
The Rough-Stuff Fellowship Archive
- Publisher
- Isola Press
- Year
- 2019
- ISBN
- 9780995488656
- Specifications
- Paperback
27 x 21 cm
208 pages
192 pages in colour and a 16-page inset document section on coloured stock
Vintage photos, hand-drawn maps and ephemera from the RSF archive, 1955 to the 1990s
Introduction by Mark Hudson, RSF Archivist
Adventures with the world’s oldest off-road cycling club. The Rough-Stuff Fellowship was established in a pub near the Welsh/English border in 1955. When the club appointed an archivist, the photos, hand-drawn maps and memories poured in – an unexpected treasure trove of incredible value and beauty. The photos are full of the joy of riding your bike, and evocative of a bygone style – of a time when you might set off on a club ride wearing a shirt and tie, a deerstalker or a bobble hat, and no ride was complete without a stop to brew up some tea and smoke a pipe. In their own quiet, very British way, these men and women were pioneers, pedalling and carrying their bikes and pitching their tents where angels feared to tread. Mountain bikes, gravel bikes, bikepacking – they all followed in the tyre tracks of the RSF. The book celebrates their style and their spirit: a document of the history of cycling off the beaten track, and of British outdoor culture.