Cycling has many great stories of sacrifice. – 1951 Tour de France, the Dutch cyclist Wim van Est was wearing the yellow jersey when he punctured and got dropped. Trying to frantically catch up on the stage leaders, he mistimed a bend and plunged off a ravine on the descent of the Col d’Aubisque. […]

I was interested in this article in The Times about the Muslim Ladies Cycling Club. It tells how, despite opposition from some of their own community leaders, Muslim women were enjoying the opportunity to learn how to cycle in London, giving a new sense of freedom. An early pioneer on the bicycle. It reminded me […]

I have known many cyclists who, after a long break from cyclists, get drawn back into the sport. Sometimes the gap is a few years, sometimes it can be even a few decades. But, there is a mysterious pull for many former cyclists to get back into cycling. See: Coming back to cycling after long […]

Often when cycling you end up repeating very similar training / cycling patterns. But, every year, you can learn something new. These are a few of the things that have helped over past 12 months. 1. Physio Therapy Works. In March / April I had six weeks off with knee injury. A sports physio seemed […]

Firstly, apologies to my cycling newsletter subscribers. I manage two websites (cycling and economicshelp.org). By mistake my cycling subscribers received a newsletter on economics  – so apologies if you were bemused to see a missive on debt default, balance sheet recessions and liquidity traps in your inbox  (and you thought cyclists were boring arguing about campagnolo […]

Car passing cyclist giving plenty of space. In the UK, the authorities often spend a lot of money on traffic calming measures. These range from speed humps to speed cameras and  a deliberate narrowing of the road. The idea is that obstacles in the road make motorists slow down and pay more attention. Often traffic […]