A Message From The Editor Of The Times
Dear Reader A year ago, a journalist at The Times was very seriously injured while cycling to work. Mary Bowers, a much loved and hugely talented reporter, survived the accident but is only minimally conscious and is still recovering in hospital. We make no apology for having begun a campaign […]
The $20 Cardboard Bike!
Yes, it is true. Here’s the report in today’s Telegraph.
The Eurovelo 8 In Italy
I’ve received an email from Giulia of the Italian national cycling organisation, FIAB. I had emailed her asking about possible contact that may be of use when I cross the north of Italy from Slovenia in the east to France in the west. More on that at a […]
In Praise Of… Winchester
Spent a day walking with a friend yesterday in Winchester. Had never been there before but I probably will again…
“Crossing Europe On A Bike Called Reggie”: £1.53 “Children In Need” Offer
Dear friends, Welcome to November! You’ve all be amazingly supportive over the last fifteen months since ‘Good Vibrations: Crossing Europe on a Bike Called Reggie‘ was first published back in August 2011. A budding author could not have asked for more help, advice & encouragement. The last week […]
“Crossing Europe On A Bike Called Reggie” (Minus Vibrations)
The vibrations, despite being good, have been banned by Amazon… I’ll post the full story on here by the end of the week. In the meantime, here is the tweaked cover of the Kindle version of the book. All other versions (paperback, Apple iStore, Waterstone’s, Kobo, WHSmith, Lulu…) […]
New Radio Show: BeSpoke
“Colin Murray presents a new series on cycling, with the latest news and interviews from the sport as well as a look at cycling leisure and lifestyle.” Here’s the iPlayer link…
Cycling Meets Expressive Arts: Spoke ‘N’ Chain
Kevin Dennis has been in touch: Hello Andrew, We are Spoke ‘n’ Chain, a creative bicycle arts team that came to being in 2009 in Bristol, and discovered both the Eurovelo routes and Kamishibai this year. We are currently developing our workshop and performance techniques and rigging a Yuba bicycle in […]
The 100th Tour De France (2013)
On the very same weekend that I prepare to head off from Athens along the Mediterranean coast towards the south-western point of Portugal, the 100th Tour de France sets off from Corsica…
Eurovelo 8: Preparation Gets Serious!
(There doesn’t appear to be a Rough Guide to Albania)
Cycling Through Albania: Tim’s Story
A couple of weeks’ ago I posted some comments from Tim about cycling through Albania. I asked him for more details on his own cycle through this lesser-known European country and he has kindly obliged: The main reason I wanted to get in contact was because I was […]
Good Vibrations: “Not Just For Cyclists” 5*
“Some travel writers have the dubious talent of turning a fascinating journey into a dull book. Andrew Sykes is no such writer so his book will appeal to cyclists and non-cyclists alike. As well as the things he sees and does Andrew describes his motivations for undertaking the […]
Martyn Ashton – Road Bike Party
3.6 million people have watched Martyn Ashton’s video on YouTube so this is something many of you may have already seen but it is worth watching again. Amazing… & just a little bit scary. One of the best things about it is Martyn Ashton’s age; he is very […]
Good Vibrations: “A Wonderful Read That I Wholeheartedly Recommend To Anybody”
Will from Devon has reviewed Good Vibrations: Crossing Europe on a Bike Called Reggie for his website WillCycle; “No, sadly this post isn’t about a forthcoming long-distance cycling holiday. Instead, it is about a book I recently read. I’ve never done a book review before, so forgive me if […]
Albania & Montenegro: ‘The Path Less Travelled’
When I first tried to put a little meat on the bone that is the Eurovelo 8 (next year’s trip), I made the following comments on the Eurovelo 8 section of the website about travelling through Albania & Montenegro; “I could avoid Albania & Montenegro altogether! How? Well, […]
In Praise Of… BioLogic Bicycle Accessories
Having just upgraded to the new iPhone, my BioLogic iPhone 4 bike mount has just become redundant. The company have reassured me via Twitter that they are working on a new mount for the iPhone 5 which is wonderful news. I use the mount every day in conjunction […]
Weighty Matters
Over the next few months, I will drone on endlessly on this website, on Twitter & on Facebook about this piece of cycling equipment or that. I will debate the merits of widget A over that of widget B to the extent that when I do finally make […]
“Europe’s 44 Billion Euro Gold-mine”
