It’s that time of year again where my birthday comes around. To be honest, I’ve never really made much of a song and dance about my birthday, nor have I expected or really even wanted others to do so. After all, it isn’t like an analogue counter that suddenly clicks forward by one unit of … Read more
Quite some time ago I was playing around with maps, looking to see if there was a half-decent route along rural lanes that I could take to avoid cycling on the rather unpleasant and busy A379. The route I found led me up a very nasty little lane, potholed, half overgrown and debris strewn. As … Read more
OK, I’ve gone and done it! I’ve signed up to do the 107-miles route of the Dartmoor Classic. In case you didn’t know, the Dartmoor Classic is a sportive. Officially, that means it’s not a race, but rather just a bike ride during which almost everybody* tries to finish first. Which, you’ll have to admit, … Read more
I’m a cycling commuter and my commute is 12 miles each way, unless I take the long way round. This means I typically do around 120 miles per week just cycling to work and back. I have some rather steep hills on my commute and all truth be told, there are days when I really … Read more
Back in January 2013 I got a new B’Twin Triban 3 road bike. I’ll not bore you with the build-up into buying this particular bike, though I will point out that I was swayed above all else by four factors:1) My friend Simon had one and he was very happy with it2) I found several … Read more
Just to pre-warn you, this post deals more with getting to and from the Tour of Britain than the event itself. Last year (2012) I cycled out to Merrivale with my friend Simon and his wife, to go see the Tour of Britain. Merrivale is a hill between Princetown and Tavistock, on Dartmoor, and is … Read more
Sadly I’ve blogged quite a number of times about how Plymouth City Council got things wrong when it comes to cycling. As an organisation, I believe they are institutionally anti-cycling and that belief still holds true. Except perhaps not as strongly as before. No, I’m not being blackmailed, bribed or otherwise coerced by Plymouth City … Read more
No, I didn’t mis-spell the title of this post. Darkmoor is the name of a new ride I’m organising. I’ve been inspired by the Dunwich Dynamo, which starts off in London and participants ride through the night to get to Dunwhich by dawn. I’ve been wanting to do the Dunwich Dynamo for some time now, … Read more
Recently I blogged about the new path linking the villages of Yealmpton & Brixton and I pointed out the positives of such a path. Before it was built, walking between the two villages was a nighmare, despite them being only a shortish distance apart. This is because you would either have had to walk on … Read more
There are some milestones in a cyclist’s life that, while of absolutely no importance to anybody else, nevertheless can be looked upon as something special by the cyclist that accomplished them.One such milestone is a Century ride, or put more simply, to cycle 100 miles or more pretty much in one go. Now some people … Read more
Dear Tudor Evans, On Monday, 22 July 2013, while cycling along Billacombe Road in the late afternoon, I found the cycle lane was blocked by roadworks warning signs, as you can see in the photo below: I tweeted @PlymouthCC the photo, asking why the signs were placed in such a manner that they completely blocked … Read more
If you were in the middle of Plymouth and wanted to cycle to the eastern edge of the city, chances are you’ll find yourself cycling along Billacombe Road. Now Billacombe Road is a bit of an enigma – it was built as a dual carriageway but at some point in the past one lane has … Read more
There’s a brand-new cycle path being built alongside the busy, but narrow A379, between the two villages of Brixton and Yealmpton, just to the East of Plymouth. This takes in part of my commute, and especially lately I’ve had a great many close overtakes at speed along that road. Being in Devon, the road is … Read more
Liskeard Station I regularly need to travel to Truro, Liskeard, Bristol or Newquay for work. Seeing as I’ve sold my car and my bicycle’s my main form of transport, this means I take the train often and I typically take my bike on the train. From Plymouth, effectively the greatest majority of trains will be … Read more
There’s an old saying (that I’ve used on here before) that goes like this: If you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you always got. This is an absolute truth in so many different aspects of life, with cycling advocacy somewhere near the top. See, for years, decades even, cycling advocacy has taken … Read more
Some time ago I posted about some really iffy road “features” put in place in Devonport, Plymouth.Basically, the roads have many cobbled strips inserted that span the full width of the carriageway. The gap between the cobbles is in places well over an two inches, and in places perhaps of that depth, too. This doesn’t show … Read more
In Devonport, Plymouth, I recently came across this sign: This is on the corner of New Passage Hill and St Aubyn Road and clearly shows the route to be signed as NCN27. Now NCN27 is the Devon Coast to Coast route that runs between Ilfracombe and Plymouth, but that ends at Millbay Docks in Plymouth, … Read more
I love Cornwall. It is a simply gorgeous county with stunning scenery and friendly people. Cornwall is home to the Camel Trail, and has many more traffic-free cycling routes. There is a downside to Cornwall (aside from the roads that don’t skirt hills, but instead perform a full frontal attack, up-and-over, every time) and that … Read more
The title of this post may seem harsh, but it is nonetheless a fair and accurate description of the reality cyclists find themselves in. This taxi driver came too close to CycleGaz Spend five minutes talking to any cyclist that regularly rides on the road and chances are they’ll tell you about near-misses and other run-ins they’ve … Read more
Since getting my new bike I haven’t ridden my hybrid even once. This isn’t because I don’t like it, but rather because it actually needs quite a bit of work. My hybrid, aka The Trusty Steed So this had me thinking – perhaps I should rebuild it completely. It’s a Raleigh Pioneer, strong enough to … Read more