode up to Crewkerne from Wareham in Dorset. Because we lived way out in the countryside, if we wanted to see friends, we always had to cycle. Our first big adventure was at the age of 15. We cycled around the Isle of Wight. We thought it was huge, but actually the distance covered was probably nothing. We took our tents and camped there for a week. And the following year, we went to the north of France for a week and cycled back again.
Roll on a few years, I went to Guatemala and met a woman who'd cycled all the way down from Alaska. Her friend had carried on and cycled all the way to Tierra del Fuego. I just thought that was amazing. I spent about six months in Guatemala, got back again and my Spanish was quite good.
So, a bit like the Laurie Lee book, I walked out on a midsummer morning and thought, I want to cycle across Spain. I bought this lovely Orbit Romany, handmade in Sheffield. I was travelling by myself, so spoke more Spanish than English. I rolled out of the Picos de Europa, singing to myself in Spanish. I eventually got to the point where I was thinking in Spanish too, rolling into a cafe at lunch to have bocadillos (Spanish sandwich) and red wine. I had a ball and met some lovely people.
On the next big notable tour, I cycled high up into the mountains of the Himalaya. The Orbit had been stolen by this point, and it had been replaced with a Dawes Galaxy. I ended up riding some crazy off road routes, things that today would be called gravel, but that was just touring on a touring bike in those days. I had a fantastic time. I queued up to meet the Dalai Lama and it was amazing.
Immediately I thought - what a great haircut (this is the spiritual enlightenment I took from it). I got a buzz cut and had all my hair shaved off. I can remember cycling out of the Himalaya and the feeling of the wind running across my scalp was amazing. I came round a corner and there were a load of baboons in the middle of the road. I remember having to screech to a halt. It was an amazing place, a great experience. And so, I've always thought of myself as a tourer.
So with touring as your base, you eventually took up Audax?
When I got to Bristol, I discovered Audax and it felt like the ethos was quite similar to touring. So, I started off adventuring very much on my own, and then I found this community of like-minded cyclists. As a tourer, the most I would do in a day was probably about 120kms, 160 on a really big day. But equally, I could do 80 and be perfectly happy with that. There were never any times and limits.
I'm not sure I'm always entirely comfortable with the idea of 200, 300, 400km and having to hit a deadline, but it's got me to do some things that I never thought I could do before.
You've got this amazing community of people, who all spur each other on to go and do incredible things. So that's why I love Audax. I've had adventures on my bike that I would never have had by myself, because of the impetus, the encouragement, the kind of inspiration you get from all these people around you.
And I love it for that reason. You might have only cycled with somebody once, but if you've ridden through the night and you've looked out for each other, you’re now friends for life. You're tightly knit by that experience. There are few other things that put you in that situation so regularly.
This brings us neatly on from touring and Audax, where you’re similarly following a route, to the hand drawn maps: Can you talk a little about the origins of your illustrated maps?
I still do a bit of work for outdoors magazines and I put a proposal in for Country Walking magazine, to do a feature on making a hand drawn map of Bristol. The moment I started making this map, the pandemic happened, so it became a story about my life during Covid.
It was really interesting, because in that period, we were all forced to explore our local area, you couldn't go particularly far. I spent a lot of time exploring and thinking about where I live and what these different places mean to me.
You realise that maps can become a story. If I open a map of the Lake District, I think about all the mountains I've climbed and the little adventures I've had on different peaks. Two people might open the same map but it might tell them entirely different stories.
Drawing your own map allows you to tell the story you want it to tell. To be honest, when I'm on an Audax, I find the little computer quite restrictive. What I want to know is, where's the next stop? What am I aiming for next? What can I look forward to?
My days of touring were long before GPS mapping. So, I had a paper map in my handlebar bag and you could see it in front of you all the time. From the moment you get into Audax, you've got this tiny little computer with a breadcrumb trail and it's very hard to stray off either side. So, it's not the same as a proper map. And I love maps. I love the act of unfurling a proper map and planning a route, and that's slightly taken away from you if you’re on an Audax route, because you're put on rails, and you're not really supposed to come off those rails.
So, I started drawing simple line maps so I could see the targets I'm aiming for. I could put on places where I planned to stop and drink. If it's a 300, 400, I’d need to think about where to rest? So, you could get lots of information on them. Then people started to take interest in them so I decided to jazz them up by getting the coloured pencils out and putting a bit of design work into them. People always took photos and I would get a bit more elaborate with the things I was trying to do. I love it, but its also good as it does two things: firstly, it prepares you for the route ahead. It's one way to make sure you really have thought about where you're going and where you need to be.
And secondly, they’re a really nice memento to have afterwards. It has become part of the ritual, that I've got this little mini-route together and I've made a plan the night before. And I quite often know people will laugh, they look at it and go, “Oh, I'm not going to use that for, for navigating on”, but they do end up coming up to me in the middle of the ride and say, “Can I have a quick look at the map?”.
Any notable highs from riding this summer?
We did cycle 600k to Norfolk and back to complete our fixed Super Randonneur. And I really did enjoy that. It was a tailwind all the way to Kings Lynn and I was thinking, this is great, I feel fantastic, really strong.
The way back was an entirely different story. The last third was purgatory and I really had to knuckle down and work hard to finish it. The 400k Arrow ride to York was very, very cold. We set out from Bristol with three teams and I think we were the only team that didn't get absolutely hammered by the rain. Somehow we managed to navigate and miss all the showers, whereas everyone else got absolutely soaked.
And we must have found the flattest possible route to York. It felt a little like cheating! I've been doing a lot of fixed gear riding and I've really enjoyed it. Last year I did my first SR fixed, and it was a bit of a novelty. This year, fixed has become the way I really enjoy cycling, as long as there isn't a really nasty hill in the middle! It's not about big adventures necessarily, or covering big miles. It's realising the importance of all those friendships and relationships, all the people you meet as you cycle. I think that's the best thing about Audax, by a long shot.
Matt’s Instagram: www.instagram.com/swizzles69
Fergus’ Website and Instagram: www.ferguscoyle.com www.instagram.com/fergus_coyle