dieppe – the man from icon

Randonneur Round the Water Tower

About a decade ago I stumbled across the cycling world of audax. Long distance endurance riding that was described to me as “…like fast touring”. The word audax intrigued me, […]

audax

two

The niggling anxiety of riding in the dark a long way from home knowing daylight is hours away countered by the comfort of familiarity with the hidden landscape, an invisible […]

france

Sarthe, then north again*

Glancing up from my Kindle I see it is raining heavily outside. This wasn’t on the forecast I looked at late last night as we left Newhaven so I’m glad […]

france

It’s Been a While

My elbows nudge into the hoods and my head hangs over my front wheel. I haven’t ridden in this kind of heat since southern Europe on last year’s Transcontinental. I’m […]

france

Somme Friendly

After one of the recent Normandie trips Claire mentioned she was interested in riding over there sometime. A few minutes later a weekend was pencilled in and an email sent […]

randonneur

Seven Tractors

Almost-silence hangs in the mist. The only sounds are bird song and the gentle whirring of block and chain. The valley sides are obscured by layers of tracing paper haze. […]

cycling

24 Hour Partir People

I can see the sea from the front door so heading south on the bike is not possible. I can choose any combination of east, west, north, but nothing to […]

france

Newhaven – Welcome to England

Rolling off the ferry at Newhaven it’s lashing down, absolute stair-rods. I get to the train station only to discover there are no trains this weekend. It may be the […]

cycling

Road to Rouen

I was invited by the nice people over at Victor and Liberty to write something for their blog. They asked a couple of weeks before I had a day trip […]

cycling

Tour de France Sojourn Day 4

Headwind. Headwind. Headwind. Three hour nap on a ferry. Headwind.

cycling

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 […]

Uncategorized

Diary of a Novice Randonneur, pt.7 – Tour des Trois Vallees

The sky overhead is crashing and sparking setting off car […]