• Recognition Deflection

  I’ve always sworn at f’king cyclists when I drive past them – the w*!kers! GET A CAR for Christ sakes. Now I look to see what they’re riding! Yes I caught the bug (there’s a lot of it going around). For the last couple of months if the weathers fair I’m out putting in some miles on [...]

• To Hull & Back Day Three

  The sound of heavy rain rattling against the window wasn’t the wake up call any of us wanted. It added to our aching limbs. Even climbing in to the saddle was a major effort. Finding the right route was another challenge and one we had to give up on. Thankfully we spotted a bike shop, [...]

• To Hull & Back Day Two

  Punctures are an inevitable part of being a cyclist. When you have 70 miles ahead of you, discovering one in Dave’s front tyre at dawn was the worst possible start to a day. Thankfully, repairs prior to breakfast didn’t take too long. And after we’d all set a record for devouring a fry up the [...]

• To Hull & Back Day One

  See the Prologue here. Lime Street station’s early morning rush hour contained plenty of suited individuals heading to offices in the city and the odd builder in his typically filthy site wear. Our uniform of cycling shorts and a rucksack marked us out from the crowd. Three of us glanced at a map as we [...]

• To Hull & Back

  Prologue A series of nights out to bid farewell to those leaving for new shores is usually the routine if people decide to emigrate. That was certainly the case when one of my friends announced he was moving to Australia. Plenty of beer and fine food was consumed as we enjoyed a going away dinner, [...]

• The Loneliness of the Cyclist

  That’s it. Not the loneliness of the long-distance, the good, bad or ugly cyclist. Just the cyclist. I’m not in a club so I don’t cycle with others, except for Himself. Even that’s a largely solitary exercise, as I have to work really hard to keep up with him so that I can yell “I [...]

• Loneliness of a Fat Cyclist

  To understand my relationship with cycling you really need to have a basic knowledge of me. I was born to a working class family on a council estate in Salford, and my first cycle was “rigged up” by a friend by combining bits from road bikes, Raleigh Choppers and unicycles. Though this bike was far [...]

• Hill climbing should be an Olympic sport

  To be fair, there was no shortage of cycling at London 2012. Road racing, time trials, BMX, mountain biking, not to mention the myriad of track events. It was great to see so many disciplines ridden to such an amazing standard (especially with the fantastic success of Team GB). To me though, there was one event that was [...]

• The Great Wall

  The famous climbs beckon all riders. The cobbled climbs of Flanders, the peaks of the Pyrenees, the sublime allure of Stelviopas. When the offer to climb La Redoute and the Mur de Huy arrived, I agreed immediately. We planned a 100km route through the Wallonie region of Belgium that incorporated La Redoute and the Mur [...]

• Being a Cycopath: my love/hate relationship with cycling

  Being a cycopath (cycling osteopath): I’m in my third year studying as an osteopath in Leeds and have been cycling for about twice that time now. When I first started out, as my confidence grew, I was pretty fearless. I’d never crashed and I didn’t know anything about how good my tyres were on wet [...]

Articles in Pictures

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  I’ve always sworn at f’king cyclists when I drive past them – the w*!kers! GET A CAR for Christ sakes. Now I look to see what they’re riding! Yes I caught the bug (there’s a lot of it going around). For the last couple of months if the weathers fair I’m out putting in some miles on [...]

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  The sound of heavy rain rattling against the window wasn’t the wake up call any of us wanted. It added to our aching limbs. Even climbing in to the saddle was a major effort. Finding the right route was another challenge and one we had to give up on. Thankfully we spotted a bike shop, [...]

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  Punctures are an inevitable part of being a cyclist. When you have 70 miles ahead of you, discovering one in Dave’s front tyre at dawn was the worst possible start to a day. Thankfully, repairs prior to breakfast didn’t take too long. And after we’d all set a record for devouring a fry up the [...]

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  See the Prologue here. Lime Street station’s early morning rush hour contained plenty of suited individuals heading to offices in the city and the odd builder in his typically filthy site wear. Our uniform of cycling shorts and a rucksack marked us out from the crowd. Three of us glanced at a map as we [...]

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