Drake’s Trail is part of NCN 27, and the Devon Coast-To-Coast trail, and links Yelverton with Tavistock. Overall it is a gorgeous cycle path, even though much of the surface isn’t tarred, and it forms a natural extension to the Plym Valley cycle path that links Plymouth with Yelverton. As such, it means there is an ... Read more

I’ve read all sorts of opinions about cycling ranging from “Cyclists are vehicles and we should cycle on the road as equals” to “No – we should have separate infrastructure!” and almost everything in between. I’ll start by admitting that I don’t have the answers to solving this dilemma, but I’ve stumbled across a few ... Read more

I was a teenager in the 80’s. Aside from producing REALLY cool music and REALLY naff hairstyles, the 80’s also invented the Yuppie, and the world has never been the same since! One phrase probably describes the 80’s better than any other: Greed is good. And therein lies the problem – all of a sudden ... Read more

I obtained a set of panniers from Lidl some time ago, and I’ve been using it virtually daily. Commuting to work means I carry a change of clothes, my lunch, bike lock, battery for my bike’s headlight, toolkit and whatever else I may need, all in the panniers. The panniers are made by Crivit, and ... Read more

Cycling up Tothill avenue the other day I was pleasantly surprised by something. For those not from Plymouth, starting off from Cattedown roundabout it is quite flat, but then there is a longish hill in the form of Tothill avenue, continuing onto Greenbank avenue. The road isn’t very wide at all, certainly not wide enough for ... Read more

I was cycling down Mutley Plain last Thursday, at around 17h30, merrily minding my own business while pacing the speed of the slowish traffic.Approaching the junction where traffic can turn off to Ford Park road, I was in the left lane. The right lane was choked with traffic wanting to turn. Oh, and one VERY ... Read more

Somebody came up with a VERY good campaign – one of those great ideas that everybody else failed to think of, but afterwards felt that anybody could have thought of it. Great ideas normally make people feel like that. Anyway, if you only do ONE positive thing for cycling, for the environment, for yourself this ... Read more

I hate colds! When you have a cold, you’re not proper unwell. Instead, you usually end up with a stuffy, runny nose, a few sneezes and some coughing, but generally speaking you’re only unwell enough to be annoyed by it, yet not enough to even be able to feel sorry for yourself. This past week ... Read more

I’ve posted before about a bike light I had made, following an idea I saw on Instructables.com. In short, it is using an old Nokia phone to power a 50-odd LED cheap lamp. It worked quite well, and gave around 4 hours of light on a full charge. The trouble was that despite having 50-odd cheap LED’s, ... Read more

I’ll be upfront with you – I have almost no faith in the government. And no, this is well above that stupid my-daddy-is-bigger-than-your-daddy party-political system we have in the UK.I guess what I should say is I have almost no faith in the previous, current or future government of the UK, even though that sounds ... Read more

I’m a geek, no escaping that fact. Even worse, I’m proud to be a geek. It is for that reason that I work in IT, and the same reason explains my love of gadgets. Like my phone – I use two phones, an HTC Athena, which has a massive 5″ screen and a hardware keyboard, ... Read more

I went cycling today, with the aim of cycling along Drake’s Trail. For those of you not from these parts, Drake’s Trail (combined with the Plym Valley cycle path) is an attempt by Devon County Council to get a decent cycle track linking Tavistock and Plymouth, via Yelverton. Currently there is a seriously iffy bit ... Read more

I’m quite upfront about this – I don’t like paying for things when I don’t absolutely need to, and when I do pay I prefer to get absolute value for money. That doesn’t necessarily mean buying the cheapest item (although I often do) but rather buying the item that I believe to offer the best ... Read more

Pro cycling has again been hit with doping scandals, just as there is still an ongoing investigation against Lance Armstrong.In this instance Contador may or may not actually be guilty, but the truth is it doesn’t matter one way or the other as the damage has been done. It’s a bit like police mistakenly breaking ... Read more

During last night’s cycle ride my normal route was a tad disrupted. I normally cycle down The Ride towards Saltram, before following NCN route 27 through Saltram House’s grounds. The Ride is a cul-de-sac for cars, but cyclists can continue through Saltram. Halfway down The Ride there were many vehicles, most with flashing blue lights. ... Read more