If you've been around cycling in the UK, you've probably met Miles Baker-Clarke. If you haven't, and you're an avid consumer of this very publication, you've probably seen his face. His years working for Rouleur as Commercial Marketing Manager often saw him roped into many a modelling campaign for the Desire section of the print edition.
"It's a hard place when you don't have any role models to identify with," Nate Roberts, one of Cycling Culture Club's major contributors, said to me as we drove back from Pure Gravel in Empordà, Spain.
CCC, along with Castelli and Guava Bikes, were in the midst of their first scholarship weekend, where four places were created for minority athletes to compete in the event - for most, their first gravel race.
Miles Baker-Clarke is a cycling industry strategist, marketing wizard and diversity advocate whose work extends far beyond the confines of his office. He grew up on a bike: from a working-class family, his mum would cart him around on her bike, and as he grew older he'd ride alongside her.
Miles Baker Club founded Cycling Culture Club, whose members recently competed at Pure Gravel in Spain
"My entry into cycling was very utility-based, I never had a connection into sport," Miles says. His university roommate encouraged him to build a bike and start to participate in cycling as a sport. "It took me probably four or five years to start to look at the make-up of the cycling landscape, and think, ah, I'm actually pretty unusual in this space. So over those years I'd done sportives and charity rides, and even the odd club run, and lots of my own stuff. And when I think back, I probably could count on one hand the amount of people of colour, for instance, that I'd met on a bike ride… and I'd been sort of subconsciously storing that in the back of my mind."
From working for the media to a management role in a marketing firm, he kept seeing the same problem: many people could not see themselves reflected in cycling's mainstream narratives. For Miles, the issue was not simply participation, but representation. If prospective riders rarely see people who look like them, share their experiences, or come from similar backgrounds, the sport can appear inaccessible before they even clip into a bike.
Launched as a community-driven platform, Cycling Culture Club was created to bring together people from underrepresented groups within cycling and provide a space for their stories to be heard. The organisation's mission is simple yet powerful: create a cycling culture where everyone feels welcome, represented and valued.
"I'd been in marketing for close to ten years at this point, so I had knowledge and connections, and I suddenly thought, maybe I can make a difference, maybe I can do something small to move the dial. It's really funny, I started off thinking, 'Well, if I could get one other person who felt underrepresented in cycling to come into cycling and stay in cycling, that would be a win.'
"So you think about that compared to where we are now, and that was such a modest objective. But at the time that felt huge. So I just started there and I started writing and documenting my own experience and trying to capture some of that, and by that very nature it started to attract other people who were like, 'Ah, love what you're doing there. I actually had this experience too.' Or, 'I actually went through this, I'd love to be involved in some way.'
"And back then, I didn't know what 'involved' meant. It was all very much fluid. The blog is where CCC started, because around 2022 I decided that, actually, Cycling Culture Club was how I would cultivate that energy and use it too, to hopefully eventually diversify cycling. And that mandate has stayed true all the way through, but it's evolved, and what we do has evolved, and how we reach people has evolved, and we're bigger than I ever thought we would be, certainly in the couple of years that we've been doing it."
Miles didn't want to create another standalone "club" or initiative, he explains. He wanted to be the web that pulled all of the diversity initiatives together, into a shared voice and celebration: a place to highlight some of the biggest champions, welcome more people in, and connect an ever-growing space.
"You know, a big thing I spotted as an opportunity a few years ago was how we spotlight the work that communities are already doing, because what we don't need is another organisation doing another thing. What we should do as Cycling Culture Club is be the hub with a unique ability to tell the stories from all of these groups."
Rather than focusing solely on competition, equipment or performance, CCC emphasises the human side of cycling. Miles believes that representation begins with visibility. When riders encounter stories from people of different ethnicities, genders, cultures, abilities and backgrounds, they begin to see a richer and more accurate picture of the cycling community. Contributors share stories about identity, travel, creativity, personal growth and the role cycling plays in their lives. Through these narratives, the platform seeks to broaden perceptions of who cyclists are and who cycling is for.
Miles has repeatedly emphasised that meaningful change requires more than conversation. It requires creating spaces where people can connect, share experiences and feel a genuine sense of belonging. Through CCC, he has sought to transform inclusion from a talking point into a lived reality.
Cut to the first scholarship weekend, and the first brand support for CCC. "We choose our partners very carefully. We want to always ensure alignment with the vision, be careful to gauge the buy-in to our objectives and come to a shared agreement of success, and that is what we've found in Castelli."
The four CCC riders were welcomed to Pure Gravel by Rajiv Marroij, the race organiser, who, to note, is from Cuba and a rare example of a BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and people of colour) bike race owner, especially in Europe. The Castelli SOG team, their professional gravel collective, welcomed four more into their ranks, making sure everyone was stocked up on hydration and sun cream and performing last-minute tyre pressure checks on their Guava Bikes under the hot Catalan sun.
Miles has described the partnership as an example of how industry brands can move beyond statements and actively contribute to meaningful change. The collaboration has been particularly significant because it connects a global cycling brand with a grassroots community organisation. By wearing the CCC x Castelli jersey, riders are not only choosing a high-performance garment but also becoming visible ambassadors for a broader movement focused on belonging, representation and positive cultural change within cycling. The project provides direct support for CCC initiatives, with profits helping fund community-building activities, scholarship programmes, storytelling projects and outreach efforts aimed at making cycling more accessible.
Steve Smith, Global Brand Manager of Castelli, recognises the initiative's potential:
"Sometimes it feels like the whole industry is scared to do anything because everyone is scared of doing something wrong. Sometimes we've had fears as a company that people would think we were supporting minority athletes for the wrong reasons. We want to be more active in welcoming everyone and making sure some people feel more explicitly included. Cycling Culture Club is part of that welcome, and also helps us to understand how to be more welcoming."
As cycling continues to evolve, Miles and Cycling Culture Club represent a new model for what cycling culture can be: diverse, welcoming, community-led and driven by authentic stories. In doing so, they are helping to reshape the narrative of cycling for future generations - one story, one connection and one ride at a time.
Hamadel Ndiaye is a Senegalese triathlete based in the UK. Despite a double puncture on the side of Montgrí, with no vehicle access, he finished Pure Gravel after an hour-long mechanical repair, helped by a passing local mountain biker. Crossing the line, he was greeted by Castelli SOG riders and Guava Bikes staff, cheering him on and ushering him into the cooler shaded area. After eating the freshly prepared paella, he rinsed off, returned the loan bike and prepared to drive to the airport - a weekend well spent.
Nate, Hamadel, Marjorie and Verena might have gone into that race without any role models to identify with, but they might not have realised they came out as the role models they had been seeking.
"Representation does not force anyone through the door. It just makes the door easier to see:
It says: You are not the first.
It says: This might not be as far away from you as you thought.
It says: you are allowed to try." - Hamadel Ndiaye
