themanfromicon
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Diary of a Novice Randonneur, pt.4 – Fairies Flattest Possible 300
It’s some time between half six and seven a.m. and I’m sat in a village hall in Kent with a bacon sarnie and a cup of tea. We’re about 115km into my first 300km audax and I feel slightly dazed. There is me and my friend Caven who I am riding with. We should be…
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A Different Perspective
After a few weeks of standing on corners photographing local races, today I hitched a lift. full set of photos at https://www.flickr.com/photos/themanfromicon/sets/72157645533964992/
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Weekender
Last weekend was the opening of the Art Cities Landscape project in Amiens. As my friend Will Nash has work in this years show, and as he could carry my tent and sleeping bag in his campervan, it seemed daft not to dig out the panniers I’ve had since I was 16 and book a…
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24 hour party people
It’s 3.30 on Sunday afternoon and I’m driving east on the M4. Jo is asleep in the passenger seat and I’m hoping there are some services soon. I really really need a can of red bull. The last time I slept properly was Friday night… A few weeks before chance conversations with Jo Burt and…
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Diary of a Novice Randonneur, pt.3 – The Ditchling Devil
When I unload my bike out of the back of my mate Paul’s car outside the Windmill Cafe there are already a lot of cyclist milling about. As I thank Paul for the lift and saving me the long uphill drag from Hampton I spot Pete from Milltag. After a quick “Good morning” I grab…
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Standing on a corner watching all the cyclists go by
We wait. There are bikes leant against road signs and telegraph poles. The sun is low and shadows long. On the inside of the corner I’m fiddling with ISO and aperture settings. Across the corner a huddle of men in club jerseys and hi-vis clutch red flags and chat. There’s a handful of spectators, probably…
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The Longest Day
I have places names and road numbers scribbled on bits of paper in my pocket. Today is going to be the longest ride of the year so far. Looking at the forecast it’s probably the warmest too. Gilet and arm warmers are stripped off by the time I get to Lewes. It’s a long steady…
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Diary of a Novice Randonneur, pt.2 – Isle of Wight Randonnee
Well then, it was turning out to be a pretty rubbish start to the year of randonneuring. I failed to make the start line of a local audax in February, and then in April due to various reasons I didn’t even manage to get to the same county as my next planned audax. However I…
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The first (proper) century of the year
Sometime last year a guy called Justin commented on a photo I’d posted to Instagram. Something along the lines of “You ride so much! You need to contribute something to the website.” That statement is partially true. I do ride a fair bit but really I just take an inordinate amount of photographs. The website…
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Diary of a Novice Randonneur, pt.1
It didn’t go so well… The first audax planned for the year was the “Mad Jack’s – John Seviour Memorial”, a 125km audax with roughly 2500m of climbing in mid February. The ride is in “Mad Jack” country in the High Weald of Sussex around Brightling and Battle. Even though in my home county this…
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