A Night On The Toon
A few shots of the Tyne at night…
Huddersfield Town 1, Nottingham Forest 1
To be fair, the home side were out-played by the East Midlanders. Brian Clough would not be happy to have had victory prised from his side by a penalty in the last minute of second half extra time. It’s a funny old game. If they want to stay […]
Happy Birthday Good Vibrations!
It’s now a year since Good Vibrations: Crossing Europe on a Bike Called Reggie was first published. The literary journey since August 2011 has been almost as eventful as the one by bike to Brindisi back in summer 2010; here’s hoping that Year 2 will be just as […]
Boy And Bicycle: “The Boy Was Tony Scott”
Filmed in 1965 Hartlepool by his brother, Ridley Scott, the now late Tony Scott gets on his bike and rides… “A teenage boy plays truant from school, and spends the day riding around the town and the deserted beach on his bicycle, letting his mind wander as he imagines […]
Kings Cross: The Grand Tour Of The North Starts Here
I’ve always thought that ‘The North’ starts at Kings Cross; it’s a little enclave in London where northern vowels predominate & people refer to each other as ‘love’ rather than ‘mate’. My mini tour of ‘The North’ starts today albeit without Reggie (my bike). Today I travel to […]
In Praise Of… Modern Architecture In Reading
Towards the end of my cycle yesterday, I crossed the Reading University campus. As an ex-student, I know the area very well and am always delighted to see a new development spring up. I was particularly pleased to see the building shown here; The Reading Enterprise Centre. Against […]
Driving & Cycling In London: The Thoughts Of An Olympic Gamesmaker
So, my work as a London 2012 ‘Games Maker’ is over. We’ve been in the news quite a lot over the last few days since the curtain fell on the Olympics closing ceremony being universally praised for doing our jobs extremely well; making the games. Well, I did […]
Cycling Europe… 27,000 Miles!
From BBC World News: “A 72-year-old Latvian, Leontis Romanovskis, chose an unusual mode of transport to visit the Olympic host city – a bicycle. He claims to have covered around 27,000 miles cycling across Europe over the past eight years, in an effort to test his fitness after fighting […]
Matt Krog & The Eurovelo 6: Day 35
Thursday 16th August Linz to Krems: 130km “I woke up at 6 a.m. I did not sleep well. It will take a few more nights of peaceful wild camping to put my mind at ease. Nevertheless, it meant I got an early start. I was riding towards the […]
Matt Krog & The Eurovelo 6: Day 34
Wednesday 15th August Passau to Linz: 5 hours 49 minutes, 118km “The next morning, I had a closer look at my bike. It turns out the bolt attaching the rack to the right hand side of the bicycle frame had snapped. I had a spare bolt fortunately, but […]
Matt Krog & The Eurovelo 6: Day 33
Tuesday 4th August Straubing to Passau: 5 hours 10 minutes, 90km “Waking up late, I strolled into town, to find every second person in leather pants and drindl dresses. It could only mean one thing. I followed the swarms of people as they headed down the street. One […]
Matt Krog & The Eurovelo 6: Day 32
Monday 13th August Neustadt to Straubing: 6 hours 30 minutes, 112km “I charged my phone in the bathroom this morning, but was kicked out by the grumpy farmer who owns the site. Perhaps he had forgotten that I had paid him 10 euros the night before, but I […]
Matt Krog & The Eurovelo 6: Day 31
Sunday 12th August Munich to Neustadt: 4 hours 45 minutes, 94km “I was out on the road again and it felt so good to be pedalling. My goal was to get back to the Danube which was about 100km north. I only left Munich around 1pm with delays […]
Matt Krog & The Eurovelo 6: Days 27 – 30 (Munich)
Wednesday 8th August Rest in Munich “In the morning Andi wrote down some things I should check out in the city. I decided to head to Englisher Gardens, the largest city park. The river that runs through it, flows with such force that under one bridge people are […]
Matt Krog & The Eurovelo 6: Day 26
Tuesday 7th August Augsburg to Munich: 4 hours, 70km “I woke up to find a breakfast table covered in an assortment of breads, cereals, ham, cheese, eggs and orange juice. Although it was only 7.30, Astrid had already popped down to the local bakery, bought some breads and […]
An Early Morning Confession
I hate to admit this but until yesterday afternoon I hadn’t been out on my bike for a month. Yes, a whole month. Sorry. I do have a few excuses… The last week of the academic year in mid July is always an eclectic mix of methods of […]
Good Vibrations: “Inspiring Cycling Odyssey” ****
“What a cracking little read this was, showing just what anyone can do if they put their mind to it and have the bottle to head out of the comfort zone of their front door and out into the unknown. The thing I love about these type of books […]
The Silly Olympics
Missing the Olympics already? This should cheer you up… My favourite is the 3,000m steeplechase for people who think they are chickens.
