This summer I am aiming to complete Paris-Brest-Paris. It is one of the oldest and most challenging events in long-distance cycling. The aim is to ride from the French capital to Brest and back again in 90 hours – 1200km in total, twice the biggest distance I’ve done before. I genuinely don’t know if my…
Tag: Cycling
Home from Edinburgh
I got up early on Saturday and caught a train to Edinburgh. It was cold. Very cold. There was snow on the ground and there was something rather beautiful about the frozen landscape as the sun started to come up. This was my 200k ride for February, the tenth of my attempt at a Randonnee…
Riding Slowly to a Castle
On Saturday I competed the ninth ride in my attempt to complete a ‘Randonnee Round the Year’ – a 200k ride every calendar month for a year.It was cold and there was snow around, but the forecast for the day was reasonable – cloudy but dry and light winds. There was a suggestion of a…
Looking back…
It seems an appropriate time to look back over 2018. It’s been quite a year on the bike! I’ve achieved more than I set out to at the start, and far more than I could have imagined when I started cycling about three years ago. I’ve covered a very similar distance this year compared to…
Over the Border
Yesterday I completed the eighth ride in my attempt to complete a Randonnee Round the Year – a 200k ride every calendar month for a year. My original plan had been to ride to my parents’ house for Christmas today (I did this last year and it was a little over 200k), but the forecast wasn’t…
Queen of the South
Had a good ride today. The forecast was for strong gusts from the west, with rain arriving at around lunchtime, so I decided to get an early train to Dumfries (southwest Scotland), and ride home – about 60 miles. It was dark and blustery when I arrived at Bardon Mill station to catch the 07:16….
Drawing a Long Line on the Map
One of the things I love about audax riding is that you end up going a long way. I’ve realised over the last year or so that I am more interested in going further than faster. There’s something incredibly satisfying about drawing a long line on the map, and that is especially the case with a long linear ride….
Digging Deep
Saturday was meant to be my 200k ride for October in my attempt to complete a Randonnee Round the Year (a 200k ride each calendar month for a year). It didn’t go to plan; there was snow, I got mega-cold and made the sensible to choice to quit. I was genuinely fine with having to…
Sometimes You Have to Bail-Out
The plan for today was to ride the Peculiar Old 200 audax. It’s a 200km ride starting in Darlington. The route goes north to Sedgefield, west to Middleton-in-Teesdale, south to Masham and then north again back to Darlington. The forecast a few days ago looked decent. As it got closer to the weekend, the forecasters…
Cycling and Mental Health
Wednesday last week was World Mental Health Day. I was inspired by the courage of a number of friends who shared their own experiences of living with mental health problems. That openness and honesty is so important, and I think this is an example of one way social media can be a powerful force for…
Plant-Powered Pedalling 