Cycle Touring Insurance

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In a perfect world, nothing ever goes wrong. Sadly, we don’t live in a perfect world, and in the real world, sometimes things do go wrong. This is where insurance comes into play. You? Or your bike? It’s really important to understand that you get two types of insurance: 1) Insurance that covers your bike ... Read more

Let me introduce you to the UK

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There are people who love to slag off the UK, pointing at miserable weather, bland food, and numerous sea-side resorts that are well past their sell-by date. Don’t listen to them! Sure, the UK does get a lot of rain, but that’s why it’s so lush, green and filled with rivers. If you think British ... Read more

How much more do you need?

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All your life, you were taught to be striving for more. More money, more respect and recognition, more achievements, and yes, more consumption. I’m not here to lecture you, but I want to ask you some pointed questions. No, you don’t have to share your answers with me, or anyone else, for that matter. However, ... Read more

An Older Cyclist

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MRI scans of the legs of a 74 year old sedentary man, and a 70yo triathlete.
There’s a reason why some of the rides I organise are called “Travelling Ouballie” rides. If you don’t know what an “ouballie” is, or how to pronounce it, I suggest you go read this post first, as it explains it all. The fact is time marches on relentlessly. We’re all getting older – you may ... Read more

Four Ferries & Freedom

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Remember all those holidays you had in Cornwall? Remember how stunning the county is? There’s a reason why around five million people flock to Cornwall each year! Green rolling hills, quaint seaside villages and stunning beaches are just some of the many attractions Cornwall offers. Your Cornish adventure This year, I’d like you to experience ... Read more

Competition – with a twist

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During my upcoming Irish Adventure, mostly following the Wild Atlantic Way, I’ll have the good fortune of meeting John Devoy, and spending time with him. In fact, we’ll do a short stint of cycling together. John has been on numerous adventures in his life, and he wrote book about his biggest adventure. He cycled from ... Read more

When there’s nothing left to say…

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Since January 2021, I’ve been churning out a LOT of content, usually posting two posts per week, and at times a lot more.That resulted in WillCycle having a great deal of content that I’m really proud of. Some things really resonated with visitors to the site. Some of those were expected: my Crash Card post ... Read more

Manifold Way Traffic-free Cycle Route

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Manifold Way cycle route overall rating: ⭐⭐⭐ Manifold Way gets its name from the River Manifold, and that in turn started out as “many folds”, referring to the many meanders. It is a trail built on a disused railway, the old Leek and Manifold Railway, and stretches 8.5 gorgeous miles between Hulme End and Waterhouses. ... Read more

I’ve seen your future drive-train: Enduo

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Enduo improved drive-train
The cycling industry is flooded with solutions looking for problems. This never-ending search for innovation seems driven not be any real need to make cycling better for you, but rather to ensure you keep upgrading your bikes, and buying new bikes. After all, if everyone rode the same bike for 20 years, new bike sales ... Read more

Cycling and weight loss

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Want to know the secret to losing weight instantly? Want weight loss without putting in the effort? Think you can keep indulging and lose weight? Want answers that suit your wants and needs? Well, in that case, you’re flat out of luck! With weight loss, just as with building fitness, there is no magic cure. ... Read more

River Wey Navigation traffic-free cycle route

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Wey Navigation
River Wey Navigation cycle route overall rating: ⭐⭐ The River Way Navigation links the Thames Path with Guildford, on a mainly traffic-free route. Most of the route is on the towpath, and towpath cycling can be tricky in places. Especially after rain, and in mid-winter, most towpath routes can be very challenging. However, while a ... Read more

Why YOU need to limit YOUR travel

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Climate change is real There’s no escaping the absolute truth that climate change is real, caused by humans, and accelerating. Equally, there’s no escaping the reality that each and every one of us are contributing to climate change. Yes, even you (and definitely me). You do you and I do me Generally, I’m happy for ... Read more

Wild Atlantic Way series – Sustainable cycle touring

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The Wild Atlantic Way
This posts focuses on trying to find the most sustainable, least harmful way of getting to the start of my Wild Atlantic Way cycling adventure. Man-made climate change is real and undeniable. Only cranks and shills disagree with the astounding amount of verifiable scientific evidence. I’m very aware of my personal CO2 footprint, and am ... Read more

What they don’t tell you about cycle touring

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cycle touring
Cycle touring is growing in popularity, and for good reason. After all, it remains the very best way to explore a landscape. In fact, Ernest Hemmingway put it best, when he said: “It is by riding a bicycle that you learn the contours of a country best, since you have to sweat up the hills ... Read more

Reivers Route – UK Coast To Coast Routes

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Reivers Route
164 miles – Workington to Tynemouth The Reivers Route gets it’s name from the gangs of marauders that used to roam the border between England and Scotland for several centuries. At 164 miles, it’s not a short route. More importantly, it passes through some of the most isolated and sparsely-populated parts of England. In simple ... Read more

C2C – UK Coast to Coast Routes

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The C2C starting point, in Whitehaven
137 miles, Whitehaven to Sunderland C2C is the original coast to coast route, and is the UK’s most-popular long-distance cycle route. The name is actually not short for coast to coast, but rather sea to sea – it runs from the Irish Sea to the North Sea (or vice versa). Of all the coast to ... Read more

The unpleasant side of cycling

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Social media is awash with people telling anyone who’d listen about how good cycling is for you, for your physical and mental health, for society and for the wider world. There might be a million blog posts waxing lyrical about wonderful cycling is. Marketing types add to all this, and fill your timelines with bicycle ... Read more

Kit Review: Chilli-Tech Mk II Bullet Cam

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Overall rating: ⭐⭐⭐ I recently purchased two Chilli-Tech Mk II Bullet helmet cameras – one for me and one for my youngest daughter. For a few years I’ve been riding with a VTIN camera, and I’m quite happy with that, except for battery life. The Chilli-Tech Mk II has a battery life of roughly 4.5 ... Read more

It’s ALL about the journey

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Hurry, hurry! Rush! C’mon, we need to move! But… do we? Do you? Rush hour If ever there was a ridiculous concept, it’s rush hour: millions of people going far slower than normal, precisely because they’re all in such a hurry! Most of us don’t have much a realistic choice for never getting caught up ... Read more

Kit Review: TyreKey Narrow

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I previously reviewed the TyreKey – a complete rethink on the humble tyre lever. For those of you who didn’t read that review, the TyreKey is a great bit of kit. When see that it looks like, you will instantly understand where it got the name from: it looks a bit like an oversized key. ... Read more