CycleSeven

Hello everyone in Cycle Seven Land! Sorry I've not visited for ages.

Where have I been?
What have I been doing?

Cycling has been intermittent to say the least. The last long/decent/interesting ride I had was on 1st March when I took a lift to near Truro, spending the day cycling home via the south coast of Cornwall.

This is at St Mawes Castle on the south coast with Pendennis Castle in the distance across Falmouth Bay. I came down through Truro and the little lanes to the coast.

I followed as close as I could get to the coast as you can see here. This sandy little ford was across a (freshwater) stream, but the hill the other side must've been 33%. My wheels were caked in wet sand and rubbed on the inside of my mudguards making the climb even harder! I had to stop half way up, get my breath, knock some sand off, and try again! Eventually, I made it to Mevagissey – and stopped for late lunch. From there, I made my way through St Austell and Lostwithiel to home. Great ride of 85miles, but really tough with some awfully steep hills.

Continue reading Where am I? »

The original plan was to do a long distance ride on Sunday when the forecast was for a clear, sunny day. However, the best laid plans of mice and men ...

Lady CoMo was the victim of a car accident on Thursday. She came out on the losing end of the encounter. It was not my fault. Honest. In fact, I was not even on her at the time. Nor was Mary.

Continue reading An Accidental Ride »

This is not a story about bike-eating triffids.

Continue reading An ordinary day on the bike »

Sunday morning is usually a quiet affair in the small village of Whitwell. When I arrived at 8.30 it was cold and raining, but the village hall was a hive of activity. Outside, gazebos were being erected with much scratching of heads, while inside cakes were being cut and wrapped and hot cross buns buttered. The checkpoint doesn't officially open until 9.00 am but already cyclists were setting off. Some wanted an early start to make sure they were back at the finish before it officially closed at 6.00 pm. Others were local speed merchants wanting to finish the 100k and be home for Sunday lunch. Its Randonnee day again!

Now, how did we get this together last year?

Continue reading Isle of Wight Randonnee 2012 »

CTC, the UK's national cyclists' organisation since 1878 and its largest cycling charity, recently appointed Gordon Seabright as its new Chief Executive (I think he started work on 1st March 2012). If I had been appointed, the first thing I would do is get an overview of what is currently going on in the organisation. Of course he may already have done that in preparation for his interview. Anyway, both out of interest and as a member, I've pulled together a rough overview of all the campaigns (mostly in CTC's own words) from the CTC's current website.

Continue reading CTC cycling campaigns »

Not split into pages. It's best viewed as a single page using the up and down arrows to navigate.

The weather is very bad for cycling, so I've been going through old cycle-touring photos of which I've literally thousands, and have picked some to present; I'll have something to say about many of them...

Continue reading Magnum Opus »

Well, that was the wettest April for more than 100 years. It's official. A bit back I fitted a DIY mudguard extension as a trial for next year's bad weather. Yesterday I was supposed to lead a group to Flamborough, but it was so wet, cold and windy that nobody ventured out for the start. Or maybe there were just avoiding me. So I have yet to test my mudguard in anger as it's been too, er, wet to try it out.

My carefully crafted DIY mudguard. MTB inner tube and electrician's adhesive tape

I had driven to the start just to show my face if necessary as I had no intention of riding yesterday. Actually, there were two cyclists at Cottingham Green from another club who were also planning to ride to the coast – Hornsea. I hope it was worth it.

Continue reading Rainy days and Mondays »