Here is the second in a series of extracts from the soon-to-be-published book ‘Along The Med on a Bike Called Reggie‘. If you haven’t done so already, you may want to read extract 1 (which was all about cycling day 11 in Albania) by following this link. Tuesday […]
CTC are calling on local councils to make our roads safe and inviting so everyone can cycle. What is the Space for Cycling campaign calling for? Watch the video below (& then visit the Space for Cycling website for further instructions!)
Some interesting cycling-related videos on the new British Pathé archive just made available on YouTube. See the article below for more details but here is my choice of the cycling films; ‘Cycling Tips’ (1936) ‘Herne Hill Cycling aka Holiday Sport’ (1952) ‘Queer Cycling’ (1942) From Sky News; Film […]
Here it is in all its glory; the new cover for Crossing Europe on a Bike Called Reggie as designed by Andy Mitchell of Custard4Gravy. It’s wonderful and better than I ever imagined. I’m now in the process of updating the various editions of the book that are […]
Back in August 2008 I got very excited when my EuroVelo map arrived – read about it here – and I’m delighted to reveal that in April 2014 I’m equally delighted to have been given an updated version of the very same map. My policeman friend Titus (aka […]
Nothing to do with cycling but some pretty pictures from my weekend trip to The Peak District…
When I visited the newly-opened (to the public) Lee Valley Velopark at the Olympic Park in London yesterday, the stands were being set up for the 2014 UK Handmade Bicycle Show. It’s a pity it wasn’t open; I went last year when it was in Bristol and throughly […]
It’s changed a bit since I was here as a GamesMaker back in 2012… My timed lap came in at 22.85 seconds. The professionals do it in 13.
You’ve still got time to make sure you’ve read ‘Crossing Europe on a Bike Called Reggie‘ before ‘Along The Med on a Bike Called Reggie‘ hits the shelves this summer. ‘DartmoorScottyDog‘ did just that and he seemed to enjoy the experience…
Here in the UK the clocks have just changed which means that cycling commuters such as my good self can look forward to six months of travelling to and from work without having to remember to fix the lights on the bike for all except the earliest of […]
I’ve mentioned the first two days of the Tour de France 2014 frequently in recent months as it will be visiting Yorkshire, the region where I myself was born and grew up. I haven’t really written about day 3 of Le Tour which will see the cyclists set off […]
Yorkshire is going potty over the arrival of the Tour de France in July. Yorks of Thirsk* a cafe in North Yorkshire (@YorksTea) are going, err… tea potty. Just look at these displays they have created; *”A friendly independent café in the market town of Thirsk. Cyclists and […]
By Visual Artwork. Cool, no?
More details on the TOB website… (It looks as though Yorkshire is now part of France! Perhaps in 2015…)
I’m always happy to give a little publicity to a good cause and here is a very good one: Maggie’s Monster Bike and Hike. “To let you know a bit more about the event, the Monster Bike + Hike is a 24-hour event where teams of two to […]
…spotted at Hughenden Manor, the former home of Benjamin Disraeli. Still as relevant now as they were in the 1940s.
Here is the link to get hold of your ticket…
By guest blogger Tom Nelson With the National Road Race cycling route now confirmed and the weather picking up into longer, brighter spring days it’s time to get on your bike and explore the beauty of Britain. The plethora of exciting cycle routes in this relatively small country […]
Watch the video here… I’ll be there. Will you?
My uncle, who lives in the south of Spain, has just sent me this article about the Vias Verdes cycle routes in Spain. It was originally posted on the website Eye on Spain / Max Abroad: The Best of Spain and I hope they don’t mind me republishing it […]
One of my students at school this week was writing in French on the subject of health and fitness. As part of the text she expressed her dislike for pasta. I couldn’t believe it and (kindly) lambasted her for her culinary preferences. I asked her if she had […]
These people put me to shame… I usually head off to the local cafe, bar, pub or occasionally a restaurant. More information about the book on the Bike. Camp. Cook. website.
Click here for the website and here for the full manifesto PDF!
