With the editing done and the premieres of Le Grand Tour films uploaded and scheduled for the remaining Thursdays in December (well, the three before Christmas), my mind can return to other matters ‘Cycling Europe’. And there are a few plans that have been on the back-burner that can now move to the front of the gas hob. If, that is, I can afford to turn on the gas…
The Cycle Touring Festival has, for obvious reasons, gone ‘virtual’ once again this year. And it’s earlier in the year than normal, taking place over the week of the half-term holiday in mid-February. The schedule of events – spread out over 10 days – has just been published and the list is below. However… you do need to register for most events (as they will be delivered via Zoom). To do so, visit the Cycle Touring Festival website and follow the instructions.
Let the cycle touring commence! But my goodness, itโs a bit chilly up here in the Yorkshire Dales this evening. At least itโs dry and has stayed dry pretty much all day. A few spots of rain as I made my way across Oxenhope Moor but apart from […]
I write the books and post things to this website because I enjoy doing so. It’s as simple as that. The same goes for the podcast which has now come of age following the release of episode 021 earlier this week. It is, however, rather humbling to receive the positive feedback that so many of you make the effort to give. Below are a few comments that I have been delighted to read this week. Thank you to everyone who has listened to the podcast and to all those people below, thank you for taking the time to get in touch. The latest instalment of The Cycling Europe Podcast investigates the epic cycle of Maximilian J. St. George at the start of the 20th Century. Max was the man who invented bikepacking about 100 years before bikepacking itself was invented… Or should that now be ‘re-invented’?
Iโm going to have a go at writing this now rather than post spaghetti dinner as I imagine I will become rather sleepy after eating some food. Iโve already been forced to visit the pub (see earlier tweets…) so am well on the way to slumber. Or rather, […]
“Although the physical festival has been cancelled, we will instead be hosting virtual events over the weekend of 25-26 April, for everybody to access. it will be free of charge, but we will be asking for donations to the National Emergencies Trust Coronavirus Appeal.”
Now I hasten to point out that I am writing this not because I plan to surprise you and announce that I have decided to enter one of these mythical rides (sorry to disappoint…) but because yesterday I recorded a fascinating chat with Dr Ian Walker for The Cycling Europe Podcast that will hopefully be published in the next week or so. In fact, I would go so far as saying that it was probably the most fascinating discussion I’ve had so far. Perhaps that was down to this ‘mythical’, ‘mysterious’ status that these rides have in the cycling world.
So 2020… it will go down in history as the ‘interesting’ year. More infamous than famous. It does seem to have been a year that has passed very quickly. Perhaps it was the soap-opera nature of the whole COVID thing, waiting for the next bit of breaking news that might change our lives for the better but which, more often than not, delivered yet more bad news. However, in a year of many, many negatives it is worth reflecting upon the fact that the global pandemic did have knock-on positives. I don’t usually show it, but I consider myself to be an optimist and if ever there was a year when being an optimist – even a blind optimist – was more useful than ever, it has surely been 2020.
