The Rough-Stuff Fellowship Archives
Adventures with the world’s oldest off-road cycling club
Founded in 1955, the Rough-Stuff Fellowship is the world’s oldest offroad cycling club. Its archive contains thousands of stunning images, hand-drawn maps & documents – an unexpected treasure trove of incredible value & beauty that is now being brought to a wider public by Isola Press.
The photos are evocative of a bygone age & a bygone style – a time when you might set off on a bike ride wearing a shirt and tie or a bobble hat, & no ride was complete without a stop to brew up some tea & smoke a pipe.
They are also a record of intrepid adventures. RSF riders explored the Lake District, the Cairngorms, the Alps & further afield, and their exploits were beautifully documented by amateur & professional photographers.
In their own very British way, these men & women were pioneers, pedalling & carrying their bikes where angels feared to tread. Every mountain bike & gravel bike has followed in their tyre tracks. This book celebrates their style & their spirit. It is a stunning visual resource not only of an unseen cycling history but of British outdoor culture.
About the Rough-Stuff Fellowship
The Rough Stuff Fellowship was founded on 29 May 1955, by ‘forty members who, in pursuit of their pastime, traverse the rougher & less beaten ways’. Members of the RSF undertook the first ever bicycle crossing of Iceland’s mountainous interior, in 1958, & have travelled the tracks & trails of Europe, Africa, America & beyond.
Vintage photos, hand-drawn maps & ephemera from the RSF archive from 1955 to the 1990s
Short introduction & history by Mark Hudson, RSF Archivist
Contemporary design & layout from an award-winning team
Hardback / 270 x 210 mm, portrait / 208 pp, published 2019
