Your Cycling Adventure

Five years ago, we reached Lourdes from Paris (St Malo for me). The next day we climbed the Cols du Soulor and Aubisque on a wonderful late summer's day. It had been an excellent and varied trip, both it terms of weather and terrain and it was over all too soon.

What an excellent event, and I hope it will be the first of many.

What a morning. A massive thank you to all who came to ride. A massive thank you to James Barrell for all the work that went to make this event happen as it did.
This picture shows rider #1 Who finished 110km with the same smile as the riders from Race teams BMRT, Velosport Jersey, CCC, Casp, Jersey Tri-club, the social riders or Jersey Rouleurs and the Guests from off-shore who happened to be in Jersey and signed up for the event. One common cause - having fun on bikes. Thank you all.

Jersey Gran Fondo tomorrow: I've collected the goodie bag and my timing chip, washed the bike, topped up the tyres and oiled the chain. So the bike is definitely up to the job. That just leaves me...

I'm contemplating organising a group trip to southern Spain in September/October.
Here's one idea of a provisional route, from near Malaga to the historic and beautiful city of Ronda, and back. Total distance is around 200 km. This would be four days' cycling (two each way), so around 50 km (30 miles) per day, but with a fair bit of climbing, as Ronda is close to 800 m above sea level.
With one day to enjoy the sights in Ronda and a day travelling each end, that would be a seven-day trip in total.
This is just an idea - other, less hilly alternatives are possible, including travelling further south (by coach or train), but flying into Malaga Airport is the easiest way to get to the region.
Let me know in the comments below if you would be interested, and if this would be your first such adventure!

Day 3 of our Wales tour today, from Brecon to Carmarthen. Yesterday, we were in the Brecon Beacons for the day. This is me climbing towards the highest point on the way back to "camp" from the Penderyn distillery.

How are your tour plans going?

Are you training for the conditions?

Did you know cycling is the new golf? It's a great way to network and build relationships with colleagues, your peers and even potential customers.
While I will be riding in Jersey for now, I am just a few miles from the French coast, as you can see.
The good news is Jersey will be able to welcome visitors from the UK very soon, and Jersey is a great cycling destination, with hundreds of miles of lanes and a brilliant range of accommodation choices.
So do get in touch if you need a guide or any advice on cycling in Jersey.
This is my touring bike (I also have a road bike that I ride purely for fun), with a view of Normandy on the horizon.
Want to join me?

Did you know we have a private group, as well as this page?

Road bikes have evolved to be more comfortable and better suited to the average rider in a sportive or long day ride.
My Vitus Zenium is designed for everything from local crit races (no thanks) to long days in the saddle.
Despite its racy pretentions, it's really very comfortable (and fantastic value), and I have just written a review of it.

If we can organise a group tour this year, where would you choose?

This would be a new kind of adventure for me, but I'm considering doing a 200 km Audax ride, if it's possible, in April. Here's the route: https://www.openrunner.com/r/8268669?fbclid=IwAR1X5Wl5tpFself7G6WxE6Wzk57HxMJ6OYg9Syatu1L_mAwuw25os2gu9KI
Is anyone else familiar with Audax rides?

Découvrez ce parcours réalisé sur Openrunner Planificateur de parcours de randonnée multi-activités - Calcul d'itinéraire sur fond de carte topographiques, IGN et OpenCycleMap

Eight days since my metric century and I haven't had time to ride at all. I might just have to be brave today!

Half way on today's 100 km ride. La Rocque on Jersey's southeast coast.

YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'VE GOT ...

Do you look forward to the weekend? Do you think of it (or some of it) as your "Me Time"?

I still do, despite being self-employed and able, in theory, to take Me Time during the week (which I do as well), the weekends are still special. It's as though we need permission to relax or do the things we enjoy...

Anyway, I'm looking forward to the coming weekend more than usual, as I've been isolating for the past six days after contact with someone who's tested positive.

Which meant my plans for a big ride last weekend were put on hold. Luckily, the forecast for this weekend is okay, so I now plan to do my monthly 100 km ride on Saturday or Sunday. And I actually do need "permission", since this is all subject to a third negative test on Thursday morning.

Why would this matter to you?

Well, I'm sure my plans don't matter to you: unless we someday find a way to ride together, we'll probably never meet.

But taking the opportunities to ride when we can, and appreciating the privilege - well, that's different. That matters to every cyclist, ever.

However temporary and relatively painless eight days of confinement may be, it has reminded me just how much I value my freedom.

Truly, "You don't know what you've got 'til it's gone".

Enjoy your riding,

Really, really enjoy it.

How to Fly, Without Rockets (and it’s not Rocket Science)

If there’s one thing we’ve all discovered this year, it’s that mental and physical health are both helped by exercise, and preferably done in the fresh air.

Add the mental stimulation of new experiences, exercise euphoria, a very real feeling of physical power and vitality, and we can be in no doubt that getting a serious sweat on is a very good thing indeed.

And that’s without revelling in the glory of an ‘impossible’ challenge being met and overcome.

Which is why it’s been doubly frustrating trying to encourage people to take up my favourite pastime/hobby/sport, while not being able to indulge my own passion for it.

By definition, cycle touring requires us to travel. Ideally quite a long way and to places we haven’t been before. In my preferred version, it also means adding a significant physical challenge, like a mountain range to cross or a big mileage to achieve.

Being self-sufficient (camping, carrying all my kit) adds another layer of satisfaction and whatever else it is I get out of getting away.

Other forms of the activity are available for those less inclined to masochistic endurance tests or pain fests.

Some people get their pleasure from more sedate tours, along river valleys, beside canals or even in small countries without real hills.

Even staying in hotels. Whatever turns your pedals, I guess.

For me, though, I want to explore. And that means exploring my own abilities as much as discovering foreign lands.

