cycling
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Tour de France Sojourn Day 2
The best thing about camping is being gently woken by the dawn chorus. The worst thing about camping is the dawn chorus starting at 5 a.m. And thus starts another long day. A few hours later I am diverted by the first of many Route Barrée signs in Abbeville. I follow the trail of yellow…
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Tour de France Sojourn Day 1
I rattle and rumble down the ferry gangway into early morning France. It’s around 5am and I’ve not had anywhere near enough sleep. Out of the port and it’s left up the first hill of the day. An old woman shouts “ALLEZ!” from a high, unshuttered window. Light seeps into the sky, I can see…
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AAA Milne (Brevet des Grimpeurs du Sud ride #5)
Yesterday I completed my series of Brevet Des Grimpeurs Du Sud audax with the AAA Milne. To get the badge you need to complete five 100km or more audax in the south east (Kent, Sussex, Surrey, Hampshire) which have AAA points. The AAA points are Audax UK climbing points and rides only qualify if they…
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Bike Belle
Day 1: http://www.strava.com/activities/300629658 Day 2: http://www.strava.com/activities/300883823 then a train across London and http://www.strava.com/activities/301194258
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Hometown Woods
Army barracks and the sound of gun fire. No red flags, it should be OK. My first ever race. Why would I start racing at my age. Idiot. Please let the rain stop. The terrain and smell of damp pine takes me back. I revert to a 13 year old kid on a BMX hacking…
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One Way Ticket
One way ticket, only one way home. A flat before I’ve even started. A lap of Cambridge looking for an open bike shop to borrow a track pump. Saving that gas canister for emergencies in the middle of nowhere. Really must buy a decent mini pump. Buy an extra gas canister. The fear of not…
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Tour of Flanders Weekender Day 2 – Ping!
A special kind of cold and damp, and then a spoke snapping at the bottom of the Koppenberg ends my day after 65km. Except for the 25km trudge along a dual carriageway into a headwind back to the hotel.
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Tour of Flanders Weekender Day 1 – The Accidental 100km Recce Ride
“How far is the Muur?” “About 8km” “Cool, let’s go!” It wasn’t 8km…
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The Reliable
It’s Wednesday lunchtime and I’m strolling to the Post Office with an envelope full of brevet cards and receipts. It seems a bit anachronistic in these days of gps recording and email but it feels like the proper way to prove that we completed our first permanent audax the previous Sunday. The audax in question…
the man from icon 