Big Skies Bike Rides is the name given to eight cycle loop rides 'launched' in 2010. They take their name from the phrase used by David Hockney when he compared the sky over the Yorkshire Wolds to 'the big sky' he experienced in the American West. This 23.5-mile route starts in Bridlington and passes through [...]
Read all of Big Skies Bike Rides: Bempton Cliffs and Rudston from Bridlington »
Well, OK, that might be a bit optimistic but days are now officially getting longer and on a mild day like today it feels like the start of spring. I've never understood why people celebrate the summer solstice, its really the start of winter. The winter solstice is the magical time, the promise that the [...]
Read all of The First Day of Spring! »
Local bikes mock Brown Bike's smallest chainring. "What use is that?" they say. "We live in SW Cambs, not Switzerland." BB politely replies to these local bikes, which are mostly MTBs (and BB is a tremendous snob), that he does sometimes venture to the badlands of the north. Besides, teeny-tiny bottom gears are sometimes handy, [...]
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I've never ridden a sportive. I followed behind one once, entered it with a friend the following year, but then chickened out when she couldn't go. The Wiggle Wight Winter sportive is the first such event to take place wholly on the island and I was initially keen to enter it. However the doubts soon [...]
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Wednesday's ride was the last mainland outing for the Autumn Tints until next spring. Unusually it meant returning to the island from a different ferry port than we left. I'd had thoughts of doing this ride myself in the summer as I liked the idea of using 5 different ferries. I was, however, put off [...]
Read all of The Great Circle Ride »
Following the Bracken trail (and the pattern of the day) the other chaps pull away in to the fog Today's ride was a struggle. It's been three weeks since my last ride and a week since the Bailey household succumbed to the nursery germs that James brought home with him. Still, I'm glad I got [...]
Read all of If it's Sunday it must be Fridaythorpe »
Ruby Bike was feeling somewhat neglected. Possibly because I had been neglecting her. Autumn weather, and I really needed to kit her out properly, all the usual excuses. She overheard today's weather forecast: a bit of sun might break through the thick blanket of cloud. That's me, she said, I'm the summer bike, right? But [...]
Read all of Ruby's drug run »
"I went for a bike ride in the Yorkshire Wolds," I say. "Where's that?" they ask. "East of York." The Lincolnshire Wolds are north east of Lincoln, south from Hull, and although this part of the country is separated from the Yorkshire Wolds by the city of Hull and the Humber estuary, it is similarly [...]
Read all of A bike ride in the (other) Wolds »
Mainland rides are like buses – none for ages then 3 come along! Dennis went to a meeting near Newbury on Saturday so I siezed the chance to get a lift with him and ride somewhere different. The weather gods have been exceptionally kind to me lately and it was a glorious autumn morning as [...]
Read all of Romsey to Burghclere, a short ride in chocolate box England »
This is the fourth time that I've ridden the Gridiron 100k in the New Forest. It makes a splendid day's ride from the Isle of Wight and the ride to and from the ferry takes it over the hundred mile mark. Typical New Forest cycling
Read all of Gridiron 2011 »
Thanksgiving is a North American holiday, supposedly celebrating the generosity of the native Indians when the original pilgrims were starving during their first winter on this continent. I read recently that, in fact, it was declared a national holiday in the U.S. by Abraham Lincoln to celebrate recent Union victories over the Confederates after three [...]
Read all of Thanksgiving 2011 – The Haliburton Loop »
Big Skies Bike Rides is the name given to eight cycle loop rides 'launched' in 2010. They take their name from the phrase used by David Hockney when he compared the sky over the Yorkshire Wolds to 'the big sky' he experienced in the American West. This 21.5-mile route starts in Malton/Norton and passes through [...]
Read all of Big Skies Bike Rides: Thixendale from Malton or Norton on Derwent »
Nothing much to report here, except on this, surely the last sweltering weekend of 2011 in my part of northern England, I dragged myself around a route that gave me what is certainly my last 100-miler of the year. Like many of my rides across the Humber I had little idea where I was on [...]
