North London Dirt 5 by The Ride Journal

Cookie Monster socks and sunshine at North London Dirt 5 at St Mary’s Churchyard Stoke Newington. Pic by Jim Holland.

I’ve just unloaded the van following this weekend's wonderfully sunny (mostly) North London Dirt event, held in the Grounds of St Mary’s Church in Stoke Newington, London.  The event is (as the name suggests) a London based gravel event. Yes, an off road event in central London. And it’s ace. 

Team Brooks England’s super-pro North London Dirt Squad, assembled at the start. From left to right; Toby, Christine, Christine’s mate, and Josh from Domestique Mag. Pic by Jim Holland.

The event opens up the hidden toe paths and single track hiding behind the crumbling factories, industrial units and parks of North London like you just couldn’t imagine (let alone find on your own) then stitches them all together beautifully to create a fun, challenging route right on the doorstep for London’s growing gravel community. 

Brainchild of Philip and Andrew Diprose from Ride Journal, North London Dirt is pretty established in the London events calendar (now in it’s fifth year) but for me this is the first time I’ve been along to it and within ten minutes of being there I couldn’t believe I’ve taken this long to get to one. 

Team Brooks checking the route, ahead of the start. Sponsors Pas Normal awesome van visible in background wrapped and decked out inside for any adventure. Pic by Jim Holland.

Like my trip to Italy last month though, absence (from these kind of events) really does make the heart grow fonder. And now things are opening up again, they feel all the more special and this one was a real highlight. Despite the 3.30am alarm clock to get there and get set up in time (thanks for that, Jim).  

This kind of event, above all others, suits the Spoon Customs ethos. I love cycling because it makes me feel like a kid. Sure it’s fun to ride an S-Works and dress up like Peter Sagan too, all mysterious behind our oversize mirror specs, but actually we’re pretty comfortable in a t-shirt, doing skids and wheelies with our mates too. That’s defo where the fun is at for me.

A prototype gravel bike on loan from a customer, made during lockdown, decked out in Brooks’ awesome bike packing collection. Bike shown is fillet brazed Columbus Zona and Life steel, built up here with Campagnolo Ekar and matching Shamal wheels.

This ride literally strips off the power meters and discussions about rim width (although those are welcome too if you play nicely) and boils down the real essence of what cycling adventuring is all about for me - messing about in the outdoors with your mates. 

Philip explained how he and Andrew had ridden the route the day before with a pair of shears on their backs - to clip back any rogue brambles or Alexanders that line the entries to underpasses, road bridges and foot paths. They leave the sods of weeds that push through the cracks in the occasional broken concrete paths on route of course, as I expect these make great little launchpads for badly executed bunny hops. 

Andrew and Phil’s laid back manner permeate the whole event with some lovely devils in the details of the free stickers, the giveaways in the quality goody bags and the unpretentious, welcoming, open environment they’ve created around their event. Philip and I crossed into drum and bass chat at one point, discussing expanding his vinyl collection over lockdown and a shared love of raving. One of the riders in the event actually jumped on the piano later and treated us all to some spectacular sounding keys after his long day out on the bike. 

Josh from Domestique showing off an impressive collection of cat memes ahead of the roll out. Pic by Jim Holland.

If you do want to take it reasonably seriously, you definitely can and Dean Hill smashed around it on his own in an impressive 4h50 ‘ish arriving back before the Pizza van had fired up the oven. But not too worryingly early for a well deserved pint from Magic Rock Brewing’s beer cart. 

By the time the rest of the field got back in he was probably at home on his sofa having a well deserved kip, but as the church yard filled up with a few of the quicker riders initially, then swathes of others in bigger groups of new friends the sun came out too, warming the backs of the weary but smiling riders. The event really came to life in the afternoon with most riders sticking around for a beer or two and an extra slice of the excellent home-style Italian pizza and it was lovely to eavesdrop on the many jolly tales from throughout the day. 

We attended the event as guests of Brooks so big thanks to Jim Holland from Brooks England for making it all happen for me, and to Philip and Andrew for putting on such an awesome event. 

I also met Dom from bike sponsor Fairlight, who had an impressive selection of their steel bikes on show too, and indulged me with some frame building chat and a lovely insight into his process.

And thanks to Magic Rock Brewery for the pint of Sorcery (the first time I’d tried their gluten free favourite on draught) and Workshop Coffee for keeping me awake for the morning shift with a seemingly endless supply of very good filter coffee. 

The event raises money for St Mary’s Church, a beautiful landmark and valuable community asset in the heart of Stoke Newington.