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photo credit: byetman Remember those days when you were a kid and you used to pull wheelies, drop up and down the curb, and ride without hands when you were cycling? But what about now? On the Cycle Chat thread people were saying very much the same things.  And generally speaking most used to, but [...]

photo credit: Robert S. Donovan Up on the facebook page for British Cycling there has been an interesting exchange regards BSO, or bicycle shaped objects.  Basically these bikes are substandard cheap bikes, though I can’t really say substandard since the manufacturers claim otherwise.  Perhaps the materials aren’t but the way that they have been cared [...]

Want to ride a century?  Little time to train?  This cycling books aim is to give you pro-level training in less time than it takes to do your kids homework. Sort of. So what holds us normal humans back from riding 100 miles or more?  Fitness.  What do we need to do to improve fitness?  [...]

Do you really ever get anything for free?  Yes!  Watch the video, then if you want to know where to get the free bike chain check tool and stickers (for your kids…or you if you want) then just click the link below – by liking my facebook page I will give you all the details. [...]

When I first climbed onto a racing bike back in the 80’s and got my first pair of lycra shorts, bib shorts were the much more expensive alternative.  I don’t even think they came on the radar as alternatives, and the only time I saw people wearing one basically worked out as interestingly cut swimsuits [...]

Adventure cycling in all its different guises is on the radar for many cyclists.  Go out your backdoor and it’s an adventure: what will the weather throw at you?  Which route will you take?  As soon as you are able to cycle more than 20 miles – less in some areas – you will come [...]

Cycling is expensive.  I paid out £1200 for my Caad10, and then another £300 on shoes and stuff.  It’s the stuff which is expensive, comparatively. I didn’t really have much of a choice to be honest.  I’d lost so much weight losing weight cycling that I had to get something off the small peg to [...]

Like everyone else who has an ipod, I have a ridiculous number of apps sitting on my phone.  But the Bike Doctor App is one of the most useful. When the bike doctor ipod app first came out it was a little weak.  I liked it, but really it didn’t scratch where I was itching. [...]

I’ve been thinking about all the different posts that I’ve written in the last year or so, and decided to compile a short list of the posts that have been the most popular, either because of the number of visitors that the page has received, or tweets, or facebook likes, or a combination of these. [...]

You have to worry about other users when you are on a road bike, usually those who are rushing past you in their Beamers or cut up by Audis (you know who you are…and no, it’s not all of you!).  There are other dangers though, pedestrians with dogs, and in the countryside you often have [...]

I was out pounding the road tonight when I saw a suspicious yellow sign up near Inglewhite, Lancashire.  It helpfully read, as I sped past, that in just a couple of weeks or so on Monday 12th September the mighty peloton would be following a similar route for the Tour of Britain as it passes [...]

Part of the problem of cycling pains comes down to getting the right bike fitting, and a big part of that is getting the saddle height right.  And you have probably heard that you should be sat on the bike with your knee slightly bent at the bottom of the stroke.  But there is a [...]

In the past few weeks, it has been detailed that James Cracknell, the former two time Olympic rower is Surrey promoting a campaign to prevent  personal injury claim  among cyclists. Prior to an annual cycling race that is held between London and Surrey that is being held this week, James is working with both the [...]

I’ve been messing with some ideas recently in my head about what I could do to promote cycling around these ‘ere parts of Lancashire.  Cycling is pretty big round here, but there is the constant nag of bike theft and being knocked off.  More to the point, getting kids out on bikes. But I, yet [...]

It doesn’t have to cost the earth to get cycling, and second hand road bikes make a great deal of sense, as well as a great deal.  But ‘buyer beware’ is a good motto.  Like any consumable  product, bikes are subject to theft but it’s arguably harder to identify if they have been stolen than many [...]

When you look at the price of a bike, you’d be forgiven for thinking that it was all rather too expensive.  I have written about avoiding really cheap mountain bikes because of the cheap components that you will have to replace, and the dangers of them.  So you’d be looking at something around £400 upwards. [...]

I’ve been sporadic in posting these last few months.  Moving house, taking up my role as curate in a new church.  And riding my new Cannondale Caad10 aluminium frame. I took the plunge with an aluminium, after swearing that I would buy a carbon fibre road bike.  Those who read what I wrote know that [...]

I referred yesterday to my ambitious new Onix bikes purchase, and I intend to also get bicycle insurance. I have talked before about mountain bike insurance, and road bike insurance isn’t too much different.  But I decided that it would be well worth returning to the subject. I wrote about the issue with carbon frames, [...]

It’s been a while since I posted, but that’s because I have had to dig around to get some details on which is the best new bike to buy.  During the process I had to make the decision to increase my budget, swap between aluminium, carbon, steel, and finally back to carbon before finally making [...]

Moving up to Clitheroe I know that there is one big thing I have to face.  Actually there are a few big things. Hills. Show someone from Milton Keynes those hills and they’d probably think them mountains, but really they are just hills.  Honest.  So I wanted to shift my training rides for the next [...]

