In this episode, I recorded some footage from my gravel bike ride this week to scout the area affected by the New Forest Wildfire started by the vehicle fire on the A31 two weeks ago.

Thanks to the amazing work of the combined emergency services response the damage to the Forest is not worse than it could so easily have been.

The fire was started on Sunday 9th August by a vehicle fire on the A31 which quickly spread to the nearby verges and then into the forest. It took over a week for the fire to brought under full control and a further four or five days to continue with the damping down process to make sure no fires were reignited.

The A31 was finally opened again on Saturday 22nd August, the impact of closing a major arterial road for so long was massive on the whole area. I had never seen so many cars on the quieter rural roads of the forest. I avoided the area on my bike during the disruption, venturing only to the south of the forest. Thankfully the area has started to get back to normal again.

The footage from my ride showed the effect in the Forest on both sides of the carriageway. Amazingly, and thanks to the efforts of the emergency services the fire did not spread further north, the footage shows how the clear demarcation of the fire break along the gravel path.

It is also incredible that the damage on the south side of the A31 was not worse.

This video episode contains some comparison footage shot by Mike & Julie Wheeler https://www.youtube.com/@WheelersAtLarge from earlier in the year. Check out their channel for loads of great footage of riding around the New Forest and Dorset.

Watch this short episode on my YouTube Channel https://youtu.be/gPvSINtxTmQ

Even though the pod is currently on a season break, while I pull together new interviews and discussions ready for season three, which will begin towards the end of September, I thought I would record a brief episode and share a few thoughts on the ongoing Silk Road mountain race, which started last Saturday on the 15th of August in Talas in Kyrgystan and is currently underway. Now, the Silk Road mountain race is widely regarded as... If not the pinnacle, one of the major bikepacking ultra races of the season.

And as part of the organization of that, there is a group of dot watchers that are based all around the world, across multiple time zones, keeping an eye on riders as they make their way through the 2050 kilometre course across the country. The high peaks in Kyrgyzstan ranging up to over 4,000 meters.

I'm one of those dotwatchers who is assigned a group of riders to keep an eye on their security, their safety, and we're tracking those riders as they complete the course.

Official Race Website & tracking Silk Road Mountain Race — The Mountain Races: Silk Road, Atlas, Hellenic

Tracking: https://srmr2026.maprogress.com/#

Official Instagram : https://www.instagram.com/silkroadmountainrace/

Official Podcast with daily updates : The Mountain Races Podcast - Podcast - Apple Podcasts

This episode of the Refuel and Reboot Podcast is an interview with former cycling professional Matt Rowe, founder of Rowe & King, older brother of the Team Sky /Ineos Grenadiers legend Luke Rowe and husband of Olympic champion and former professional cyclist Dani Rowe (nee King)

His story of racing bikes as a junior and pro and having to give it up all because of illness is a fascinating story. Especially when he talks through the massive decision he had to make at just the tender age of 18. Matt is open and brutally honest about that time and what lead to him studying, working in the corporate environment before making the decision to start his own business with his wife and found Rowe & King Cycling coaching.

I really wanted to hear Matt’s story which can be overshadowed by the public successes of his famous younger brother Luke and Olympic Champion wife Dani. His story is relatable to all those who have chased a dream only to have that dream shattered and have to find a new path.

To connect with Matt and Rowe & King coaching, check out their website roweandking.com

Ep. 22 Aren't you the cycling guy. Mark Taggart of Taggart People.

This episode is a discussion with Mark Taggart, founder of Taggart People and follows a theme of business owners who have struck out on their own after a successful career in the corporate environment. In this episode, Mark talks about redundancy, making the decision to start up on his own, the challenges of first starting, the power of personal brand and tapping into what makes us different in what we do.

Mark Taggart is also a member of the Tullio Business Community for Cyclists, a networking group for business leaders who ride bikes and are looking to further their network reach. Mark is ride captain for the Bedfordshire group and its inaugural ride with take place on Thursday 9th July. Details on tullio.cc or through contacting Mark on LinkedIn Mark Taggart FCIPD | LinkedIn

In this episode of the podcast Mark goes for a ride on the Isle of Wight with Joe Staunton, performance coach at Ceyreste Performance and author of the Human Operating System mental performance programme. They talk through mental resilience, training for the brain, combating mental fatigue and even have a short example session whilst riding through the lanes and roads of the eastern Isle of Wight coastline. They top off the conversation at lunch on the beach eating Fish Finger sandwiches. To connect with Joe visit his website https://www.ceyresteperformance.com or find him on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/joecstaunton/

Episode 20 : Still not giving up. Reflections from the SuperMaratona Challenge.