…Gone
Team GB Don’t Stop Me Now!
Look out for the Games Makers!
The London Olympics; Going, Going…
The Olympics, sadly, are coming to an end. They have been wonderful and much has been written and said elsewhere that I will not repeat here. My reward for being a volunteer driver at the Olympics was simply to be able to say that I was there and […]
The New East End, As Seen On Instagram
Instagram’s beauty is in its simplicity; photos uploaded, cleverly edited by the click of a button on your smartphone and posted online. Others can comment or like. You can follow others and they can follow you. That’s about it. No long profiles, no tagging, no groups, no timelines. […]
London 2012 Calling
Finally, someone has written about cycling the eastern part of the Eurovelo 8 from Greece, through Albania, Montenegro and Croatia. Thanks Ali!
Matt Krog & The Eurovelo 6: Day 25
Monday 6th August Donauworth to Augsburg: 2 hours 24 minutes, 40km “It was a short cycling day, today. I followed my own route from Donauworth to Augsburg, picking smaller, quieter looking roads on Google maps. While there is no signposted route to follow and often its less scenic, […]
Reggie’s Refit: Priceless
For those who appreciate such things, here is a technical breakdown of Reggie’s new components… Brakes – V insert pads, £8.98: 9-speed chain, £14.85: Cassette, £20: Mavic A719 rims (front & rear), £83.70 & spokes (72), £32.40: Gear cables (outer & inner), £9.90: Deore chainset, £71.99: Plus labour […]
“Meet The Superhumans”
Gold!
Matt Krog & The Eurovelo 6: Day 24
Sunday 5th August Ulm to Donauworth: 4 hours 43 minutes, 97km “I had an assortment of Muesli for breakfast and said goodbye to Max, who was heading off to the mountains again to do some more mountain biking. I gave Ulm, one more whirl. The Munster with its […]
Matt Krog & The Eurovelo 6: Day 23
Saturday 4th July Munderkingen to Ulm: 2 hours 25 minutes, 45km “The Hungarians and Germans partied late into the night and they had unfortunately pitched their tents close to mine, which meant falling asleep was difficult. Nevertheless, I did eventually manage to fall asleep and woke up the […]
Matt Krog & The Eurovelo 6: Day 22
Friday 3rd August Sigmaringen to Munderkingen: 4 hours 2 minutes, 72km “It was my first day along the Danube. I had given myself two days to get to Ulm, so my target was any campsite past Riedlingen that I happened to come across. During the day nothing exciting […]
Matt Krog & The Eurovelo 6: Day 21
Thursday 2nd August Meersburg to Sigmaringen: 3 hours 45 minutes, 60km “Over breakfast, I perused a map of the area and planned my route for the day. I was going to head to Sigmaringen generally following the L roads and passing through the towns of Salem, Heiligenberg and […]
London 2012 Triathlon, Hyde Park
The great & the good of the International Olympic Committee family decided to stay put this morning. It was either that or they had decided to join the estimated 1 million people in Hyde Park to watch the men’s triathlon. For the IOC people it wasn’t far to […]
Good Vibrations: “Fantastic” 5*
“Took this book on holiday with me and travelled through every destination with the author as he did on his journey. The planning and execution of the adventure is well documented in diary format. The photos are very helpful to show some of the places and people he […]
Good Vibrations: “A Good Read” ****
“This is a charming and well written account about how to spend the time of your life on -mainly- the more quiet back-roads of Europe, where people are helpful and friendly and life and bike-riding (apart from a few broken spokes) are good. Lots of useful info for […]
In Praise Of… The Olympic Park
A couple of days ago, I discovered that I had an Olympic golden ticket. Kind of. It wasn’t the golden ticket that the royals or David Cameron seem to have which would allow me entry into any Olympic event of my choosing but it was on the first […]
Matt Krog & The Eurovelo 5: Day 20
Wednesday 1st August Rest in Konstanz/Meersburg “The sun beat down on my tent. I continued to lie under the bright blue tarp for as long as I could bear the heat. Unzipping and crawling out onto a patch of dewy damp grass, I took a moment to adjust […]
Bradley Wiggins: First Class!
