FEATURE
A gear library helps those without bikepacking-specific kit to get started on their adventures.
Roll Models acts as a way to develop community as well as teaching bikepacking skills.
these differences if we as an industry want to attract more types of people onto bikes. In 2025 and 2026, Roll Models has seen a big mix of applicants, including “Non-binary, trans women, cis women.” Cathcart says this speaks to how open the cycling community within Bristol is. And while that’s a fantastic start, these places remain few and far between across the UK. So, would Roll Models ever expand outside of Bristol? “It’s a big question. I’m one person, and I’m in Bristol, but
there is so much appetite for this elsewhere, and I’ve had so many conversations with people about whether I’d consider doing it in London, or Edinburgh, etc. “I think the model of Roll Models should be open source. And I think, well, what can I give people? Just say, here’s how we do it, you can run with it. Or is there an appetite for Roll Models itself to ‘franchise’?” As any brand or programme grows, it can be easy to become
more complacent about remembering why the project started. But Cathcart understands that increasing diversity within cycling cannot be accomplished just by tokenism and virtue signalling. “Diversity is great. When there are more people doing stuff,
that’s great. But it can’t just be about seeing photos of women and minorities on bikes. Those people also have to be involved in decision-making. Those people also need to have a voice in the cycling industry.
24 | April 2026 “There are so many people that Roll Models isn’t reaching.
There are so many people that probably don’t even know that bikepacking is a thing. But the end goal isn’t to get more people bikepacking, but to use bikepacking as a tool through which people learn their own limits. They learn to be confident, and the skills drip feed into other parts of their life.” But where does Roll Models go from here? Or from 2027 and
beyond? It’s only in its second year, but the momentum has already inspired founder Cathcart to think about the longer term and the organisation’s viability. “I’d love to do something like a D of E/Forest Schools, camp-style thing, where I’d work with groups of young people to plan bikepacking trips. Go off into the Brecon Beacons or the Cairngorms, where there are adults there, but the kids are doing the planning. “In terms of viability, it would need some funding to explore what that would look like, because I do really think that idea would have legs. Connection with the outdoors, connection with other people like you, and being given that sense of ownership to plan something as immense as a bikepacking trip in the wild, would be life-changing for people.”
If you would like to get involved in Roll Models, whether to offer support for the gear library or in other ways, contact Athlyn on
hello.roll.models@
gmail.com.
www.bikebiz.com
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