Read all of A south bank century: a mystery ride to Misterton »
I spend a lot of time cycling along the south coast of the Isle of Wight. On a really clear day you can make out the hotels along the seafront at Bournemouth and the distant outline of the Purbeck Hills beyond. I've often fancied cycling to this distant vista but I've always been put off [...]
Read all of Cycling to Corfe Castle »
I have this idea to ride on every road in Cornwall. Obviously, it's a stupid and pointless idea, but I can reasonably do it if I just take the all the main roads, all the B roads, and the main unclassified roads. I landed on this plan a few years ago whilst mowing the grass [...]
Read all of Redruth 70 – an adventure! »
The sun fought to burn through the pinky-purple haze when Brown Bike and I set off at 7am this morning. We avoid travelling before 9am because we are not keen on commuters. They know these country lanes forwards and backwards (but mostly not sideways). They know the exact speed they can take each corner, and [...]
Read all of Balmy in Biggleswade »
Despite its dangers, and they are real, there are several major pleasures you can get from cycling. There is the buzz you get from a good but not excessive workout, there is the sensual pleasure of a warming sun on your bones and the wind in your face, there is the thrill of going around [...]
Read all of A Count Enchancer »
The weather has been awful and unreliable for WEEKS. Although I've been able to get out cycling every now and again, I've been champing at the bit to get out for a real ride. Usually, I do a circuit of anywhere between 15 miles and 75 miles, but I'm running short of ideas. I fancied [...]
Read all of Cycling to Exeter and back »
The regulars in our little B group have been absent lately for various reasons. But I have had a pass out on four consecutive weekends so I have made the most of each of them. Last Sunday two riders, who were new to our group the previous week, came back for a ride across the [...]
Read all of Coffee in Caistor and tea in Tealby: a cycle ride in the Lincolnshire Wolds »
Its time I upgraded my Audax riding, and none better than including it with a local Sportive – The Isle of Man Lighthouse Challenge, organised by Isle of Man Cycling. Route of my 200km, together with the coastal route followed by the Isle of Man Lighthouse Challenge Sportive.
Read all of Isle of Man Lighthouse Challenge 2011 and an Audax 200km »
Earlier this week I made an overdue car journey across to the other side of the Pennines and met up with another CycleSeven blogger, Patrick, for a ride around the West Pennine Moors (map of the Moors) . It was a Lancashire ride that had everything I could offer in my part of Yorkshire – [...]
Read all of A cycle loop of the West Pennine Moors »
Brown Bike has returned from holiday and is back at work running errands. We had planned on a trip to Cambridge for yesterday, but the forcast was for rain, rain, possibly thunderstorms and more rain. We had enough of that on holiday, so we put it off for a day. (As it turned out, we [...]
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On the way home beside the road between Burnby and Londesborough Diary entry: Mrs Bailey was visiting a friend today so I stretched a pass out and sneaked in a 60-mile ride to Pocklington. The last time I rode there I got a lift back from Patrick after the loop we rode that day. I [...]
Read all of A cycle ride to Pocklington »
This is an article taken from the first issue of 'The Bicycle' published on February 25th 1936. Before we go any further I'd like to make it very clear that this is not a suggestion for the next CycleSeven get together! Today the Corrieyairack Pass is rated as a serious MTB expedition due to the [...]
Read all of The Ghost of a Highland Road »
Big Skies Bike Rides is the name given to eight cycle loop rides 'launched' in 2010. They take their name from the phrase used by David Hockney when he compared the sky over the Yorkshire Wolds to 'the big sky' he experienced in the American West. This 17.5-mile route starts in Sledmere and passes through [...]