From the European Cyclists’ Federation website: “Cycling tourism is one of the biggest growth sectors in tourism. A new study says it’s worth €44 billion per annum to Europe. Experts are getting ready to discuss how they can make this sector even bigger at a conference this week in […]
Good Vibrations: “I Want More” 5*
“As my title suggests I can’t wait for the next tale of travel by bike in Europe, I finished it so quickly as I enjoyed it so much. I am assured the next book is due after summer 2013 on Eurovelo 8 Athens to Cadiz. I thoroughly enjoyed […]
Le Tour Méditerranéen
Only found out that the Tour Méditerranéen existed this week… Lazy journalism I know but hey! it’s Sunday so this is what Wikipedia says about the race: “Le Tour Méditerranéen is a professional road bicycle racing event held in southern France along the Mediterranean Sea. The Tour Méditerranéen is a five-day stage race that began in […]
Good Vibrations: ‘A Perfect Winter Read’ 5*
‘That phrase, over-used in the review of books ‘the perfect summer read’. Well, this is the perfect WINTER read, because it’s like sitting down the pub with your mate trading travel and bike stories with a nice glass of vino by the fire. Andrew Sykes’ writing is informal, […]
European Roaming… In Reading, Berkshire
Cast your minds back to September 2010. I had just returned to the UK from my cycle to Italy and I tentatively checked my online mobile phone account with Orange. I’d planned ahead and made sure that I had a quota of data available for use each day […]
JOGLE: ‘Long Way Downhill’
If you’ve read Good Vibrations: Crossing Europe on a Bike Called Reggie, you may well remember Iain who I stayed with overnight in Deal, Kent. I look up to Iain as someone who seems to know much more about the technicalities of cycling than me. It wouldn’t be […]
Good Vibrations: “A Desperate Page Turner” 5*
“I bought this book having read some great reviews, I wasn’t sure it would be my thing, how wrong I was. It doesn’t get bogged down with technical details about the bike or equipment, and stays fairly easy on complications to the end, although it’s packed with detail about […]
Cycling Meets Hollywood: Premium Rush
Looks like fun! Here is the official site. And here is the blurb: “Dodging speeding cars, crazed cabbies and eight million cranky pedestrians is all in a day’s work for Wilee (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), the best of New York’s agile and aggressive bicycle messengers. It takes a special breed […]
Eurovelo 8: The Google Map
UPDATE 2018: It looks as though the Google Map referred to here has now been deleted… There are still some valid comments below however so I’ll leave this post online; just don’t expect to find the map it refers to… You may also want to visit this page […]
“Reveal The Path”
Sitting in my flat in Reading on a Saturday morning, I’m in dream mood; I just posted about my own past cycling experiences in the Alps and here’s someone else’s adventure immortalised in film: Reveal The Path. I spotted it on Twitter last night and the trailer is […]
Memories Of The Gotthard Pass
I’ve just caught up with last Monday’s Cycle Show on ITV4 which contained an interesting piece on cycling up to the Stelvio Pass in the Italian Alps. Some stunning images and it’s worth watching on the ITV Player just for the views (although if you do, be quick as […]
Eurovelo 8: The Maps
Digital mapping moves on apace. Only this week I was emailed by a guy from the German website Cycle Routes & Tours pointing out that some of the Eurovelo routes have been mapped on his site. I’ve added the links he gave to the relevant route sections in […]
Thank-you FaceMakers (Sorry… GamesMakers!)
It’s nearly all over…
Good Vibrations: “A Passionate Read” “Loved It” *****
Perhaps the first line of the latest five-star review for Good Vibrations: Crossing Europe on a Bike Called Reggie will help me break into the lucrative market currently dominated by Fifty Shades of Grey… “This a passionate read – and if you enjoy travel or you enjoy cycling, […]
So Papa… How Did You Like Your Present?
Click on the image to watch the video…
Pedal Power
The Milk Race, No?
Well, that’s what it was called when I was growing up; it’s a great name isn’t it? Imagine other races being named after drinks; The Beer Race, The Orange Squash Race, The Bloody Mary Race… None of them works quite so well as ‘The Milk Race‘. It’s now […]
Cyclorama & Get Cycling
Welcome back! (Sorry, just practising for a future job on daytime television…) A couple of posts back, I wrote about my visit last week to York but there was a little gap in my day. Here’s what I did in the gap… The writing of my book has […]
We’ll Be Right Back After This
1st September: The Start Of The Academic Year!