This episode begins at dinner on the evening before the challenge attempt on Thursday 4th June in Alta Badia discussing the plan for the next day, how to organise the car, the nature of the climbs and the descents for the day.

The episode continues with snippets from the day and an interview with Jamie at KM90.

All will be revealed in the episode when safely back in the UK Jamie and Mark reflect on the challenge and lessons learnt.

To give to Cancer Research follow this Link to Jamie's fundraising page. https://fundraise.cancerresearchuk.org/page/tour-dfk-cancer-stage-4-the-supermaratona

Ep 19: The Tour de F.... Cancer Preview

Its a return to the podcast for Jamie Granados on the eve of the challenge that he and Mark spoke about in a bonus Episode of the Podcast back in February. (That episode can be reached here Never Giving Up - Jamie’s Adventure to honour bravery and Courage. )

(photo Credit Gerard Probst)

Recorded on Wednesday 3rd June just before Jamie attempts his challenge as a preview and a promo for his fundraising which at the time of recording has surpassed £3500. Hopefully next week we will be able to report back how the challenge went and capture a few moments from the ride.

To support the challenge and donate to Cancer Research follow this link Tour de F$%k Cancer - Stage 4: The SuperMaratona

Thanks for listening and subscribe to the podcast to find out how Jamie and his support team got on.

In a first for the Refuel and Reboot Podcast, this latest episode with Lee Curtis CEO of Seguro Technology was recorded in person. So you can watch the interview also on Mark's YouTube Channel.

In this episode Mark and Lee talk about Lee's early cycling, racing on BMX bikes and then on the road whilst also building a career in sales before moving into the IT space.

He tackles the question what are SME CIOs and IT Directors concerned about right now and introduces the term of AI fatigue.

Look out for the bonus episode where the conversation turns back to racing and the general state of cycling in the UK.

To contact with Lee reach out via LinkedIn: Lee Curtis | LinkedIn

After a weeks break the podcast is back with a new interview and a minor exclusive in this interview with Chris McKnight, founder of the Altus Collective an experience led travel business with a big focus (but not exclusively) on cycling and endurance events.

Chris and Mark met through the Tullio Business Networking Community for Cyclists at the Derby Velodrome and on subsequent Tullio events. After listening to the episodes with Dom Rowing Parker from Tullio (Ep 15.) Alex Tebbs from Kalas (Ep16), Chris got in touch to share a little of his story to his current business. It also tracks along the line of a major life event being a catalyst for change in career and giving a new business a go. So I thought this would make an interesting episode to listen too.

In this episode they talk about Chris' journey to this business startup which is not at all linear, and also Chris shares some exciting news about a new partnership with the Everesting team as they take the brand forward.

To get in touch with Chris,

Website: altuscollective.cc

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-mcknight-altus-collective/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chrismcknight___/ / https://www.instagram.com/altuscollective___/

*** Apologies to those who got the early feed update with only the 53 second intro, the correct audio is now on the feed*****

In this episode of the Refuel and Reboot Podcast I once again combine cycling and business and technology as I speak to a fellow telecoms cyclist and entrepreneur Alex Tebbs, who has founded two telecoms companies in the fields of UCAAS and voice platforms and now runs the UK division of the sports clothing brand Kalas.

Kalas is the clothing partner for professional sports teams such as Alpecin Premier Tech and national federations such as the Dutch Federation and was previously the kit supplier for British Cycling for 8 years.

In this conversation we talk through Alex’s career to date and go full circle as we talk about his telco roots, starting Via, a Unified Comms platform, his route into cycling and Kalas and some of his investment ventures such as Intake talent and Calobra Recruitment before coming back to Telco and discussing his latest venture Whoot, a voice AI collaboration platform with applications across remote teams, incident management and project delivery.

This is an insightful conversation about starting and exiting businesses, the cycling industry especially retail and clothing and navigating the start up world.

Useful links

www.kalas.co.uk

Www.intaketalent.co.uk

Www.calobra.digital

Www.whoot.me