Cyclist
Meet Rab® athlete Natt Williams
London-based adventurer Natt Williams was introduced to the outdoors at a young age. ‘My school was very dedicated to an outdoorsy style of education, with after-school clubs and weekend camps,’ he explains.
Despite his early love of the outdoors, as he grew older the requirements of balancing a job and family commitments didn’t always prove conducive to spending as much time in the wild as he would have liked. Until, that is, he discovered cycling.
‘Cycling helped me recapture what I had enjoyed growing up,’ he explains. ‘Whenever I felt pensive or jittery growing up, I found myself going outside or doing an outdoor activity.’
Road cycling offered an obvious outlet for Natt’s energies, with circuits around London’s Richmond Park proving an enjoyable way to tire himself out. In time though, his tarmac-based riding, where the focus was always on speed, gave way to a broader desire to explore and recapture his earlier passion for the outdoors.
‘My first ultra-distance ride was from London to Manchester. I’d seen it mentioned online and so I just got on my bike and rode up there over two days,’ he says.
This first self-supported ride got Natt wondering what else might be possible on two wheels. ‘Around the same time, I’d seen an article about the first Silk Road Mountain Race, a 1,700km bikepacking race through Kyrgyzstan,’ he explains. ‘I saw how the riders had transitioned from going from A to B, to going from A to a very, very long way away. I thought I could emulate what they were doing in my own way.’
Longer and longer rides followed, including trips along the South Downs Way and impromptu campouts between days spent in the saddle. As Natt’s passion for outdoor adventures grew, so too did the challenges he set himself. With that came a shift towards more off-road riding and engagement with the growing gravel scene. Fast-forward a few years and Natt found himself alone, waist-deep in freezing meltwater, bike perched precariously above his head, somewhere in Iceland’s deserted interior, wondering if he might have gotten a bit carried away.
Back from the the wild
‘In an ideal world there’d be a cheat sheet for these things,’ he explains. ‘Instead, the things you overcome make you more confident to do similar things but in a more extreme sense. Dealing with a puncture is one thing; dealing with a broken drivetrain halfway up a mountain is another.’
It was this slow build that had given Natt the confidence to take on the Iceland Divide, a 570km tour across the inhospitable Nordic island. ‘There’s always some degree of fear of the unknown,’ he says. ‘But if you accept that things aren’t always going to go perfectly, you learn from the previous trip and become more confident each time. That’s how I came to attempt these bigger adventures.’
Nevertheless, as he stepped out into the fast-flowing water, Natt wasn’t sure if disaster lay ahead. But, safely across the river and on his way, his newfound confidence propelled him onwards, a benefit that didn’t end with the conclusion of his trip. Back home in East London, Natt credits the skills he learned, including the ability to break down problems and approach them confidently, with helping him in everything from managing the pressures of a job in AI technology to the responsibilities of being a new parent.
‘All these challenges require you to address the given situation, compartmentalise it, calm down and reassess,’ he explains. As such, adventure cycling has been an opportunity for escapism and to learn new things, and is the perfect counterpoint to the pressures of city living.
Have confidence
If confidence in yourself comes from experience, confidence in your kit comes from a similar place. Natt’s collaboration with Rab® gives him access to a range of versatile and well-proven outdoor clothing and equipment suited to cycling and other outdoor adventures. This includes everything from bibshorts and waterproofs to tents and sleeping bags.
‘The key thing for me is the reassurance that it’s Rab®,’ explains Natt. ‘They’ve got over 25 years of experience making stuff. It’s been proven. I’ve taken it to Kyrgyzstan. I took it to Morocco and I took it to Iceland. I’ve taken it to France and the Alps. I use Rab®’s ski gear too. You haven’t got to think twice about whether it’s going to work or not.’
This level of reassurance applies whether pulling on an outfit for a quick spin before work, stuffing bikepacking bags for an expedition into the unknown or preparing for a camping trip with the family.
‘There’s always a tendency to overpack,’ says Natt. ‘I’ve learned just to pack what I need and become more efficient. It helps that so much of what RAB makes can be used across a variety of disciplines.’
For your chance to win £400 worth of Rab® Cinder adventure kit, visit rab.equipment/uk/cyclist-magazine-comp
Natt’s three Rab® kit essentials
Cinder Phantom Waterproof Jacket
‘I’ve taken this pull-on jacket on almost every one of my trips,’ says Natt. ‘It’s so light and unrestrictive. It’s reassuring to have a waterproof layer, and it’s extremely easy to pack and only weighs around 80g. It gives me peace of mind if there’s a downpour, and it pairs well with Rab®’s insulated base layers.’
• Shop the Rab® Cinder Phantom Waterproof Jacket
Cinder Jersey and Cargo Bib Shorts
‘I rarely take actual clothes to wear when I’m off the bike,’ says Natt. ‘My cycling clothes consist of socks, bibs, a base layer and a top. Over these, I’ll probably have an insulated jacket if I need it. When I’m off the bike, I usually swap the top and replace it with an insulated base layer.”
• Shop the Rab® Cinder Jersey and Rab® Cargo Bib Shorts
Vapour Barrier Socks
‘One of my major objectives on the bike is not getting my feet wet,’ explains Natt. ‘If you’ve got wet feet for any length of time, you’re not going to have a very good ride. I take these Vapour Barrier Socks with me everywhere I go. They don’t take up much space and they’re always a nice thing to have.’
• Shop the Rab® Vapour Barrier Socks
Find Natt on Instagram at @natt.ewill
The post Meet Rab® athlete Natt Williams appeared first on Cyclist.