Absence makes the heart grow fonder… However eager I am for the academic year to end in July and for the long holidays to start, six weeks later at the end of August I am secretly looking forward to the new academic year kicking off. I love fresh […]
York: Cycling City Of The North?
If Newcastle had been at one end, York should have been at the other end of the familiarity spectrum during my visit to Yorkshire & the North East of England last week; I had, after all spent three years in the city as a student, albeit over twenty years ago. […]
Matt Krog & The Eurovelo 6: A Postscript
Matt writes; “STATS Total Days: 42 Rest Days: 10 Cycling Days: 32 Total Distance: 2900km Avg Distance per Cycling Day: 90km Number of Punctures: 0 Accommodation Campsite: 21 Wild camped: 2 Couch surfed: 13 Hostel: 5 Hotel: 1 Total Expenditure*: 1086€ Avg Daily expense: 25€ *Not including flights […]
“Good Vibrations Was Excellent – A Must Read”
50 reviews on Amazon.co.uk & still going strong with an average star rating of 4.7. Here is number 50; “This book was just great. From the first page to the last I was never bored and was always desperately wondering what Andrew (the author) was going to do […]
The Floating Cycle Roundabout Of Eindhoven
How cool is this! More info at BicycleDutch.
Matt Krog & The Eurovelo 6: Day 42
Matt Krog’s final post from the Eurovelo 6 from Nantes to Budapest. He made it & many congratulations to him for doing so. He will continue his journey to Rome and he will be continuing to blog at his website Matt’s Big Bicycle Tour. Thanks for creating some […]
In Praise Of… Spending A Day Offline
Yesterday I did something that I probably haven’t done in the last ten years; I spent my day offline; no mobile phone, no computer, no iPad, no Twitter, no Facebook, no Instagram, no blogging, no Internet searching… Nothing! Now, fear not; I didn’t do this because I think […]
Matt Krog & The Eurovelo 6: Day 41
Wednesday 22nd August Bratislava to Gyor: 4 hours, 82km “In the morning I went for a walk with Ivana and benji (their dog) through the nearby vineyards. It was a great walk through the country side and we picked grapes from the vines to munch along the way. […]
Matt Krog & The Eurovelo 6: Day 40
Tuesday 21st August Rest Day in Bratislava “Each room in the Downtown Backpackers is named after a famous artist. I was staying in Picasso along with 7 other people and was the first of the Piccasans to wake the next morning. I packed up my things quietly before […]
Matt Krog & The Eurovelo 6: Day 39
Monday 20th August Vienna to Bratislava: 4 hours 7 minutes, 77km “I took advantage of the hostel buffet breakfast, feasting on 3 bowls of muesli and a couple of hot chocolates. I said farewell to Julien (who was driving off to Salzburg today) and cycled off out of […]
Matt Krog & The Eurovelo 6: Days 37-38 (Vienna)
Saturday 18th August Rest Day in Vienna “I decided to join Julian and Heidi for breakfast and we found a quiet little cafe to have a coffee and pastry. I had opted for the traditional Viennese cake called Sachertorte, which is a chocolate type cake with layers of […]
Matt Krog & The Eurovelo 6: Day 36
Friday 17th August Krems to Vienna: 4 hours, 80km “More riding along the river today. Passing many cyclists, my knee was holding out fine. The previous day through the renowned Wachu region had many beautiful wine land and mountain landscapes on offer. Today the views were less awe […]
Paramedic Bicycle, York
The paramedic was called Sarah and she had found this corner of the Minster Gardens in which to pass the time with a book. Interestingly, the bike is a Ridgeback, one of Reggie’s cousins but with smaller wheels and a thick frame it reminded me more of an […]
York: My Day In Pictures (So Far…)
Here are the pictures; the text will come later…
The Baltic Mill: Giving Contemporary Art A Good Name
The Baltic Mill in Gateshead isn’t the most attractive of buildings; it was, after all built as a mill and the storage and processing of grain didn’t require too much ornamentation. There are visible attempts of grandeur; notably the tiled words ‘Baltic Flour Mill’ and the clean vertical […]
Upon The Tyne; Corbridge & Newcastle
So, here I am in the North-East of England, far away from my little abode in the South and Thursday morning finds me in the very relaxing atmosphere of the café of the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art in Gateshead. The place itself doesn’t open until 10am so […]
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 […]
