Climate Cycle: Kate Strong completes 3,000-mile Britain ride on a bamboo bike

“It’s been three years in the making. I’ve never cycled more than five days in a row, so I’ve got 90 days in a row. Apart from the physical wear and tear, just mentally I’m unsure how I’ll feel, and that’s why I’ve opened the route up for people to come and join me.” — Kate Strong, at departure, Westminster, 5 June 2023 (BBC News)

Kate Strong — 44, triple cycling world record holder and triathlon champion — set off from Westminster on World Environment Day, 5 June 2023, on a 3,000-mile circumnavigation of mainland Britain aboard a handmade bamboo bike built from a Bamboo Bicycle Club kit. BBC News covered her departure that morning. On 2 September 2023, after 90 days and over 3,000 miles, she returned to Parliament Square. Her completion was syndicated via PA wire to outlets including the Irish News.

The Climate Cycle

Strong’s expedition was named Climate Cycle. Its purpose: to ride the perimeter of mainland Britain visiting around 40 innovative climate projects — renewable energy installations, rewilding schemes, food systems innovators, community sustainability initiatives — and document their work. The bamboo frame was not incidental to this mission. It was a material argument: a carbon-positive bicycle ridden in service of climate action.

The route ran clockwise from Westminster: Norwich, Edinburgh, John O’Groats, Glasgow, Liverpool, the Welsh coast, Cardiff, Bristol, Land’s End, and back to Parliament Square. Strong had never cycled more than five consecutive days before. She completed 90 consecutive days.

The frame itself required two build attempts. Her first attempt was, in her words, “unrideable. There’s no way it could have managed 3,000 miles.” She rebuilt using BBC’s pre-set steel binding option, retained her existing triathlon saddle and standard components, and departed on the rebuilt frame on schedule.

“We need immediate action, we need urgent action. We’ve got the micro level of the individual, which is important, but the biggest change is from the Government. We need massive action, but on an individual level, and then pass it on to the Government.” — Kate Strong, Parliament Square, 2 September 2023 (PA Wire / Irish News)

What the coverage demonstrated

The Climate Cycle coverage proved two things simultaneously. First: a BBC home-build kit frame can complete a 3,000-mile national challenge — built by someone with no framebuilding experience and using a kit that ships flat-packed. Second: the bamboo frame’s visual distinctiveness is a communication asset. Everywhere Kate Strong stopped, people asked about the bike. That curiosity opened conversations about climate, sustainability, and what a “carbon-positive bicycle” actually means.

BBC News’ departure coverage on World Environment Day 2023, followed by PA wire completion coverage on 2 September, gave BBC two waves of national exposure from a single project — framed consistently around a verified material claim (carbon-positive bamboo) and a compelling human narrative (a non-cyclist building her own bike and riding it 3,000 miles for climate).

[Featured image: [NEEDS IMAGE] — BBC to supply Kate Strong photo or BBC News article image for CDN upload]

Read the BBC News article →