The nuances and mental and physical realities of racing each side of the Giant of Provence.
Ventoux: Three Ways, Three Days
Highs and Lows of the High Road: The Haute Route Iron 2018
Tales of the peaks and valleys of two weeks of racing in the mountains
Spain IS NOT an Island
No man is an island, Entire of itself, Every man is a piece of the continent, A part of the main. John Donne - 1624 Meditation 17: Devotions upon Emergent Occasions --- As sure as April heralds the arrival of spring showers and Easter eggs, it also brings the mass migration of the cyclists of Europe …
Overcooking and Under-Eating: A Cautionary Tale.
I’d wake up thinking about it. I’d be thinking about it when I’d be trying to work. I’d be thinking about it when I tried to sleep at night and as soon as I woke up. No, not sex, and no, not my bike. What was bothering me was the now-intrinsically linked pair of the …
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A Bike Fit (For a King) With Vankru: The Hows and Whys of a Retül Bike Fit
New Bike, New Fit Much as everyone talks about the cyclists' need for n+1 bikes (with n being the number currently owned), I'd gone a very long time without a new bike til the autumn of 2017. My Giant TCR , my 'go-to' bike, had seen me through 90% of my riding in the past …
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A Little Look at the Haute Route Alps 2018 Parcours
Having written a thing or two about the recently released Haute Route Pyrenees parcours here, it would be rude for me to not follow up with a piece on the Alps. I don't know the Alps quite as well as the Pyrenees, but well enough to make some comments that I feel are worthwhile and …
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A Little Look at the Haute Route Pyrenees 2018 Parcours
With the recent announcement of the parcours for Haute Route Pyrenees and Alps, I thought I'd share some quick (and throwaway) observations, highlights, and things to look out for on these routes. Whilst I'm far from an expert when it comes to the geography and topography of the Pyrenees and French Alps, I do know …
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A chat with Phil Gaimon: being cold, eating cookies, and racing Cadel (…or not).
I decided to contact Phil Gaimon to ask for an interview on a bit of a whim. I'd recently listened to the latest edition of his podcast, 'The Real Talent', and had just placed an order for his then-upcoming book, 'Draft Animals'. I'd read his previous books and had listened to his podcasts for a …
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A Review: ‘Higher Calling’, by Max Leonard
If you’ve read any of the rest of my blog, know anything about me, or have applied a little critical thinking to the name of this site, you’ll know that I’m a mountain man. Those that haven’t ridden a bike up a seriously sized mountain don’t really get it. Even those that are keen riders, …
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To lift, or not to lift….
Cometh the winter, cometh the weights With the onset of winter, all the magazines, websites and chit chat at the cake stop turns to discussion of cross-training, base miles, and sometimes, but not always, lifting weights. Not weightlifting of the bicep-curl in the mirror type (coz we all do that all year around, right?), but …
