When I think back to last year’s cycle from Tarifa to Nordkapp, these are two of the photographs I think about most. they were taken near Tromsø in Norway on this day in 2015… Here they are again, unfiltered and filtered:
The sun has set over another academic year… For the second half of the 2015/16 school year I have been working at The Brooksbank School in Elland as a maths / French / cover teacher. It also happens to be the school that I attended myself, far too […]
6 years ago today, I pushed the bike out of my flat in Reading and set off on a cycle to southern Italy. Here’s how day 1 was blogged at the time: La Via Romeo Francigena / Eurovelo 5 The Send Off Party! Iconic Location No. 1: Windsor Castle […]
I was fortunate to cycle through Nice in August 2013 after having spent six weeks in the city during early 2000. A real tragedy in a beautiful city. When you watch the news today, don’t forget what it normally looks like. And make sure you visit one day.
Coming soon, the Italian translation of ‘Crossing Europe on a Bike Called Reggie‘. Here’s the prologue, translated by Enrico Antonio Mion: Prologo Vendono una maglietta con scritto che esistono tre ragioni per diventare insegnante: Natale, Pasqua e l’estate. Sebbene non concordi con questo sentimento cinico, vi è un […]
NOTE: THIS IS REBLOGGED FROM A THIRD PARTY WEBSITE. IT IS NOT THE INTENTION OF ANDREW SYKES TO CYCLE THIS ROUTE IN 2017. Eurovelo 12, The North Sea Cycle Route…
A review of things cycling in and around Leeds in the coming weeks and months…
This Thursday, 14th July 2016, the Tour de France once again points its riders in the direction of the summit of Mont Ventoux in the south of France. As I was cycling from Cape Sounio in southern Greece to Cape St. Vincent in southern Portugal in the hot […]
I’m loving these posts from Maxine Dodd. Very good indeed.
Back on this day in 2013, I was cycling through northern Greece heading for the border with Albania. Andy Murray had just won his first Wimbledon title…
(Updated July 2016) I have (obviously) not included the bike itself – a 2010 Ridgeback Panorama, the four Ortlieb Roller Plus Panniers or any clothing. Exped dry bags Waterproof Ortlieb map holder Robens Osprey 2 tent Mountain Equipment sleeping bag Decathlon sleeping bag line PowerMonkey Extreme rechargeable battery and […]
I’ve recently republished some of the posts I wrote during some of the cycles of the past few years. I was wondering if there had been a few days when I had been cycling in each of my five ‘cycling years’. Alas the answer is ‘no’… …but I find […]
These evoke memories of cycling in the area of Saumur last year en route to Nordkapp…
Another bicycle-meets-film event from Leeds’ greatest bicycle impresario… Mr Ian Street:
Today, for the first time in my eight-year blogging career I was asked to give someone face-to-face advice about running a successful ‘adventure’ website. The person concerned is Mike, a geography teacher at the school where I’ve been working since earlier in the year. This is one of […]
On this day, 2013…
Every so often a company called Vuelio creates a list of cycling blogs that they consider to be ‘influential’. Not sure how they quite work that out but the list has just been updated and, as before, CyclingEurope.org is in there at number 3. If you visit the […]
From Kevin Mayne of the European Cyclists’ Federation:
Now I’m already a fan of the Schwalbe Marathon Plus tyre but whilst looking up its exact specifications for the new book, I found this. Not sure I would dare…
Does it exist? Apparently so… I know this as last week I received an email from Ben Black of Beer 52 in Edinburgh. “I wondered if you would like to review our craft beer club – Beer52. It may seem like a digression from your normal posts, but […]
I’ve spent the last couple of hours examining the Copenhagen Bicycle Strategy 2011-2025 as part of my research for the new book. It’s enough to make your average British cyclist weep. Well worth a read but have tissues to hand… Draft extract from The 35 Degrees: Tarifa to Nordkapp on […]
A year ago today, en route to Nordkapp, Norway…
In preparation for the publication of the final book in the popular and acclaimed European cycling trilogy (The 35 Degrees: Tarifa to Nordkapp on a Bike Called Reggie, published in spring 2017 from Summersdale) until August 31st… CROSSING EUROPE… / ALONG THE MED… JUST £1.99 / $2.99 / €2.99 Latest Reviews for Crossing Europe on a […]
On this day three years ago…
The Tour de France 2016 is almost upon us and SIS have created an infographic that gives an insight into how the riders in Team Sky stayed fuelled during those long days in the saddle. I have to say my own approach as I cycled across Europe was […]
An updated promotion video for The 35 Degrees: Tarifa to Nordkapp on a Bike Called Reggie, published by Summersdale in spring 2017.
