mountains
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Ride ‘zines
Recently I’ve made a handful of ‘zines based on bike rides over the years. The Picos and Nyhavn first appeared on this blog but I’ve edited or re-written the text extensively. All of them are A6 folded booklets that unfold to A3 with maps, photos and/or words on the reverse side. Full colour digital print…
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eleven
Fuzzy felt cones, perfect triangles. How I would have drawn a mountain as a kid. Ancient volcano cores, rock millions of years old. This year of rides is nothing but a blink, a flash in comparison. Sun beats, kites soar, lizards scamper. Sixteen hundred metres. Bright red Coca-cola parasols fold inside out in the wind.…
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Tour de France dairies 2022
Twenty one bends. Any space that a camper fits is filled, many German, French and Belgians camped out, Dutch corner banging out euro pop at 9.30am, thirty six hours before the tour hits. Beers cooling in streams. A corner festooned in Norwegian flags quiet on the way up but will be belting out AC/ DC…
alpe d'huez, alpine, alps, ardeche, ascent, auvergne, bicycle, bicycle tour, big ride, bike packing, bike touring, bikepacking, cantal, credit card bikepacking, cycle touring, cycling, france, fuck brexit, landscape, le tour, massif central, monts du cantal, mountains, randonneur, time trial, tour de france, vercors
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De la Med à la Manche – part I
Saturday I tap the gear shift button. Nothing. Fucking fuck! I’ve just snagged the di2 cable in the seat clamp rebuilding the bike outside Montpelier airport and now I have no gears. Or rather I have one gear: 48×17 or maybe 19 by the looks of it. That’ll be OK today which is pretty much…
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Monts et Rivieres
Turn left out of the drive and start climbing. Ten kilometres of up. Not steep but constant. Compared to home these hills are mountains, up through the trees to the grass plateau, real mountains jagged against the skyline ahead forty miles distant. The sticky hum of tyres on sun molten tarmac. A snack on a…
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Flanders To The Alps: Notes On A Tour [Part 2]
Day 7 – Montriond and Morzine (18km) Snooze. Into Morzine for a coffee. Snooze. Up to the lake for a swim. Snooze. Day 8 – Col de Joux Plane (55km) Over the Joux Plane to meet Nigel for coffee. Lunch at Col de Ranfolly. The Reilly looks a little out of place surrounded by full…
![Flanders To The Alps: Notes On A Tour [Part 2]](https://themanfromicon.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/img_20180804_124916_443.jpg?w=1024)
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Flanders To The Alps: Notes On A Tour [Part 1]
Day 1 – Hastings, UK to Gent, Belgium (216km) Meet George and Vic at Brighton station. First train cancelled due to two pissed teenagers being dicks. That’s our time buffer gone. Meet Mark at Hastings station. Tailwind across Romney Marsh, heads down, smash it to Dover (didn’t need to worry about that lost half hour).…
![Flanders To The Alps: Notes On A Tour [Part 1]](https://themanfromicon.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/img_20180729_232024_644.jpg?w=1024)
the man from icon 