A couple of weeks ago I posted about Mary Erskine and her band Me For Queen. I have an update from Mary: “Hi Andrew! We are now live! We just hit 25% this morning, so we are pumped – BUT still a long way to go… Here is […]
Free tickets for this event in Leeds (starring me!) available from Eventbrite. “Have you ever felt like getting on your bike and going on an adventure? maybe heading off on a long distance tour and visiting other countries? Andrew Sykes and Tom Bruce have done just that, cataloguing […]
Follow this link to the Eventbrite event page… and here for the Le Tour Ripon website. See you in May!
From the BBC’s ‘week in pictures‘: “Pet Horstmann, who runs the Fahrradhof bike shop in Altlandsberg, eastern Germany, looks out of his house decorated with more than 200 old bikes.” Here’s another shot of the same house from Panoramio:
Over the next few months as I write about my 2013 cycle from Greece to Portugal along the (rough) line of the Eurovelo 8, I will publish an occasional extract from the book here on CyclingEurope.org. The book will be published on the 10th June 2014. Here is the first […]
In just 10 minutes – at midday – you’ll be able to read an exclusive extract from my forthcoming book ‘Along The Med on a Bike Called Reggie‘ here on CyclingEurope.org. The book will recount the tale of my cycle in summer 2013 from the Temple of Poseidon […]
“EuroVelo director Adam Bodor sat down with Andy Carling to talk about the many new bike routes spanning through Europe as a means of connecting European countries and increasing bicycling tourism across Europe.”
I’ve just been reading some of the online reaction to the edition of Top Gear that was aired on Sunday evening and which contained a piece about creating a public information film with the aim of making cycling safer. Oh dear… It doesn’t seem to have gone down […]
by guest blogger Tom Nelson Even the most seasoned cyclist is happy to see the bad weather fade away towards the end of winter and see the beginnings of spring emerge. When the days start to get longer and the snow begins to melt away, it’s time to […]
Yesterday I popped down to London to meet Michaela Delmonte at the Cycle PS bike shop-cum-café in Camberwell Church Street (SE5 8TR) that is run by her friend Harvey. Michaela describes herself as a “…food designer and novelty cake maker, artist, swing dancer, cyclist, founder of Pscycle.” We […]
I’m increasingly getting contacted by people in the wider cycling world who would like me to help a little bit with publicity for their event, charity, cycle etc… and I am usually more than happy to oblige (see previous post as a good example). It costs me nothing […]
UNICEF, the charitable branch of the United Nations that aims to improve the lives of children across the globe and Barclays, sponsors of the Premier League football here in the UK are coming together with the aim of raising £500,000 to help young people ‘turn their business dreams […]
Made by New York based infographic company Pop Chart Lab, this intricately-designed bicycle family tree is fascinating. Can you find your bike? Reggie’s branch of the evolutionary process is there… You can buy a print of the image by visiting the Pop Chart Lab website (where the rest […]
My Instagram account is, predictably, CyclingEurope. There is a link over there on the right of this page. Down a bit. Yes, you found it.
Issues with the flight & weather resulted in a couple of hours delay but we arrived (I’m travelling with a friend and her three sons – their surname is Mumford so I suppose I’ll be referring to them as Mumford and sons quite a bit; if the joke […]
I’ll be wearing this with pride… kicking off in Berlin over the next few days!
