Chasin’ sunsets, not miles, our new logo
Photo credit, Tamara
Picture the scene, Tamara and I have just cycled over not one, not two but THREE alpine passes in the name of keeping up with the group on the Women’s Torino Nice Rally. . We’d woken up at 5:00 am and had spent 9 hours on our bikes, cycling 63 miles, 11,617 feet of elevation. We 👏 were 👏 done 👏 in 👏.
Tamara has researched a refugio (alpine lodges that are dotted around the alps of varying degrees of luxe) at the top of the Sampeyre climb. She said it looked nice and that we should stay there for the night before pushing on. I thought “naaaaah, we gotta keep goin’, catch up with the group inni”.
Anywho, Tamara won and two thirds up the Sampeyre we swung into Refugio Meira Garneri. A huge alpine dog called Beethoven greeted us and, within three minutes, the hosts had dropped us off ice cold beers and told us we had a table for dinner. That dinner turned out to be a four-course meal- the most delicious meal of the trip by a country mile.
I recorded a video on my phone, I was elated. After a stressful 36 hours and huge amounts of anxiety about being left behind, I took a mental turn. That was it, I was doin’ what my NFORC pals at home would do; pursuing pleasure at every opportunity. Ice cold beer or carry on? Beer thanks. Get over this next climb to get it done or stop here and sleep in a gorgeous alpine lodge? Yeah, I’ll take the lodge fanks.
The adventure slash bike space is FILLED with suffer fests. Absolutely no shade to those who feel alive through testing their upper limits, there’s space for it all. But when it came to giving The New Forest Off Road Club a visual identity, pleasure had to feature. It’s one of our principles after all.
I’ve always thought that the viewpoint symbol of an OS map is charming. Amongst all this factual information, contour lines, footpaths, post offices, someone thought, we MUST have a symbol for the best views, people have to know!
Imagine if, culturally, it was more typical to exchange best places for a scenic lunch stop as opposed to miles travelled? Like, ‘great that you’ve cycled the length of the country Darren but what sights did you see? Where was the best views?’
The patriarchal lens through which we see the outdoors means the adventure narrative is so often about winning something, beating a record, being the ‘first’. How about we just sit in it. Wallow in it. Caress those contour lines instead of racing over them.
With our new logo, you might see a croissant, (Leonie did) or you might see an orange segment (we do love sharing snacks) but, we chase sunsets, not miles. We sack riding off when it stops being fun and we look for magical places to wake up instead.
That’s why the viewpoint symbol is fundamental to who we are and had to feature in our new brand identity. Get the map out and ride towards the viewpoint symbol, have a cup of tea and make sure you tell people we’re out here.
