Gravel grinding and L’Eroica

Gravel. Even the word sounds uncomfortable. At odds to my road biking world, the usual black tarmac lines swapped for the stark white trails. It’s riding, but not as we know it…

Lago del Naret – Cycling climbs of Switzerland

If a cycling God exists, they would live at the summit of Lago del Narèt. It’s not the longest, not the highest, not even the steepest. This climb needs no such gimmicks. It has beauty.

Big ride

I can’t remember when I stopped counting. I know not what compels me to ride all day, traversing distances some people think twice about when driving. Anything less than 100 miles is now a short ride. When did that happen?

Cycling in New Zealand

New Zealand. Everything is vast. The journey. The deep blue sea. Mountains as far as the eye can see. Landscapes that steal your soul. The number of tourists…

Are you mental? Riding off-road on a road bike

Off the map. The tarmac ends just like that. No warning. Mud, gravel and rocks ahead. Behind the ignominy of retreat, of surrender. Time to hit the mud.

How to ride the Dunwich Dynamo

How to stay awake and enjoy this overnight ride from London through the small hours to the Suffolk coast. My favourite ride.

Another world – Cycling in Asturias, Spain

Welcome to a world of steep climbs, impossible gorge roads and wild bears. Welcome to Asturias and the Cantabrian Mountains in northern Spain. Steep and scenic summits, short and sharp, the climbs breathtaking in more ways than one.

Gorges and gasps at the Mercan’tour granfondo

Gorges, snaking roads and more gorgeous gorges. Tall triangles corrugate the horizon, a wall of snow-capped mountains as far as the eye can see. Welcome to a stunning tour of the Mercantour national park, France. A ride to remember.

The virgin road

New. Never travelled. Perhaps your eyes traced a pixellated line on a screen the night before or perhaps you simply turned left instead of right. Ahead only virgin road unridden. The unknown.

Why do cyclists climb mountains?

A strange addiction. Climbing to the skies, slow motion, pain, body revolting, hour after hour of mental questions. Why am I climbing this mountain? We’re a strange bunch us cyclists. Speeding along dressed in tights, bottoms padded, riding great distances much to the bemusement of non-cyclists. To them it’s unfathomable that riding up a mountain, […]