So, imagine, if you can, the feeling of total euphoria when, after a painful, four-hour struggle up a ten percent slope with a heavy and loaded bike, you can finally stop, with views of both the climb you just did, and the descent you’re about to enjoy laid out before you.

The pain is over (for now), endorphins are flowing through your veins, your biggest ever challenge has been met and overcome, and, and … well, that’s it. It’s impossible to describe euphoria.

It’s just the most amazing feeling, however tired you are.

And the only way I can share that feeling with you is to encourage you to feel it for yourself.

Just as soon as we can travel safely.

Some amazing pictures and roads to add to your bucket list 🚵‍♂️🚵‍♀️

Interesting (possibly) that my new road bike, despite being obviously faster than my tourer, feels less secure at high speeds.

It actually cushions against rough surfaces pretty well, so it's not affected too much by bumpy roads, but the shorter wheelbase and sharper steering, I think, makes the difference.

Most likely of all, is that it is highlighting deficiencies in my technique, especially pedalling higher cadences.

It's very early days, though, and it still feels a bit unfamiliar, so I suppose I'll just have to keep practising!

Excellent and well deserved.

THIS ❤️️

Today, Tao Geoghegan Hart became only the second ever British rider to win the Giro d'Italia 🏆

Tubeless tyres are the future - discuss

Well, there you go. Cycle tourism is more valuable than the cruise ship industry.https://twitter.com/copenhenken/status/1318259672168697857/photo/1

Henk Swarttouw on Twitter “European cycle-tourism brings in more money than the whole European cruiseship sector and creates more and better jobs, all over Europe, not just in a couple of popular port cities.”

I bought myself a new toy recently. A bike, of course.

But I called it a toy because, well basically, that's what it is.

It won't be suitable for touring, and I won't want to leave it outside any shops and I don't commute to work, so it's not going to have much practical purpose at all.

Except as a plaything.

Being a road bike, and therefore lighter, livelier and faster than my tourer and my old mountain bike, it is fun to ride.

And in the times we're living through, I reckon any time we can spend having fun, or 'just playing' is valuable in itself.

So I was wrong. It's not just a toy. It's a means of achieving joy, happiness, escape, whatever you want to call it.

And I love it already.

I hope you're able to have fun, too. You don't have to have a new bike to have fun - just a bike, I reckon.

Why not join the FB group and tell us what fun you're having?

Yesterday's birthday ride was an adventure in itself. I wouldn't normally ride in those conditions but a challenge you set yourself, and tell others about, is great motivation 🌬🌦🙂

Relive 'Birthday Ride' View my ride: Birthday Ride

They Get Harder Every Year

Birthday rides, that is. I would imagine that below the age of 30, they're not even a thing, except to a new cyclist, where 30 miles in one go is a good ride.

At 40 it's pretty easy to ride 40 miles if you're reasonably healthy.

By 50, you'll be quite pleased with yourself if you're able to ride the full distance without difficulty.

At 60, you're approaching the metric century, and you might as well go the extra miles to bag that achievement as well. But it's a long way for a non-cyclist to contemplate.

Really keen and fit cyclists can still do proper birthday rides (in miles) at 70, 75.

By 80 you're pretty exceptional if you can still do it.

But maybe not. Because most of what keeps cyclists riding is the desire to do so. And as long as your physical health stays good, ie, much better than the average non-cyclist, you can keep going way beyond the age that a sedentary person would think is 'normal'.

But then we create our own 'normal', don't we?
I will be doing my own birthday ride on Sunday, at 64 miles. It won't be a problem, given that I've done a similar ride every month since lockdown started.

But it's still a "must do", as will be next year's and the one after.

Because we can do these things, and we want to carry on being able to do them, we keep doing them. It's a completely virtuous circle.

On our tours we usually average about 60 miles or so (roughly 100 km), per day, so it's quite amazing (at least to other people) what we can achieve when we just keep going.

That's us on tour, that is https://twitter.com/i/status/1310518305875275777

Belgian Cycling Team on Twitter “When cycling becomes artwork 😍😍😍 https://t.co/KGJenkBZ0Y”

Strava's monthly challenge is a great motivator.

Relive 'Monthly Gran Fondo' View my ride: Monthly Gran Fondo

Your Cycling Adventure Starts Here – Your Cycling Adventure? Fill in the form below to claim your free mini course, then click the confirmation link in your email for instant access and start your own adventure today! No email? Check in your ‘junk’ folder.

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Your Cycling Adventure Starts Here – Your Cycling Adventure? Fill in the form below to claim your free mini course, then click the confirmation link in your email for instant access and start your own adventure today! No email? Check in your ‘junk’ folder.

Your Cycling Adventure updated their website address.

I think I'll best describe yesterday's ride as an experiment - what happens when you decide to do a long ride without proper preparation?
The answer is, it's hard work. Assuming, because I had done a 100 km ride two weeks ago, and been riding regularly all year, that this would be quite easy, was definitely a mistake.
Starting the ride hungry and already tired, was also a mistake.
But telling loads of people I was going to do it, wasn't. Because, after about 40 km, with over 60 km to go (and lots of hills), it would have been easy to take a short cut home.
But I didn't. I stopped more than usual, kept eating and drinking, and used lower gears on almost every hill than I normally do, and made it to the finish.
Even though my Garmin gave up after 99 km, I didn't.
This was definitely type 2 fun - much more enjoyable after the event than it was at the time.
So, the lessons are: prepare properly - fuel your body and rest before a big ride - and you can probably do more than you think, even when it hurts.
And finally, your ride will always be worth it - in hindsight, at least.

What's the difference between a tour and Le Tour yesterday?
One's a rubbish spectator sport and great fun for the participants, the other is a great spectator sport and not much fun at all for those taking part.