Neil Cottam
Sonder Rider and Alpkiteer
Neil Cottam
Sonder Rider and Alpkiteer
Mechanical Engineer, mountain biker, Outdoorist, and traveller with a penchant for the offbeat or unusual. Blogger, tree Hugger, bookworm, earthling. Impulsive, passionate, and possibly a little bit reckless. Favours the underdog.
Neil enjoys racing but he's not a racer (particularly stage races and ultra-endurance). He likes the dynamic that racing brings to an adventure and he enjoy the impetus it gives him to push himself harder than he might.
Neil's also a trail runner, snowboarder, mountainboarder, bad climber (semi-retired due to injury), slackliner, and carp angler.
Neil holds a PADI Open Water certification and he is a long serving member of the prestigious British Carp Study Group.
"The earliest and most important influences that shaped my future-self included Biggles, Evel Kneivel, Asterix the Gaul, and The Wombles. Current custodian of a small woodland and I’m particularly fond of Yorkshire Tea, good coffee, and beer. Favourite Alpkit stuff: Faro Shorts, anything Kepler, Velocity and Momentum socks. Atom. The Sonder Signal Ti."
The Number Crunch.
- Countries visited: 35
- Yak Attack, Rumble in the Jungle, and Strathpuffer (solo) finisher – multiple times. (MTB)
- Circumnavigated Sri Lanka on a local singlespeed bicycle.
- Circumnavigated Eastern Nepal (Kanchenjunga) and Western Nepal (Rara Lake) – Bikepacking.
- Ultra Tour of the Peak District 60 mile Ultra Marathon.
- Everest Marathon - 5th placed international.
- Crazy Golf World Championships – 67th.
- English Amateur Freestyle Wrestling Champion – Twice.
Entries from the Mountain Journal