Morgan Ruffini & The Eurovelo 5: Finished!
Morgan – see previous posts – has made it home to Parma. He writes; “Made it [to Parma] last week on Wed 25th, after 1470km and 19 days… I was late but glad to arrive [& was] welcomed by a group of Greek friends celebrating with drinks and […]
Matt Krog & The Eurovelo 6: Day 19
Tuesday 31st July Stein am Rhein to Konstanz: 1 hour 35 minutes, 30km “Today was a lazy day. It was my last day in Switzerland and I decide to take it easy. In the morning, I waited outside the reception area for the campsite manager. While waiting I […]
Matt Krog & The Eurovelo 6: Day 18
Monday 30th July Zürich to Stein am Rhein: 5 hours 55 minutes, 99km “I caught the early rays of sunshine on the lake while chatting to Marco, a Dutch cycle tourist, who arrived at the campsite at the same time as me last night. He was travelling south […]
Matt Krog & The Eurovelo 6: Day 17
Sunday 29th July Basel to Zurich: 6 hours 24 minutes, 118km “The rain continued throughout the night and yet again I had to pack up a wet tent. I said goodbye to the English trio and was the first person to checkout of the campsite. People seem to […]
Matt Krog & The Eurovelo 6: Day 16
Saturday 28th July Rest in Basel “I was hesitant to leave France. Firstly I would miss it. France had been an amazing experience and as much as I wanted to enter a new country, I felt there was also more of France that needed to be explored. The […]
Matt Krog & The Eurovelo 6: Day 15
Friday 27th July Montbéliard to Basel: 4 hours 42 minutes, 90km “So today I made it across France. My first country on European mainland had been crossed. Just want to shout out to everyone reading and following my trip! Thanks for all your comments, I am getting and […]
Free Offer!
Do you write for a magazine, have a blog, present a TV show, run a country? (OK, probably not the last one…) Would you like to read and review an ‘inspirational‘ book about one man’s ‘wonderful, witty cycle tour across Europe’. Well, I have a limited number of […]
London 2012: Cycling, Watching, Waiting…
Busy day for me as a spectator and as a volunteer. Here are a few scenes from the day which included the Women’s Cycling Road Race, waiting to be allocated a car at my Games Maker base, watching the cycling in Hyde Park & then an evening visit […]
Olympic Women’s Cycling Road Race
London 2012: Disappointment For Cavendish
I didn’t hang around in central London to see them return… Perhaps we’ll have more luck tomorrow with the women. Nicole Cooke will be defending the gold medal she won in Beijing but Lizzie Armitstead might have a better chance… I’ll be there too (watching, not cycling).
Matt Krog & The Eurovelo 6: Day 14
Thursday 26th July Besançon to Montbéliard: Time Unknown, Approx. 100km “The first thing I did that morning after saying goodbye to Nelly and Julien was head up the steep hill to the citadel. It was the one thing that Nelly said I could not leave without visiting. Besançon […]
Olympic Cycling Road Races
This weekend sees the men’s and women’s road races. They start and finish on The Mall in central London and if you don’t have a ticket for The Mall itself you won’t get in. However… everywhere else on the route is unticketed meaning that you can just go […]
Matt Krog & The Eurovelo 6: Day 13
Wednesday 25th July Dôle to Besançon: Time unknown, Approx. 65km “I started my day with a Nutella crepe and a coffee at a little café in Dole. It was right next to the cathedral. I visited the cathedral after my breakfast. Inside, it was quiet and cool, a […]
It’s Here!