I’m a GoPro fan – see some of my videos here – so this caught my eye…
By Samantha Long It is one of cycling’s greatest conundrums; greater even than the matter of deciding who is the all-time best cyclist. Or what is the most challenging climb? Or where is the most spectacular ride in the world? The question in question is… A lovely relaxing […]
Just arrived home after a weekend visiting friends back in my old life in Reading… and discovered these items of great beauty on the doorstep. They have been sent by Laurence King Publishing and are very nice indeed; The Cyclist’s Bucket List, A Road Bike Journal and Le Tour […]
I only have one bike, a touring bike obviously, so when I saw a link to this article on the RoadCC website, I was immediately interested. What do you think? Why your next bike should be a touring bike—the most versatile bike type around#cyclinghttps://t.co/7oZLSs3AD9 pic.twitter.com/CXljTDttvG — road.cc (@roadcc) […]
Normal service is resumed… And to get us going how about a little reminiscing; 100 photos from last year’s cycle from Tarifa to Nordkapp. The 35 Degrees: Tarifa to Nordkapp on a Bike Called Reggie will be published by Summersdale in spring 2017. Available in all good bookshops […]
You know where I stand. If you don’t, a few clues below. Don’t forget to vote…
“What did the EEC/EU ever do for us? Not much, apart from: providing 57% of our trade; structural funding to areas hit by industrial decline; clean beaches and rivers; cleaner air; lead free petrol; restrictions on landfill dumping; a recycling culture; cheaper mobile charges; cheaper air travel; improved […]
The lists below will come as no surprise to most people. If Britain does vote to leave the EU, I hope that those in the list at the bottom (and perhaps you if you plan on voting ‘out’) will appreciate the fact that it is those in the first […]
Are you up for paying but having no say? More details at Square One Law.
It’s been a grim week but as I was reading up on events this morning on the BBC news website I spotted this short video about a Japanese couple who went on a very long honeymoon, with a drone. The results were outstanding and here they are. Worth […]
If you watched last night’s programme on BBC 2 about EU immigration to the UK, you may remember the woman at the start who lived and worked in Clacton-on-Sea. She blamed the lack of availability of housing in the area on EU immigrants. Clacton is part of the Tendring […]
More details on the website. If you can’t make Brighton between July 14th and 16th, perhaps you can attend in New York, Amsterdam, Milan, Mexico City or Sydney…
If you follow this blog via Twitter or Facebook I should perhaps start with an apology that over recent weeks, the tweets and posts about cycling and travelling have been far outnumbered by those on the subject of the EU referendum next week. It’s a hollow apology however […]
I agree with every word of Gordon Brown’s film. If you are no fan of Gordon, read what Michael Heseltine had to say on the same topic in the FT. My thoughts on why we should stay in the EU coming soon on CyclingEurope.org.
The revamp of CyclingEurope.org (and its new sister site apsykes.com) continue apace with the opening of a new bookshop which can be found up there in the menu and also here. It so far has four shelves with around 20 carefully selected books each: The Cycling Bookshop The […]
Melanie Rice writes: Yorkshire lasses Kate Horsfall of Wetherby and Judith Worrall of Thirsk are inviting all ladies who like to cycle to their Yorkshire Lass Cycling Club’s first charity sportive on 14 August – 140 entrants have already signed up and just 160 places remain. Supported by […]
Actually, apsykes.com has existed for some time and it redirected to here, CyclingEurope.org. But that’s no longer the case as apsykes.com has fledged the nest and is now out there on its own. Looks good, no? It’s amazing how much fun and just how satisfying it is creating […]
So far, so good…
Some news tonight of something that I never really thought would happen. The kind of thing that happens to others, not a French teacher from Yorkshire. But it has. I am delighted to announce that earlier today I signed on the dotted line… …and that The 35 Degrees: […]
This morning’s action. If you are reading this today, Sunday 8th, the event continues until this evening… More details here.
