“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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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, […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
“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 […]
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 […]
‘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, […]
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 […]
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 […]
“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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
It’s nearly all over…
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, […]
Click on the image to watch the video…
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 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 […]
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 […]
How cool is this! More info at BicycleDutch.
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 […]
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 […]
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. […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Here are the pictures; the text will come later…
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 […]
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 few shots of the Tyne at night…
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
“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 […]
Missing the Olympics already? This should cheer you up… My favourite is the 3,000m steeplechase for people who think they are chickens.
Look out for the Games Makers!
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 […]
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. […]
Finally, someone has written about cycling the eastern part of the Eurovelo 8 from Greece, through Albania, Montenegro and Croatia. Thanks Ali!
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, […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
“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 […]
“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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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).
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