Matt Krog & The Eurovelo 6: Day 12
Tuesday 24th July Chalon-sur-Saone to Dôle: 3 hours 50 minutes, 70km “Today was a good day. It just had that feeling about it. The sun was yet again shining and I was in a good mood. You see, what mood you’re in becomes harder to detect when you’re […]
Australian Bob & Californian Wade
A couple of Warmshowers visitors have passed this way over the last few days; first there was Bob, a novice touring cyclists in his 60s and then there was Wade, a novice touring cyclist in his 20s. I’m a novice touring cyclist somewhere in the middle! Bob is […]
Matt Krog & The Eurovelo 6: Day 11
Monday 23rd July Blanzy to Chalon-sur-Saone: 3 hours 16 minutes, 49km “To say I slept well last night would be a lie. It was a restless night, I kept waking up expecting to see a farmer with a flash light and shotgun. As soon as the sun’s rays […]
Matt Krog & The Eurovelo 6: Day 10
Sunday 22nd July Gannay-sur-Loire to Blanzy: 8 hours 10 minutes, 130km “I think I may have solved my dew issues. By pitching under a shaded area (where it seems the dew strikes last) and waking up early enough to avoid it setting in, I was able to pack […]
In Praise Of… News International (Yes, Really!)
If you have signed up to The Times’ Cities Fit For Cycling campaign, you will have just received another email from the editor of the newspaper, James Harding; Dear Reader How far cycling has come since we started the Cities fit for Cycling campaign less than six months […]
Let The Games Begin! (Soon)
Well, three shifts down, I’m into the swing of being an Olympic volunteer as well as driving a BMW around London. I have mentioned the utter hypocrisy of what I am doing previously; being an advocate of all things on two wheels and then abandoning them for four […]
Matt Krog & The Eurovelo 6: Day 9
Saturday 21st July La Charité-sur-Loire to Gannary-sur-Loire: 4 hours 32 minutes, 87km “I slept in late today, which however unintentional, seemed to be the right thing to do. Despite the long haul yesterday, my legs felt surprising fresh. I made my way into town and picked up a […]
Matt Krog & The Eurovelo 6: Day 8
Friday 20th July Orleans to La Charité-sur-Loire: 8 hours 7 minutes, 165 km “The rain poured through the night and I stayed in my tent as late in the morning as possible, hoping for it to cease. That didn’t happen and so I eventually gave in and packed up […]
Matt Krog & The Eurovelo 6: Day 7
Thursday 19th July Blois to Orleans: 3 hours 10 minutes, 64km “Last night, I had offered to help set up things for the 60th birthday party. So when three Frenchmen arrived mid morning with a 6 by 12 metre tent, I proceeded to help them assemble it in […]
Matt Krog & The Eurovelo 6: Day 6
Wednesday 18th July Tours to Blois: 3 hours 42 minutes, 72km “I met Nate at the main square the next morning. Wearing a typically French horizontally striped shirt, he was sitting at one of the tables in the centre of the square and waved to me, signalling his […]
Matt Krog & The Eurovelo 6: Day 5
Tuesday 17th July Chinon to Tours (via Azay-le-Rideau): 3 hours 36 minutes, 68km “I was woken up by a bird flapping on the roof of my tent this morning. It now takes me about 40 minutes to pack everything, load up the bike and cycle off. After exploring […]
Matt Krog & The Eurovelo 6: Day 4
Monday 16th July Angers to Chinon: 4 hours 50 min, 88km “The day started with me on the side of the road, dismantling my front mudguard. I was trying to figure out how to align it correctly so that it did not touch the tyre. What baffled me […]
Matt Krog & The Eurovelo 6: Day 3
Sunday 15th of July Ingrandes to Angers: 4 hours 26 min, 67km “I was woken up at 11pm last night to what sounded like a French revolution! From the number of bangs, I presumed it was a magnificent fireworks display (I was too tired to even lean out […]
Matt Krog & The Eurovelo 6: Day 2
It’s time to get up to date with Matt Krog as he cycles along the Eurovelo 6 from Nantes to Budapest. Saturday 14th July Nantes to Ingrandes: 4 hours, 68km “Breakfast came included with the hotel price and so I decided to take advantage by helping myself to […]
In Praise Of… Instagram
I can see why Mark Zuckerberg paid $1 billion for Instagram (but can’t figure out how he’ll ever get his money back; then again, I didn’t start Facebook and he did…). These are four of my recent Instagram photos. I am, predictably, CyclingEurope…
Olympic Sustainability! (Cycling Included)
For the cycling info., pay attention at 3 minutes & 30 seconds!