Happy 90th birthday Sir David…
Yes, you are looking at it. This website – CyclingEurope.org – has tonight notched up its one millionth page hit. I didn’t quite catch the big moment but here is the situation as of 8pm this evening. As you can see, a million page hits ‘only’ equates to […]
See you in Halifax in 2017…
Yes, you thought you’d seen it all… First the cycles and the blogs, then the books, now the PowerPoint. Fear not, Cycling Europe has not entered the world of middle-management training, but I have spent the day putting together next Saturday’s presentation. 7pm, HX5 0TD. Pie and peas […]
…is nearly here! Full details on the Tour de Yorkshire website. I’ll be on BBC Radio Leeds (available worldwide online!) on Friday afternoon at 2pm talking about things cycling. Here are the routes for the three days of the event. Better bring a jumper. Perhaps even a snow shovel…
By Shaun Lane, BiPolar UK “I felt like a challenge, not having ridden 100 miles for a very long time, something like 30 years!” In 2014 Steve took part in the Prudential Ride100. Having been diagnosed with bipolar in 1997 Bipolar UK is very close to Steve’s heart […]
Here’s the map (the first version at least). Feedback welcome.
From the ECF, the European Cyclists’ Federation: “Featuring exclusive insights from professionals in the cycling sector as well as important data from our report on job creation in the European cycling economy, the #CyclingWorks video shows compelling arguments why investing in cycling pays off. Cycling is the transport sector […]
The second exclusive extract from the upcoming book, The 35 Degrees: Tarifa to Nordkapp on a Bike Called Reggie which will hit the shelves later this year. As with the previous extract – the fifth degree – what you read below is, of course, subject to change but it hopefully gives […]
Earlier this week I received a call from the BBC. Now don’t get too excited as it wasn’t (yet) The One Show requesting that I become their cycling-travel expert. Perhaps one day… It was my friends at BBC Radio Leeds. If you remember, shortly before I set off […]
This post comes in two parts. Firstly, this very useful guide, courtesy of Currys PC World, all about how to make ‘epic’ GoPro videos… (part two coming up in a few minutes)
…and probably his famous bike too. I’ll be talking at two events in May this year, on opposite sides of the Pennines. First up is this event at the Thompson-Jones Hall near Halifax in West Yorkshire on Saturday 7th May at 7pm: If you would like to reserve […]
If you know anyone who is aged 15 to 18 and who is currently in full-time education in Yorkshire, please pass on the details of these amazing expeditions that are now being organised by the Yorkshire Schools Exploring Society or YSES. The society has a long history of […]
Traveller and cyclist Pete Martin has written a new book and if you follow this link you can read an extended extract here on CyclingEurope.org. The publisher has provided the following below. For anyone travelling along Eurovelo 15, the Rhine Cycle Route, it’s probably worth a read. “This is an […]
…and here is my favourite bit of shelf. The books say much about my life!
