Month: December 2011

The Last Post…

…of 2011. There will be much more in 2012 no doubt. We shall see. In the meantime, an end of year portrait of the bike that I call Reggie and a few moments to think about the year ahead. I’ve been on Twitter tonight and lots of people […]

Cyclepedia: Iconic Bicycle Designs

“In 1815 an Indonesian volcano erupted, changing the climate and affecting crops as far afield as Northern Europe. The resulting famine was severe, with Europeans forced to eat horses – a main source of transportation – for sustenance. To tackle the resulting transport problems, Baron von Drais created […]

Season’s Greetings From London 2012

Just got an email from London 2012 regarding my application to be a volunteer during the Olympics. I had an interview back in November and more recently I have been contacted regarding my driving licence so I am expecting some news at some point… Here’s what the email […]

Boneshaker Magazine

I am in bed. The bed is too short. This makes it difficult to sleep. It isn’t my normal bed; it’s the bed in the attic of my brother’s house where I have been staying for the last few days over Christmas. It’s cold and the rain is […]

Happy Christmas!

I’m about to escape the south for the frozen north (well, Yorkshire) for a few days. I’ll be tweeting but probably not blogging so have an enjoyable festive season. Happy cycling ! P.S. If you discover that Santa has brough you a Kindle, iPad etc… on the 25th, […]

***** Enjoyable, Endearing, Eloquent

Another 5* review for Good Vibrations: Crossing Europe on a Bike Called Reggieย on Amazon.co.uk; “I really enjoyed the relaxed affable style of this author, making his points eloquently without ever being stuffy or superior. Sykes has an endearing almost vulnerable quality which makes his observations very witty; on […]

World Biking: Dream It, Plan It, Bike It

I won’t let the fact that the person behind this website – Amaya Williams – has blocked me on Twitter (why?) prevent me from praising her website. And her ambition to ‘cycle every country on the planet’. It’s a refreshing twist upon the cycling around the world trend. […]

The Cycling Author Shelf Of Fame?

Dear Mr Sykes – Iโ€™m too full of respect to refer to you as Andrew – Iโ€™ve just completed reading your โ€œGood Vibrations: Crossing Europe on a Bike Called Reggieโ€ and thoroughly enjoyed it, well done, not just for completing the journey, but also the book. You are […]

Reggies Virtually Reunited

Reggie, my eponymous bike is going strong, especially after his three-figure Christmas refit at AW Cycles earlier this week (it’s worth paying for the parts and labour just to get him gleaming again). Alf Grant, a prospective UK to Italy cyclist who I met for a chat in […]

Good Design: Cycle Hoop

There is some dreadful design in Britain. No. That’s wrong. There is a lot of dreadful design in Britain. It’s the endless obsession with doing everything with a ‘best value’ hat on. Central government, local councils, companies. They are all guilty. ‘Best value’ is of course a nonsense […]

“9781849142137 Synopsis”

The ‘site stats’ section of the administrative pages of this website can be a fascinating place to spend a few moments. Alas, only for me… I noticed yesterdayย that someone hadย arrived here after having searched the term ‘9781849142137 synopsis’. That number is the ISBN for Good Vibrations: Crossing Europe […]

Books, Baths & Bryant

It’s been a funny old day. I wandered into Reading just before lunch with a simple plan; checkย whether Good Vibrations has yet arrived on the shelves of Waterstones in Reading (answer: not yet, but I did leave it displayed on the customer in-store computer for all to see) […]

De Wereldfietser, The World Cyclist

I do hope I haven’t caused some kind of diplomatic incident by posting the video entitled Why Are Cyclists Using Video Cameras? on the blog yesterday. It was picked up from CyclingEurope.orgย as a point of discussion on the forum of the Dutch website De Wereldfietser or in English, […]

Good Vibrations: Going Green

In these days of email, Facebook, Twitter, online bank statements, it is a rare event that anything arrives in your physical letterbox that is remotely exciting. But today, I got something that was! Amongst the erroneous bank statements (addressed to a former lodger), union rants & home insurance […]