London 2012: On The Starting Blocks
I wouldn’t like to stretch the comparison too far but there are parallels between cycling long distances and embarking on this volunteer role at London 2012. Despite my training (which, whatever you may believe from reading the papers was thorough, professional & above all useful), I’m still not […]
The Cycle Show
Is cycling set to have its own version of Top Gear? “ITV4’s new cycling based chat show. Broadcast Mondays 8pm, repeated Saturdays 5:30pm in HD. Sponsored by chainreactioncycles.com and produced by Century TV. The Cycle Show is a light hearted chat show with pedal power themed features, where cycling […]
London 2012: The View From Abroad
A couple of weeks ago I posted the BBC Olympic Trailer; sleek, stylish, arty… It’s not quite like that in some places around the World as these three television trailers for the London Olympics demonstrate. They all have their charms however, kicking off with NBC’s Hollywood take on […]
Matt Krog & The Eurovelo 6: Day 1
Matt Krog stayed in Reading a few weeks ago (one of my WarmShowers visitors). He has just started to cycle the Eurovelo 6 from Nantes along the Loire & towards Bratislava. He has kindly agreed to allow me to re-post his own blog entries from his Tumblr website which […]
Morgan Ruffini & The Eurovelo 5: Metz
An update from Morgan who is cycling the Eurovelo 5; “Arrived in Metz yesterday from Verdun; got two days of rain from Reims-Verdun 120km; Verdun-Metz 66km and got completely wet so I decided to stay in Metz today to dry my stuff; however I went to the Centre […]
In Praise Of… The Brooks Saddle
In my book, Good Vibrations: Crossing Europe on a Bike Called Reggie (have I ever mentioned it?) I make the following comments about Brooks saddles; “I did at one point in my two-years of preparation consider changing to a Brook’s leather saddle which apparently moulds itself to your […]
Good Vibrations: “A throughly enjoyable read”
Brian Palmer has written a review of Good Vibrations: Crossing Europe on a Bike Called Reggie for The Washing Machine Post; “Sykes has a glorious, yet understated wit, which is way more satisfying than any rip-roaring induced laughter at each paragraph end. The best writers and indeed, the […]
Where’s Reggie?
Can you spot him? (And his owner of course…) This was the moment that the Olympic Torch came to Henley-on-Thames by the way. What a great atmosphere!
Good Start To The Day
Waking up to find that your book is top of the charts on Apple iTunes is never a bad way to start the day. 🙂
The Story Of Morgan Ruffini (To Be Continued…)
Here is Morgan Ruffini looking increasingly anxious about his journey along the Eurovelo 5. He set off a couple of days ago from London and is heading for Parma. And below, in his own words (which have already appeared on this site over the last couple of weeks […]
After meeting the man himself today, this bit of bicycle mirth is probably worth a re-blog…
Michael Palin, The Truth & Good Vibrations
I had seen that Michael Palin was going to be in town a few weeks ago; Waterstones in Broad Street had cranked up the publicity machine and it had done the trick as I, along with many others were in the queue by the time the great man […]
“Ban Cyclists From The Road”
Please note the use of inverted commas in the title. I won’t be signing this petition but I think Mark Tyrrell should be given the oxygen of publicity so everyone can see what a plonker he really is. If he’s on Twitter, he may be one of these; […]
Brothers On Bikes
A touching video & a great cause. The boys set off on 16th August. Here are the links to their website & JustGiving pages. Good luck! They are also on Twitter where their 140 character bio sums up who they are and what they are doing quite well; […]
Cycling In West Yorkshire: A Guide
I have shamelessly stolen this entire post (apart from this paragraph) from the most recent Sustrans email. It covers my corner of the World; West Yorkshire. I don’t live there now but I suppose it will always be ‘home’… NCN West Yorkshire cycle routes map This is the first […]
Saturday Morning Cycling Picture
Cycling in the UK this summer is not like this… That orange thing in the sky seems to only appear very sporadically. I’m getting slightly anxious that the Olympics might be a wash out 🙁
James Bond: Good News
I’m delighted to have just discovered that I am still younger than James Bond!
