Beyond the Cairn x Enigma Bicycles

If you've been subscribed to the site for a while you may have noticed that cycling happens to be my other passion, equal in fact to my love of creative pursuits. For me, creativity, exercise and adventure go hand in hand, helping enormously with the daily struggles that we often face. Having that time to unplug and explore is so vital to our overall wellbeing. It was early last year when I saw an ad from Enigma Bicycles on social media: "Ambassadors Wanted!". There's no harm in applying, I thought! Normally, bike brands might be tempted to go for younger, super fit, elite racers to represent them. But I thought I'd come at it from a different angle, showing how I use the bike to explore many miles into the Highlands and how all of this builds into a larger creative project over time. I was elated to discover shortly after my application that I'd been selected. Hooray!

Not wanting to stray too far from the subject of this post, but I do have a long history of cycling, from racing BMX as a kid, through to competing in road and mountain bike events later in life. I stopped competing after developing a few health issues in my mid-30s. I still cycled a lot, just not to the same intensity. I had a break for a few years but started cycling again seriously about four years ago. Just last month I completed my first 100 miler since 2012. So things are going well at present. Distance, time and speed are not major concerns for me these days. It's more about the quality of the adventure. Besides, very often, 50km off road in the wilds of the Cairngorms, for example, can feel the equivalent of well over 100km on the road!

The photo above is of the Enigma Edge gravel bike when I recieved it last June. Enigma Bicycle Works are a British firm based in Sussex. Their ethos is very much one of the art of craftsmanship, using the finest materials. The Enigma Edge is made from titanium, the perfect material for a gravel bike in my opinion. As this isn't a bike website, those interested in the finer details/specs etc should visit the links provided to find out more. I have had a LOT of bikes in my life time. And they've all been good, but some stand out a little more. And for me, that is when a bike is just pure fun to ride. A bike that handles great, a bike with an extra bit of zing! But what does zing translate to, I hear you say? Whenever I'm asked what the most fun bike is that I've ever ridden, I say my old Cove 'Handjob' (this Canadian brand gave their bikes questionable names). The bike was a Columbus Steel framed hardtail mountain bike. This bike handled so well, particularly on rough descents, technical trails and swoopy stuff, that it made me grin from ear to ear. The Columbus tubing and geometry of the frame worked so well together. A stiffer front end, but with a zingy, spritely rear, with just enough give in the rear end to smooth out the trails but not feel wallowy under power transfer. And guess what, the Enigma Edge reminds me of that bike. The Edge has been dialled in for enjoyable 'gravel'. Gravel riding is a relatively new term, although people have in reality been riding 'gravel' for all eternity, just without the current gravel-specific bikes that we now have to choose from. I will say that the Edge hasn't missed a beat after miles and miles of hard Highland terrain. I've ridden the Edge in mountain bike territory and it has been a joy, and surprised me with its capabilities. I'm currently riding the bike with 700c 45mm tyres, which is a great set up for mixed riding. I would love to try this bike with 650b wheels and fatter tyres, and with slightly wider, more flared bars, simply to see how much it can handle. I will get around to that, maybe next year. Oh, and before everyone suggests, Weeeelllll he would say it's good, he's an ambassador!" let me tell you something. I'm working as a professional. I need my equipment to be of the highest quality. I can't have things let me down when there might be a once in a lifetime photographic opportunity. Or, from a practical point of view, leave me stranded in the middle of nowhere. I have only ever worked with brands that I fully believe in, and that I am passionate about. I've never taken on a role for 'free stuff'.

In 2022, I began exploring the Cairngorms in great depth. The Cairngorms National Park has a vast network of trails, which wind through forests and mountains. As a photographer, I have explored most of the UK. The western side of the Highlands, Torridon and Assynt for example are a mecca for photographers. This is due to the apparently more dramatic and jagged mountain scenes that are easy to find. The Cairngorms, however, are more of a plateau and they don't have that instant big mountain feel at first glance when driving along the A9. However, this is the highest and biggest mountain range in the Highlands. And once one ventures into them, one begins to get an idea of the scale. Photographic compositions are not as easy to find here. The terrain demands many miles of exploration to find unique and interesting compositions. And thanks to the many hundreds of miles of true gravel trails here, this exploration makes sense by bike. Admittedly, it can at times feel like hardgoing, cycling through rough terrain in wild conditions whilst carrying full professional camera gear and tripod etc, but this makes us really think hard about what is essential to carry and what is not. Perhaps in another post I will fully detail everything I've taken with me into this wilderness, including camera and bike gear. As landscape photography is best in autumn and winter, one needs to be prepared for any eventuality. It can and will turn very nasty here in winter, potentially life threatening in fact if one is not fully equipped.

The more I explored this terrain, the more I began to build a mental map of the area. I began to notice the recurring motifs in the landscape, how the rivers snake through the valleys, the layers of forest and the minutiae of the landscape.

The above image is taken along the famed 'Cairngorm Loop', riding from Glen Tromie. As one travels further into the mountains, the landscape gets wilder and conditions can be totally different than back down the road in Kingussie (a nearby village). I'd cycled past this scene on a number of occasions, but I waited for low cloud as I'm chasing a moodier feel suited to both black + white and the overall aesthetic of my project, which I refer to as 'Beyond the Cairn'. As you can see from the selection below, I travelled on the Enigma Edge in all conditions. At times it was hard, but always rewarding and enriching.

Having now worked on this project since 2022, I will probably try to wrap it up in the winter of 2024/25, although this will depend on how I feel about it further down the line. Beyond the Cairn has already been published in leading photography magazine Black + White Photography issue # 285 (available here) and exhibited at the Photography Show. My long-term goal is to produce a monograph of this work.

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank Enigma for their support. And I'm looking forward to further adventures on the Edge gravel bike. Next week, I'm back up to the Highlands. Other plans this year include bike packing and ticking off a few bothies along the way.

I shall finish this post with the colour photo above, and, below, a few very random thoughts after a long day out in the saddle. Which reminds me, I am also working on a short film of the project!

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Thank you for reading.

Karl