October 04, 2019
Six years ago I decided to travel by bike to visit one of our communities on the Tibetan plateau. I took a mountain bike, loaded some essentials into a pannier bag, and set off with a friend who was always up for something different. For this post I’ll spare you my account of high altitude riding, but will say it included thin air, burning sunshine, snow, miles of shelter-less plateau, and a tremendous sense of freedom.
Rides to the plateau became an annual thing, straight bars morphed into drop bars, wheel sizes grew to 700c, and tyres became slightly narrower. I went a little faster too, but the sense of freedom and adventure remained.
On one of these early trips I was joined by Shannon Bufton, founder of Serk Cycling. Shannon wanted to bring the incredible experience of riding road bikes on newly paved roads in some of the world’s most remote regions to a growing army of serious recreational cyclists. This philosophy of "Frontier Cycling" is at the centre of what Serk now does. 
The Himalaya Project is a collaboration between Serk and Khunu that uses yak wool, the plateau’s most prized fibre, to create garments suitable for cyclists undertaking such journeys. The use of yak keeps cyclists comfortable at altitudes, supports nomadic communities living on the Tibetan plateau, and gives a greater sense of connection between rider and environment.
Items developed under the collection will not be cycling specific, but will provide the uniqueness, style and functionality a cyclists would expect on such an adventure and beyond. Our Norgay quarter zip and updated Wayfarer Sock are the first examples of this collaboration.