BBC Olympic Trailer
I think I prefer this shorter version than the longer one aired last night; it packs more of a punch!
Le Tour De France; Great Poster!
Not Driving? Why Not Cycle Instead?
Excellent! You have watched the video in the previous post (A Public Information Message For London Drivers: Don’t!) and you have committed yourself to not driving your car into London during the Olympic or Paralympic Games. You deserve a medal already. OK, perhaps not but you’re still reading this […]
A Public Information Message For London Drivers: Don’t!
Well, apart from those who really do need to use the capital’s roads during the Olympics or Paralympics. OK, I’ll come clean; I will be driving a car for the Olympics this summer. I’ll be in one of those cars driving along the ORN or Olympic Road Network […]
2nd July 2012: Home To Rome
A couple of weeks ago, James Mudd emailed me after having read Good Vibrations: Crossing Europe on a Bike Called Reggie telling me of his plans to do something similar; I am setting off with two friends on 2nd July 2012 from Home (Leeds) to Rome. I was inspired by […]
Good Vibrations: New Look, Same ‘Inspirational’ Read
Good Vibrations: “A Really Good Read” 5*
“I would recommend this book to anyone with an interest in cycle touring, but also to anyone without any interest in cycling at all. It’s well written, very witty and never gets bogged down in statistics or technical issues, but the author’s concise descriptions of the route, scenery […]
Good Vibrations: “A Gem Of A Find” 5*
“I just loved this book and was gripped from start to finish. The author is such an everyman but is so inspiring as he cycles across half of Europe. I really found it difficult to put this book down and it really cheered me up every morning and […]
Le Tour De France 2012
I love these fly-over videos of the path of the Tour de France; here’s the 2012 version. I played it three times to three different groups of kids at school. One of the boys asked me if I’d ever cycled the Tour de France myself; I let him […]
L’Avenue Verte London-Paris
Looks interesting… almost makes me want to get off down to Paris this weekend… There’s even a website. A kind-of mini Eurovelo, no? Eurovelo 0.3?
Matt Krug: Heading West
I spent a few minutes at the weekend updating my Warmshowers recommendations… and so has Matt Krog who visited Reading the weekend before last; “I stayed with Andrew the first night of my London – Dublin tour. As well as being a world-famous author, he is also an […]
Warmshowers.org; Website Update
It looks like I’m not the only one to be image conscious this weekend. Warmshowers.org is preparing to reveal its own improved look…
Judging A Book By Its Improved Cover
In the recent CTC review of Good Vibrations, Chris Peck noted ‘Never judge a book by its cover‘ before going on to extol the virtues of the read (‘I can’t recommend a better book for inspiration‘). Others have made similar comments about the cover (‘why choose a litter-strewn, […]
Around The World In… Who Cares!
My weekend is visitor free! I make it sound as though I have people staying here all the time; this is not the case and it was great to see Matt, Ross & Pirrko but it did make for a non-stop weekend, my visitors departure and arrival sandwiched […]
Finishing With The Finnish
I really should spend more weekends like this. In bed at 10:30 on Sunday evening, I am knackered, but it’s a good knackered not a bad one. Following last night’s visit from South African cyclist Matt (see below) & my err… interesting experience driving and being driven by […]
