Well, he isn’t a Sir, but he should have been. One of my favourite Chain Gang cyclists, veteran of the Loire Valley, the Dordogne and Burgundy, sadly died last Friday. He’d been fighting cancer for some time, and lost. John…
Just before Christmas, at the suggestion of my good friend Andy Sinclair (aka Dr Bike) I looked into a scheme which trains kids in Exeter’s schools to ride their bikes. It seems to be run by a combination of Sustrans,…
One of my favourite places on any of The Chain Gang tours is Assisi. Leaving Bevagna on Thursday morning we visit Spello, and then we follow a brilliant, tiny back-road that brings us to Assisi, perched on the foothills of…
Of all the regions we explore on our bike tours, probably the most distinctive cuisine is on our Dordogne tour. That doesn’t mean it’s necessarily the best food – that accolade probably goes to Umbria, or Tuscany, or possibly Provence.…
Time For A Proper Ride Pete is coming to visit this weekend, but he was on the train and not due until lunch time. An old friend, Sarah, was also visiting, in Devon with her kayaking club, so I was…
A few days ago I went for a ride on Woodbury Common, an area of common land close to Exeter. It was grey and miserable, it started raining, and the only gloves I could find were thin jogging gloves. Much…
Today I’ve got a few jobs on, and I want to schedule a little bit of each. Hotels in Tuscany and Umbria Firstly, I’ve got to confirm a bunch of hotel bookings, mostly in Italy, both Tuscany and Umbria. Bespoke…
On Sunday, having finally cleaned my bike enough to work, and fixed a puncture, I wanted to get out for a ride. We’ve had tons of snow all over the UK in the last week, which is rare for us.…
Last September I took delivery (finally!) of a Van Nicholas Amazon touring bike. The frame is unpainted titanium, it looks gorgeous. It was a replacement for a bike I’d had stolen, paid for by Prudential Insurance, God bless ’em. I…
Last night, Thursday, I played my first competitive volleyball game in more than 3 years. Back in August 2005 an ankle injury forced me to stop playing for VK Barnet volleyball club. The VK stands for Volleyball Klub, can you…
