Great British Gravel Rides is the second recent ‘gravel routes’ book from Vertebrate publishing, this following hot on the heels of ‘Gravel Rides Scotland’. In some regards the layout is similar but that’s no bad thing because it works and you know what they say about things that aren’t broken. However, unlike the previous book, […]
The Tour Divide is something that many people dream of, yet only a relatively small handful ever make it to the start in Canada. Of those who do, not all will make it to the Mexican border and fewer still will do so in less than twenty days. To achieve that, takes fitness, mental fortitude […]
Me, I’m something of a soft luggage fan but I’m also not a zealot and I know that there are certain trade offs and even occasional niggles associated with it’s use. The dreaded (and I tend to generally think, often exaggerated) ‘saddle bag sway’ is one and another is the sometimes fraught relationship that exists […]
“He’s a bad influence!” was a common enough parental war-cry when I was growing up and it was often aimed squarely and usually quite unfairly, in my direction. I never considered myself a bad influence. In fact, I never considered that I might have any influence at all, I merely did what I did and […]
Aluminium, steel, carbon and titanium. There are a number of materials used to make handlebars and now you can add grass to that list. The ‘Gump’ bars from Passchier are made from bamboo and we all know that bamboo is a member of the grass family and not wood as some people believe – don’t […]
Whether you think ‘Gravel’ is (a) the new cycling religion, (b) an exercise in good marketing or (c) simply a way of making roadies feel better about themselves, matters not because no one can deny that gravel is now at the forefront of cycling and appears more popular today than it was last week … […]
Despite my best efforts, I’m sat here writing this surrounded by the intoxicating aroma of bacon butties. Why do I smell of grilled pork products? Because yesterday was the second edition of the 2021 BB200 / 300 and it’s my job to feed all those returning. Each October since 2011, a group of riders have […]
I’ve heard it said that nothing should be considered a sport if you can be beaten at it by a fat old man. Obviously, that rules out golf, darts and snooker but what about bikepacking? Should bikepacking ever be considered a sport? Even within the world of ITT things are rarely ‘that’ competitive and the […]
There are many reasons why someone might choose to fit dropped bars to their mountain bike. Some of those reasons are perhaps more valid than others but none are quite as valid as ‘because I want to’. However, knowing you want to is one thing but knowing you can is altogether different. Luckily, Surly have […]
Unless you possess a particularly weighty sleeping bag, then chances are, the heaviest single piece of kit carried on your bike, is your shelter. If you favour a proper, double skinned tent in which to rest your weary head, then it’s almost a certainty … unless of course, you have very deep pockets. For those […]