The Cycle Touring Festival has, for obvious reasons, gone ‘virtual’ once again this year. And it’s earlier in the year than normal, taking place over the week of the half-term holiday in mid-February. The schedule of events – spread out over 10 days – has just been published and the list is below. However… you do need to register for most events (as they will be delivered via Zoom). To do so, visit the Cycle Touring Festival website and follow the instructions.

For regular listeners to The Cycling Europe Podcast there are some familiar names in the line-up; Paul Cheese, Stephen Fabes, Rob Ainsley, Lilith Cooper, Abigail Melton, Caroline Burrows… And I appear in the opening event at 8pm on Friday 12th. I’ll also be introducing Markus Stitz who is speaking at 5pm on Saturday 13th and Dan Joyce who is speaking on Monday 15th at 11am. Here’s Tim Moss (one of the organisers) to tell you more:

(Note for the audio geeks, like me: that audio has the claim to being the first ‘remotely edited’ recording ever to appear on CyclingEurope.org. Tim sent the main audio across and I edited it while in bed – basically trimming what he had said adding the bells at either end – which is a bit of a milestone. I think I have finally found a piece of software that is suitable for remote editing on the iPhone – it’s called Ferrite – and I look forward to taking it to the next stage soon, recording and editing while out on the bike… Listen to this space!)

There are also a range of other events that can be experienced throughout the week and you’ll find details of these also on the Cycle Touring Festival website. I’ll hopefully see some of you online!

Friday 12th February

8pm: TOURING IN A TIME OF COVID: REVIEW OF 2020 – LAUNCH OF THE FESTIVAL AND PANEL DISCUSSION

Saturday 13th February

11am: HOW TO PLAN YOUR NEXT TOURING ADVENTURE WITH KOMOOT

1pm: MEET THE AUTHOR: STEPHEN FABES – SIGNS OF LIFE: TO THE ENDS OF THE EARTH WITH A DOCTOR

3pm: PAMIR TO KARAKORAM – CYCLING THE WORLD’S HIGHEST ROADS

5pm: DISCOVERING THE PAST, ENJOYING THE PRESENT – DESIGNING NEW BIKEPACKING ROUTES

8pm: RESOLUTION RACE Q&A – FILM VIEWING AND Q&A WITH LEE CRAIGIE AND ALICE LEMKES

Sunday 14th February

10am: BIKEABOUT – CYCLING FROM NEW ZEALAND TO THE UK

6pm: HANDLE BAR – COME AND HAVE A DRINK IN OUR VIRTUAL BAR

8pm: CYCLING SOLO VS CYCLING AS A COUPLE – VALENTINE’S DAY DEBATE

Monday 15th February

11am: HOW TO ADAPT ANY BIKE FOR CYCLE TOURING

6pm: MEET THE AUTHOR: RICHARD SEIPP – 22,000 MILES: A FATHER AND SON’S CYCLING ADVENTURES

8pm: GO WITH THE FLOW: RIVERSIDE RIDES

Tuesday 16th February

10am: HOW TO MAKE A ZINE – GET THE FAMILY INVOLVED AND CONTRIBUTE TO OUR FESTIVAL PUBLICATION

6pm: KING ALFRED’S WAY: CYCLING UK

8pm: MEET THE AUTHOR: JACK THURSTON – LOST LANES

Wednesday 17th February

10am: GUIDED MEDITATION

6pm: THIGHS OF STEEL – 836 CYCLISTS, 20,000KM RIDDEN, £450,795 RAISED

8pm: SUZIE CYCLES ACROSS CANADA

Thursday 18th February

10am: CYCLING SOUTH AMERICA WITH KIDS

8pm: THE BIG RECORD – CAPTURING THE SOUND OF THE UK ON TWO WHEELS

Friday 19th February

10am: TOURING WITH CHILDREN

5pm: NEW STORY RIDE – SEARCHING FOR A NEW STORY FOR HUMANITY ON THE ROUTE TO MONGOLIA

8pm: THE FASTEST WOMEN – WORLD RECORD BREAKING WOMEN

Saturday 20th February

10am: WILD CAMPING – PANEL DISCUSSION

12pm: CYCLING SUSTAINABLY – HINTS AND TIPS TO MAKE CYCLING EVEN MORE SUSTAINABLE

3pm: MEET THE AUTHOR: LILITH COOPER & ABIGAIL MELTON – GEARS FOR QUEERS

5pm: MEET THE AUTHOR: JULIAN SAYARER – FIFTY MILES WIDE: CYCLING THROUGH ISRAEL AND PALESTINE

8pm: OPEN MIKE – THREE MINUTES TO TELL YOUR STORY

Sunday 21st February

10am: MEET THE AUTHOR: TIM MILLIKIN – READING TO READING, A BICYCLE JOURNEY AROUND THE WORLD

12pm: CYCLE POET CAROLINE BURROWS – POETRY INSPIRED BY CYCLING ADVENTURES

3pm: THE ETHICS OF CYCLE TOURING – PANEL DISCUSSION