Read all of Big Skies Bike Rides: Sledmere Country from Sledmere »
When Winifred Holtby wrote her novel “South Riding” – it was published a year after her death in the 1930s – she set it in a fictional part of Yorkshire, although there were thinly veiled references to real places and people in the East Riding of Yorkshire. (I wanted to believe the stories I thought [...]
Read all of A West Riding hiding, or a Yorkshire Dales century ride over two days »
Cairns Fell from near Scotforth Heights Diary entry: my cousin Mike and I went for a spin yesterday from his house in Lancaster. Most enjoyable. We cycled east into Wyresdale then south along the road that skirts round the side of Harris End Fell, and came back north round Nicky Nook through some very pleasant [...]
Read all of A quick bike ride into Wyresdale and round Nicky Nook back to Lancaster »
A weekend cycle tour in the Yorkshire Dales as originally described in The Cyclist magazine by L.G. Fothergill in 1937 became a one-day ride when CycleSeven met each other for the first time and cycled the route in July 2011. We were joined by my cousin Mike, and Dan Baritono from the CTC Forums.
Read all of Cycling in the Yorkshire Dales: a 100 mile bike ride (with some pushing) »
Cycling in the Yorkshire Wolds: a break in the rain Another ride in the Yorkshire Wolds with Chris, this time starting at *Waitrose car park close to the Humber Bridge (easily accessible on the M62). An excellent route just short of 60 miles, we hadn't been sure whether to cycle it on the Saturday or [...]
Read all of Cycling a wet Willerby loop via Huggate »
I recently acquired a book 'Adventure Cycling', published in 1959. According to its author, Ronald English, 'The cyclist who has never.....been up before the break of day has some exciting experiences in store; for, sooner or later, he will have to beat the sun and see those first streaks across the sky. The coolest part [...]
Read all of The Early Bird »
I've been fooled before by aerial photographs, so I pedalled off to check that the A1(M) north of Huntingdon really does still have the adjacent old road, and that it is usable as far as Sawtry. It's an important part of my trip north and I wouldn't want to backtrack so early. I also wanted [...]
Read all of "History is now and England" »
I'm enjoying my hybrid bike much more than I thought I would when I bought it last August. It was intended to be a winter bike but it's now a summer bike as well. I can appreciate the roadie's satisfaction in riding skinny tyres on a good surface – the efficiency and speed of a [...]
Read all of Advantage: Hybrid »
It rained a little yesterday morning but the forecast was dodgy, so I waited until today which was sunny and warm when we set off at 10am. I decided to get to the supermarket the long way round, along country lanes. Then I decided it was so nice I would go a very long way [...]
Read all of A Late Longest-Day Ride »
What is the perfect environment for leisure cycling? If a cyclist was free to create a landscape purely for the pleasure of riding a bike, what would it be? My list:
Read all of Perfect cycling »
Big Skies Bike Rides is the name given to eight cycle loop rides 'launched' in 2010. They take their name from the phrase used by David Hockney when he compared the sky over the Yorkshire Wolds to 'the big sky' he experienced in the American West. This 21.1-mile route starts in Hunmanby and passes through [...]
Read all of Big Skies Bike Rides: Great Wold Valley from Hunmanby »
It was drizzling slightly with a cool, blustery wind as I cycled to the ferry terminal at Ryde to join the Autumn Tints for their latest mainland ride. I always used to walk along Ryde pier as the planks were just far enough apart to swallow a bike wheel. This was the first time I'd [...]
Read all of Hayling Island and the Bat and Ball »
Spring weather has been awful – bone chilling cold, rain, wet snow, cloud, winds – you name it, we’ve had it. As the sign at the local cinema says, “Where in Hell is Spring?” We decided to take last week off and ride. The original plan was to go to Virginia (where we rode in [...]
Read all of Spring 2011 – Haliburton Highlands »
The weather was kind for this year's randonnee – warm and sunny but with a stiff breeze. We expected large numbers of cyclists and we were not disappointed. 2089 people took part with the vast majority riding the 100k route and only 257 opting for the 55k circuit. Full details of the event can be [...]
