Introducing: Claire Sharpe
- Claire Sharpe
- Jun 29
- 4 min read
Welcome to CCC Introduces, our series spotlighting the incredible contributors who give their time and energy to Cycling Culture Club.
Today we're in Bristol, meeting Claire Sharpe — MTB guide, Trainer of MTB Guides, founder of AllTerre, and the person behind The Bristol Rally. Claire came to cycling during lockdown and hasn't looked back since.
Words: Claire Sharpe
Photos: Tom Gibbs / Canyon / exploro.cc / dvrjphoto
Socials: @clairesharpe
Tell us about yourself
I'm a marketing consultant, MTB guide, Trainer of MTB Guides, and community builder based in Bristol, UK. I came into cycling later in life, during lockdown, and quickly fell in love with off-road riding and bikepacking. What started as something new has grown into both a career and a community focus. I founded AllTerre, a platform for off-road cycling experiences that brings people together through rides, skills sessions, talks, and bikepacking events. I also run The Bristol Rally, a three-day bikepacking event with tickets ringfenced for FLINTA riders, designed to be challenging, social, and welcoming — especially for riders who don't always see themselves reflected in traditional cycling spaces. Alongside this, I guide, coach, and train future guides for PedalMTB, with a focus on creating inclusive riding environments where ability and experience matter less than shared enthusiasm for being out on the bike.
What do you love about cycling?
I love how quickly cycling strips everything back. In a group ride you can arrive as strangers — different backgrounds, different levels — and within a few hours you've shared effort, weather, food stops, mechanicals, and probably a bit of chaos too. It creates a kind of honesty that's hard to find elsewhere. On a solo ride there's space to think, problem-solve, and switch off from "real life". You're still fully in it, just without the noise, and that simplicity can feel really grounding. I also love the confidence adventuring by bike gives you. Not just in your riding, but in your decision making, and your strength. Things rarely go exactly to plan, so you learn to adapt, stay calm, and trust that you can figure it out. Over time that spills into everything else, and you start to realise you're more capable than you thought.
What barriers have you faced in cycling?
When I first started cycling, I was happy to just explore and try things, which was a real blessing. But over time, I've consistently come across more subtle, ongoing barriers that exist in cycling culture.
As a woman, I've been consistently underestimated in cycling spaces, whether that's pace, knowledge, or experience. It's not always overt, but it shows up in small, repeated moments that shape how included or taken seriously you feel in the sport. Those moments tend to make me want to prove people wrong and challenge their perceptions — if I can.
Why were you interested in contributing?
Because spaces like Cycling Culture Club matter. Cycling is often sold as either performance-driven or lifestyle-driven, but the reality is much richer and more human than that. I'm interested in contributing because I care about widening who feels seen in cycling. The stories that get told shape who believes they belong, and I want to be part of a more honest, diverse picture of what cycling actually looks like in real life.
If you're comfortable, tell us about your personal experience of diversity in cycling
I've seen both ends of it. Cycling can be incredibly welcoming once you're in it, but the doorway in isn't always obvious. A lot of people still don't see themselves reflected in clubs, events, or media, and that creates a quiet barrier before the physical ones even come into play. At the same time, I've also experienced how powerful it is when intentional effort is made to change that. Whether that's FLINTA rides, mixed-ability groups, or communities built around shared experience rather than status. When those spaces are done well, they completely change who shows up and how they feel when they do.
Your fondest memory on the bike
I'm lucky to have gathered so many in the last six years that it's really hard to choose. One that stands out is one of Lael Wilcox's rallies in Arizona. Over seven days a group of us who didn't know each other at the start slowly became a team without ever planning to. They're now friends that I really cherish, and some of them even crossed the Atlantic to spend my 40th birthday bikepacking in Italy! That feeling of shared effort, struggles and humour has stayed with me more than any single climb or descent.
Where are you from: UK
Where do you live: Bristol, UK
Are you part of a club/team: I work with and support a range of cycling communities and organisations rather than being tied to a single club. Most of my riding and guiding is done through collaborative projects, women-focused rides, and inclusive off-road cycling initiatives. Shout out to AllTerre, PedalMTB, Sisters in the Wild, Ride Bristol, Canyon, komoot and Laka who are all in that list!
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