It’s great being known as someone who regularly writes about cycling on this blog, I’m getting a few of my friends now asking me how to do this and that. This is an answer for Sharron at college who asked me the other day about that plastic disc on the rear wheel, and how to [...]

You should know by now what my opinion is of cheap bikes – don’t bother! But over the weekend I went into our local Tesco superstore and outside were some interesting Muddy Fox mountain bikes.  And they were definitely in the cheap bicycles category!  They had been axed down in price to just £150, and [...]

How to buy a road bike part 1: the wheels It so happens that I am still looking at choosing a road bike.  More seriously than ever as it happens because I have some extra money which has come from an artwork commission, and the sad death of my grandfather, and I want to remember [...]

I was browsing through the search terms that people had used to arrive at my road bike cycling blog, when I came across this interesting query: how to do the right cycling cadence. It’s a good question.  I have mentioned frequently about the importance of cadence and losing weight,  even what that cadence should be [...]

I’m not quite sure what the point would be of oozing for ages over pumps reviews.  The technology is improving all the while, but there are still some basics that you need to get.  Nor am I going to do create a hundred different pages covering all the models – I would appreciate it if [...]

I’m not a mummy’s boy. Nope, not me. And it is very rare these days that my mum even dares tell me what to do. Bless her! But there is one thing that recently she has nagged me about as if I were still in short trousers, and I have to admit that I still [...]

In the UK we had this wonderful scheme called Cycling Proficiency, now it’s called Bikeability and it’s not just for kids these days. Being safe on the road is imperative, and since there seems to be some kind of vendetta between road bike cyclists and other road users it’s down to those of us on [...]

Thanks has to go to Phil for putting me on to this wonderful little tale that was reported on the BBC website. It’s such a wonderfully written piece that I don’t want to repeat too much here, but it will be fun to make some sort of comment.  Because I think that I am, indeed, [...]

Ok, so I’m having a rant here.  I shouldn’t rant on a blog, but I really did get hacked off tonight by the idiots that live in Preston.  OK, so not everyone is an idiot who lives here, in fact the vast majority are incredibly decent people, but two things happened tonight which just riled [...]

The following is a guest post by a professional lawyer and personal injury expert specialising in claims for injury compensation in the UK.  If you would like to make a guest post then please do get in contact! As an experienced cyclist I can talk for hours on the many near misses and bumps and [...]

Ok, now I know that this isn’t for everyone, and some readers are going to be jealous at what I am about to tell them.  But stick with it, because I will be suggesting a few ideas at the end of the article which makes what I am about to tell you accessible for more [...]

When you are choosing a road bike the first thing you need to consider really is what you want to use it for. For example, do you want to write it on your daily commute to work, or perhaps just go down the shops. Or perhaps you want to travel a certain distance (long rides [...]

A great way to enjoy the outdoors and improve your health is to get involved in road cycling, but there are some hidden dangers lurking away. Every year, there hundreds of car accidents which involves cyclists all over the world. If you don’t want to end up being a statistic, then wearing brightly colored cycling [...]

I have been doing more running than cycling recently because it fits better with my schedule at the moment – it takes me 30 minutes plus shower rather than one and a half hours, plus shower – and whilst I am not about to jack in the cycling completely, with the shorter days it’s just [...]

Even though the weather is turning grey and soggy and the nights are drawing in again,  it shouldn’t stop the riding.   The biggest problem isn’t so much the downpours, in my experience, since for some bizarre reason if there were just the rain my fee wouldn’t get wet.  Weird…I think it has something to do [...]

Part two of my post about mens cycling jerseys deals with the wonderfully exciting world of Giordana cycling jerseys.(note that this link takes you to the Giordana site where you can design your own kit, that I refer to later on…www.myteamgiordana.co.uk) Just bringing to mind the important points I made last time, any cycling jersey [...]

This is part 1 of a two part post about mens cycling jerseys. Being a bit of a noob I haven’t really had cause to buy many jerseys, and the last one I bought (days cycles) wore out a few years ago.  So when I decided that I wanted a new one it took only [...]

BikeNoob posted a very useful comment on cycling on wet roads, and asked if there was any way of keeping glasses – and by that I think we mean prescription glasses, clear in the rain. This is a problem.  Formula 1 drivers get by with special visors they can just pull off layer by layer, [...]

So far I have been leaning my bike up against a wall to do the maintenance.  And my bike has already been scratched on the bars and head by the whole ‘turn-it-upside-down’ thing when I need to rotate the cranks for chain work.  The funniest thing if you saw it is me and my 4 year [...]

Last night’s ride has shown that although technically warmer weather has arrived, it being May and all, ‘ne’er cast a clout till May is out’ still holds true. (that is, don’t take off your thermals till June!) And I wish that I had worn my new bike jacket! This post looks at the features any [...]

There comes a time when those old road bike cycling Lycra shorts need replacing. And my ones I bought 20 years ago from Days cycle shop in Enfield are just about losing their elastic properties from the Lycra and not quite tight enough around the waist anymore. Whether or not I will ever get such [...]