By Geoff Cumming It is often said that the essence of Spain lies in the beautiful countryside, remarkable mountains, fascinating villages and the warmth and hospitality of the people of Andalucía. Cycling Andalucía, a small, friendly cycle touring company, has recently started offering cycle tours in the heart […]
It tends to go a bit quiet here on CyclingEurope.org as I’m writing the books but this should keep you occupied for a few minutes; the first exclusive(!) extract from the upcoming book, The 35 Degrees: Tarifa to Nordkapp on a Bike Called Reggie which will hit the shelves […]
Here’s the link…
Remember this? Perhaps some of you attended the event last year. I couldn’t as I was cycling somewhere in western Germany at the time, en route to Nordkapp. But the good news is that the event is back in 2016! Over the weekend of the 27th to the […]
A few weeks ago I was contacted by Catherine and Jim who live in France. They invited me to visit their place in the Limousin but, alas, circumstances are not going to allow me to take them up on their offer. However, I did say that I would […]
From Ian Street of the Leeds Bicycle Film Club: Our February screening on 15 Feb will be the award winning The Kid With A Bike: Winner of the Grand Jury Prize at Cannes Film Festival and a Golden Globe nominee for Best Foreign Language Film, the deeply moving […]
It’s taken a while to get started but start I have; The 35 Degrees: Tarifa to Nordkapp on a Bike Called Reggie is now in production and here’s an exclusive sneak preview of the very first chapter of the upcoming book… “It may not have required great feats […]
I had Reggie serviced after last summer’s Tarifa to Nordkapp cycle at my new local bike shop here in the Calder Valley, Blazing Saddles in Hebden Bridge. Alas, along with many other businesses in the valley towns of Elland, Sowerby Bridge, Mytholmroyd and Hebden Bridge, Blazing Saddles was […]
I heard this guy being interviewed on the radio last week and was struck by his quest to walk solo to the South Pole. A tragedy that he has died. When I was in Oslo last year I visited the The Fram Museum, an institution that tells the […]
This caught my eye today. The maker of the video below – a chap called Jacob Laukaitis – emailed me earlier today with the link. For those of you who were paying attention last year, I did mention at some point after having cycled Tarifa to Nordkapp that the next […]
It’s good to know that after all this time, Crossing Europe on a Bike Called Reggie and Along The Med on a Bike Called Reggie are still ‘hot’ in the eyes of Apple… We are in good company: Bryson, Palin, Beaumont, Kennedy, Orwell, Clarkson… Hopefully The 35 Degrees* […]
We have been nominated for an award… (At last!). More details here. If you do vote for CyclingEurope.org, thanks.
This is not only astonishingly shot, but also very beautiful. Thanks to my German friend Claus in Stuttgart for pointing me in its direction. Enjoy! …and here is how they did it (there was I thinking it was a GoPro on a cheap drone…): I’m in the wrong job.
By Ian Street, Leeds Bicycle Film Club: We are going to kick off 2016 with Janapar an incredible story of adventure, love and enlightenment. Janapar is an award-winning true story, filmed over four years in thirty-two countries by one man on a bicycle. 23-year-old Tom Allen is all […]
2015 was a busy year… but here’s to 2016. Happy New Year!
If only I had SKY TV… Channel 464. Have you watched it? Seems to have a good variety of programming. Here’s the website and the Twitter feed. Here’s a reminder of my own latest contribution to the audio-visual world…
Last minute Christmas shopping? Here are some ideas from Halfords…
This post will make more sense if you read the previous post – part 1 – first. Done that? Good. Then I’ll begin… I had certainly heard people mention Pennine Cycles before ever having discovered that it was the nearest dealer in Bianchi bicycles to where I now live in […]
As the winter nights draw in (OK, for pedants, they have stopped doing that as we are now the 23rd December but you know what I mean…) and cycle touring in the northern hemisphere is left to the hardy adventure cyclists out there – I’m afraid to say that, […]
I was trying to find a link between these two cycling-related videos that appeared this week. Only when writing the title just now did the link become obvious; if you do what Danny MacAskill does… Of all MacAskill’s videos this is probably the most hair-raising. Worth 5 minutes of your […]
Here are the stages… (More details here.)
A couple of nice reviews for Along The Med on a Bike Called Reggie (now only £8.99 in paperback!) in the past few days… Remember that signed copies of either or both books are available for Christmas presents. More details here. By L. Lane on 4 December 2015 The brilliant follow up […]
If you go to one bike show in 2016, I’d recommend this one. I went to the one held back in 2013. In 2014 it decamped from Bristol to the Olympic Velodrome in London. Not sure what happened in 2015 but it is certainly back in Bristol in 2016! […]
In their entirety, the photographs – yes, all of them! – are now available on the Cycling Europe on a Bike Called Reggie Facebook Page: Part 1: Spain Part 2: France Part 3: Belgium / The Netherlands Part 4: Germany Part 5: Denmark Part 6: Sweden Part 7: Norway […]
What a great title for a newspaper. And in the next edition, I’m being interviewed! You can already read the article online. I do like the picture that they have chosen (and cropped, and perhaps even coloured?) to accompany the text. If I wasn’t already (quite rightly) committed […]
That’s not a euphemism. A few tweaks to the CyclingEurope.org homepage. Can anyone spot the changes?