I’ve now had Reggie back for nearly a week after his accident (see top picture) but as yet I have yet to test out his new butterfly handlebars (see bottom picture – they are a different brand and the design is slightly different) on the cycle to work […]
It’s a while since I’ve had any WarmShowers visitors but last Monday I had two. They weren’t however travelling separately, in fact they were travelling very much together, on a tandem (which just managed to squeeze into the flat & spent the night in the place where my […]
In the lead up to arrival of the Tour de France in July, Yorkshire (my home county) is having a get together, The Yorkshire Festival. All the details on the website (and a couple of screen shots from that site below) but this official song from a group […]
(by guest blogger Samantha Long) “Winter cycling is growing in popularity and with it, the demand for suitable bikes grows too. Scott Road Bikes originate in Switzerland, the land of snow and steep mountain roads, so the makers know exactly what’s required for winter riding. The right kind […]
UPDATE: Thursday 30th January – the decision of the ASA is under review… I’m not sure if this is legal or not but as here goes. Below is a television commercial that has been banned by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) here in Britain. It’s an advert – […]
A nice little film from Amir Porat…
I don’t know too much about this – the founder emailed me with a few details earlier today – but it looks potentially interesting. Make your own mind up by watching the video and reading the information I have been sent below: “My name is Santi Casado, CEO […]
…on WordPress since January 2010 (although for the purists it had existed under the name of Puglia2010 on Blogger since autumn 2008). Roll on the next 4 year!
In cycling terms, January 2014 has been a challenge to say the very least. Not only has the ice been a real issue at the mere hint of a frost due to the saturated ground (see last week’s post about the first two ice-induced crashes – there was […]
My mechanical skills are lamentable… Perhaps I should start watching these new videos that are being posted online by Road Cycling UK. I quote: “The series will consist of 10 videos released every Wednesday and hosted by Jon Hayes, bike mechanic at Ride, Dorset. Episode 1 is an in-depth video […]
This picture is wonderful. No idea who took it – happy to credit them if anyone knows – but it was posted to Twitter by the account @OrganizedThings which is definitely worth a few minutes of your time (some of their pictures are very organised – I’m British! […]
When I set off for work on Tuesday morning I knew that I would have to be careful on the roads; to say it has been wet in southern England since Christmas is somewhat of an understatement. But it hasn’t been particularly cold, in fact it has been […]
If you aren’t lucky enough to live near your own indoor velodrome (or indeed near the town of Elland where I was brought up & where construction is well underway for an outdoor cycle track), this does look like fun. More details on the Street Velodrome website:
The views I’m rewarded with on bright winter mornings are worth every drop of sweat…
An interesting incident happened to me earlier this evening as I was cycling home from work, and there was an equally interesting response on Twitter when I tweeted about it. I’ll start off with a matter-of-fact account of what happened. The traffic in Reading has been very heavy […]
I’m not sure how my blogging activities will be affected by my renewed action on the book writing front – I’m now very much into writing the following up to ‘Crossing Europe on a Bike Called Reggie‘ – but here’s the first proper post of 2014. Happy New […]
Get on your bicycle and ride… Happy New Year!
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2013 annual report for CyclingEurope.org. Here’s an excerpt: The Louvre Museum has 8.5 million visitors per year. This blog was viewed about 200,000 times in 2013. If it were an exhibit at the Louvre Museum, it would take about 9 days […]
Here are the five most popular pictures that I posted to Instagram in 2013 in a short video. The last one is not actually mine but it was crying out to be ‘instagrammed’. See the others that didn’t make it to the top 5 here.
A very Happy Christmas to all the follows of CyclingEurope.org & readers of “Crossing Europe on a Bike Called Reggie” (if you aren’t a reader yet, why not download a copy to your new tablet via Kindle or iBooks if you were lucky enough to get one?). Here’s a […]
The latest edition of Bicycle Traveler has been published online and for FREE! I particularly like the photography. There are also some short but interesting equipment reviews and some advice when it comes to visas… Follow this link to get hold of a copy. Here are a few […]
The year is slowly drawing to a close… and I haven’t got very far with the new book. I’ve so far written about 6,500 words (which equates to about 5% of the final total unless it turns out to be a modern-day War & Peace). I’m not worried […]
Taken this morning in the grounds of Gillotts School in Henley-on-Thames where I ply my trade as a French teacher… It even made it onto the local news in the South of England:
From Amazon.co.uk about Crossing Europe on a Bike Called Reggie: “Excellent and amusing commentary on a solo bicycle trip from Reading in England to Brindisi, on the heel of Italy. This isn’t a journey through Outer Mongolia. Sykes always has the option of stopping and getting a train […]
If you are in Yorkshire on Friday 30th May 2014, come along! More details on the Le Tour Ripon website.