Read all of Isle of Wight Randonnee 2011 »
Brown Bike disapproved of my brilliant idea of strapping bananas to his rack. As we whizzed down Madingley Hill into Cambridge, he dropped them into his rear wheel, chewed them up and spat them out. We were joining the Cambridge Cycling Campaign and Cycle Cambridge ride to Reach Fair. It was a decent turnout, perhaps [...]
Read all of A Noisy Ride to Reach »
Two Bank Holidays bolted each side of a weekend, not the tandem Boris gave Wills and Kate as a wedding present. Four days of unbroken sunshine and, it has to be said, a national feelgood factor in the air. Plus smoke.
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The (proposed*) Yorkshire Wolds Cycle Route is a loop of more than 140 miles including two off-road sections that can be avoided fairly easily if required. There seems to be no specific start to the well-planned route developed by ‘Visit Hull & East Yorkshire’, but we completed this course as a one-day ride in a [...]
Read all of Yorkshire Wolds Cycle Route: a one-day ride »
The Tints mainland ride this month was to the New Forest. Great! Straight off the ferry and into beautiful countryside. No city centres to work your way out of, just miles of quiet lanes, bliss! I happily cycled the familiar 20 miles to the ferry at Yarmouth on a beautiful sunny morning that promised to [...]
Read all of Boldly to go, where no sane cyclist has gone before »
Boxers hang up their gloves, footballers their boots and tennis players their racquets. What do cyclists hang up? Their bikes? Their wheels? My wheels are coming off the bike to be taken back to their builder to be trued. I've done a few hundred miles on them so they are ready for a bit of [...]
Read all of A heavyweight hangs up his… wheels? »
I have no experience of group riding and how this works alongside motorists. I work out theories of how to do this but wanted to see how it actually works. So I went out with a CTC Senior Cyclists' Group. At 53 I may not be particularly "senior" but nor am I massively fit. Starting [...]
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'South to meet the Spring' is the title of an article on the Isle of Wight that appeared in the CTC Gazette in February 1958. The article was illustrated with sketches by Frank Patterson from an earlier era. On a day more like summer than spring, I cycled to the places mentioned to see what, [...]
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Dancing with the Traffic. Great expression for describing riding in the city! I can’t claim the rights on the saying as it was told to me by a biker-lady we know. She rides a Suzuki Bandit with a huge 1200cc engine. There’s nothing of her, so how she handles all that power is beyond me! [...]
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The Tints, or to give them their full title, The Autumn Tints Over 50s Cycling Comrades have 6 sections in the north of England and one on the Isle of Wight. Founded by 'Owd Tom' Hughes in 1924 membership is open to anyone over 50 and so, as I reached this sorry milestone last year, [...]
Read all of To the Test with the Tints »
Big Skies Bike Rides is the name given to eight cycle loop rides 'launched' in 2010. They take their name from the phrase used by David Hockney when he compared the sky over the Yorkshire Wolds to 'the big sky' he experienced in the American West. This 24-mile route starts in the centre of Driffield [...]
Read all of Big Skies Bike Rides: Burton Agnes and Kilham from Driffield »
I'm a day late celebrating the equinox but I've had toothache. It started when the dentist fixed a problem I didn't know I had, and this became infected. Up, down, left, right, you name it. Sorry, too much detail. Instead of an antibiotic, I'm on an antimicrobial. Is that a different name for the same [...]
Read all of An Equinox Ride »
Finally spring is getting under way here on the Isle of Man. The sun had his hat on for the Saturday Scone run. So long as Jack Frost stayed in bed, I was bringing out the Hetchins for her first ride of 2011. She was purchased last April (Her birthday is 10th April 2010) and [...]
Read all of Hetchins, Scones and Audaxing… »
CycleSeven 2009-2012
