On Monday 24 May, I set out to ride the length of Wales off-road. It was to be fun; a test of kit for the Tour Divide; and a bit of a confidence-builder in respect of the big event. I largely followed the Sarn Helen route published by Mountain Bike Routes UK, but diverged to . . . → Read More: Conwy to Swansea In Pictures
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A single picture for now, but here’s my Swift: Sam sorted me out with this after the Voodoo died again and I needed something pronto to ride the Tour Divide. It’s light, fast, and lovely! . . . → Read More: Swift! Damn. I’m way behind. It’s August and I still haven’t put down everything that happened out in Alaska. That very fact has been stopping me from writing about all the other stuff that’s happened this summer. Maybe I’ll get there eventually. I’ve been on a CTC Mountain Bike Leader course, Emily’s swum the length of . . . → Read More: Iditarod 2009 Part 5 The checkpoint at Rohn is tiny. Just a wall-tent to hold as many racers as arrive at once. We were lucky enough to coincide with a few guys leaving, so Billy and I could get our sleeping bags down without having to head back outside – others were not always as fortunate. Getting to the . . . → Read More: Iditarod 2009 Part 4 Another big gap between instalments. In the unlikely event that anyone is holding their breath – sorry. I’ve been looking for a new job, enjoying the dusty trails and still ploughing around on the Pugsley. My normal bike is just about ready to go again, but there was one more outing for the Pug this . . . → Read More: Iditarod 2009 Part 3 It’s beautiful and sunny in England at the moment and, due to my lack of other working bikes, I’ve been bulldozering around on the Pug. It was the North Downs yesterday for dusty trails and the constant accompaniment of people’s muttered comments. Usually I’d be able to make out only a single word, “tyres”, in . . . → Read More: Iditarod 2009 Part 2 Wow, it’s been a month now since I set off on my big adventure. Time’s flown for various reasons but here it finally is: the first instalment of my Iditarod story… Alaska is an amazingly beautiful place – just looking at it from the window of the plane filled me with excitement and anticipation. . . . → Read More: Iditarod 2009 Part 1 It’s been ages since Iditarod, and I’m finally back onto bikes and blogging… The briefest possible story of my experience is that I finished in McGrath after 6 days 22 hours; it was spectacular and difficult; I’d love to do it again. Some of my photos are on Facebook. Bill Merchant’s video is here. . . . → Read More: Getting back on the horse Well, things are coming together for the race. My injured leg is hurting less (but still hurting – under ice at this very moment), my food is going to be there in time for me to pick it up, and the bike’s all packed for flying. Without using drops, I’m going to have to carry . . . → Read More: Music to get me pedalling again It was a couple of weeks ago now, but back on February 7, I went out to Imatra for the Finnish Winter Swimming Championships. It was a completely ridiculous distance to travel in order to swim two 25m races but I’d always wanted to go to Finland and their competition was the inspiration for Tooting . . . → Read More: Finnish Winter Swimming Champs |