When I first embarked on a long(ish)-distance cycle back in 2009 cycling along the Pennine Cycleway from Berwick-upon-Tweed to Derby I took with me a pre-smart phone. I think it was a Nokia. It did a pretty good job allowing me to take some half-decent pictures and send […]
I watched this video earlier today and thought that certain bits looked quite familiar… and they should be as it has been filmed in and around Henley-on-Thames, the town where I work and the town to which I cycle every morning on Reggie. It’s beautifully shot – even […]
You’ve cried at the John Lewis Christmas ad (although I have to say it just isn’t quite the same after you’ve seen the front cover of the latest edition of Private Eye), you’ve watched Rosie Huntington-Whiteley dive down a manhole (that just doesn’t sound right does it?) only to […]
Thanks to Iain Harper for pointing me in the direction of this high-quality and extremely informative ten-minute explanation of the Tour de France made by InfoBytesTV. Amazing! (Just a pity that there doesn’t seem to be a version available in French…)
Why playing poker on two-wheels is becoming a trend in the country Germany prides itself on many things: its grand castles, towering ice-capped mountains, and its top-of-the-line automobiles. But one aspect that’s often overlooked in this country is its people’s love for poker. And thanks to their passion […]
Raynaud’s phenomenon is not a great thing to suffer from. It’s even worse if you are a cyclist. And cycling in winter can become a pain, literally. Also known as ‘vibration white finger‘ (as it can be a symptom of having used a vibrating device – such as […]
“This is such a crucial time for cycling in Britain” are the first words in this short video about a crowd-funded film that has been proposed called ‘Bicycle‘. After tragic cycling news over the last couple of weeks emanating from London this is something a little more positive. […]
I’ve entered Reggie in Cycle Love’s ‘Best Bike’ competition… More details here.
The poster by Andrew Hoffman was pointed out to me yesterday on Twitter and I do like it. It was produced for Art Crank, an art collective which promotes cycling-related art and holds exhibitions around the world (the ones in the UK being in London & Manchester). If […]
They didn’t even pay me to put it here… Quite sweet.
I’ve been admiring these little promotional videos for the Tour de France for years. I never imagined there would be one that started like this… See the video by following this link.
Not sure if you have ever explored the further reaches of this website. If you haven’t you may not have visited the section called ‘Eurovelos 1-15‘. It’s over there on the right sandwiched between ‘Eurovelo 8‘ and ‘Pennine Cycle‘. Found it? Good. I have to say that I […]
Nice to get a little mention on this Spanish cycling blog; I love how the expression “small-time eco warrior” has been translated. Grab your bi-lingual dictionary!
Don’t you just wish you came from a place like this? Oh, yes… I do! Bienvenue dans le Yorkshire! Bring on the Tour de France 2014! And the route that was revealed last week not only passes through the small town in West Yorkshire where I was brought […]
The graphic below has been produced by specialist claim solicitors BBK in association with CASA (The Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis – cool name!) which is part of UCL. It’s a comprehensive visualisation of London’s cycling landscape which shows “for the first time” (allegedly) the boroughs that produce the […]
If you have read “Crossing Europe on a Bike Called Reggie” you may recall that I am a fan of Luxembourg. It was such an interesting place. I suppose I’m mainly referring to the capital itself rather than the country as my stay was a brief one and […]
A couple of months ago I wrote about some cycling clothing that I had been sent by Aldi (“Cycling Gear From… Err… Aldi“). Despite my scepticism about the quality of anything that comes from the budget supermarket, I was very impressed (and continue to be so; the £4.99 […]
Korea? Ireland? No… The Parthenon Marbles! From the Autumn 2013 edition of the newsletter of the Marbles Reunited Campaign (@MarblesReunited / MarblesReunited.org.uk):
I have interesting interactions on Twitter on a fairly regular basis. I had two today, one of which I will tell you about now, and the other at some point in the future. Ade Thomas (@thermosflaskman) is a teacher and he made this video for an assembly at […]
