• Weekend Warrior, Bread and Butter Hunter

    There is, of course, something great about adventurers who strike out, often to the ends of the earth for long periods of time. Heroic as such adventures are, they should not put the day to day journeys on the ‘home front’ in the shade. In my years of living in London I have taken many… Continue Reading

  • Metal Guru

    An August cycle tour that took in the home of Gustav Holst and the place of death of Glam Rock star Marc Bolan in Barnes, south London. In the 1970’s I started to get to grips with life when I took small and big steps to understand what was naff or good taste. I had… Continue Reading

  • Co-operatives and Brixton Cycles, London

    When I first came to London there were two cycle co-operatives trading, one was Mosquito Bikes and the other Brixton Cycles, whilst Mosquito forsake being a co-op in favour of a partnership many years ago and is now part of the Velorution chain, Brixton Cycles remains. Despite being in the south of London Brixton Cycles… Continue Reading

  • My Mum’s Wardrobe

    The story of my mum’s wardrobe by Andrea Hofling The stylish 50’s My mum, Ilse, was young (and pretty) in 1950s Germany and she owned some extremely nice and stylish dresses which she wore when ballroom dancing with my dad in their adopted home town of Göttingen.  Or when they attended the cinema together watching… Continue Reading

  • A good mental road

    I trained not to win races, although that would have been nice, but rather to be strong enough to ride and compete whilst having a ‘normal life’. And when I say ‘normal’ I mean being able to go out racing or riding without having to spend the rest of the time with my head slumped… Continue Reading

  • Epping Forest – Common Land

    Epping Forest is a Mecca for London cyclists and an area where access to the ‘people’s forest’ is seen as a birth-right. Well, it is now, but only after a fight. At the end of the 19th Century Epping Forest like other common lands, forests or heaths was in danger of being swallowed by London’s… Continue Reading

  • South London Murals

    Murals have a long history of presenting a narrative, a sentiment, a joke or simply a nice artwork. They are the embodiment of art in a public space. Thomas Hart Benton and Diego Rivera reflected the narratives of US and Mexican history respectively along with many others by creating epic art works that few people… Continue Reading

  • Art in Community Spaces – Vauxhall, London

    Post World War Two the London County Council commissioned Peter Laszlo Peri to create art as part of a desire to enrich the public realm; “as emblems of civic renewal and social progress” (Heritage Calling). Three of Peri’s works are within a short walk of my home in Vauxhall, London. Peri was a Hungarian born… Continue Reading

  • Box Hill – North Downs, England

    The 2012 Olympic Games cycle road races featured nine ascents of the Zig Zag road, better known as Box Hill, for the men and two for the women. It was intended that this North Downs climb would smash the race apart. Sadly, for the British team working for Mark Cavendish and despite setting the pace… Continue Reading

  • London 2018

    London has many lost rivers, all now almost unseen except for a few glimpses through drains, culverts or pipes. In Vauxhall the Effra is no longer the partly navigable river it once was and now is buried deep underground covered by roads and buildings. An outlet pipe into the River Thames is our only visible… Continue Reading

  • Tour d’Energie 2018 – Jedermann

    Germany has a strong cycle race scene covering the same territory as the UK with the addition of a good following for cycle football and artistic cycling. For us in the UK the idea that something is a ‘hobby’ is a bit like being told that something is ‘nice’, such words can be construed as… Continue Reading

  • At the Grenze under the Ski Jump

    In April 2018 I travelled back in time to the now defunct German internal grenze (border) at the Wurmberg Mountain. In the mid-eighties I had stood on the west side of the Grenze half way up the Wurmberg Mountain in the Harz, a region of mountains rich in folklore set in central Germany. Above my… Continue Reading

  • Paris Roubaix Rad Rennen – Media Wars

    Paris Roubaix is a race that attracts me because it doesn’t follow the tarmac. In the present era media giant SKY Television has built its global reach upon football, the sport was the lynchpin of the SKY satellite TV business model and it revolutionised how football and sport in general is now financed. Cycle sport… Continue Reading

  • Plastic Bertrand – Fahrrad in Belgium

    Belgium one cycling nation – Kassein or Pavé? / Belgien ist eine Nation von Radfahrern – Kassein oder Pavé? The picture above is of World and Olympic Champion Nicole Cooke riding the Muur de Huy during La Fleche Walonne Classic Name a famous Belgian ‘Plastic Bertrand’ I replied – ‘nah, someone famous, name me a famous Belgian’? My… Continue Reading

  • Spit out of middle Germany – Der Harz Mountains

    The Harz Mountains are 2,226 square kilometres of medium sized mountains and forest that seems to have been spit out of the ground of middle Germany. Circling the Harz are the cities of Hannover, Gottingen, Wolfsburg, Leipzig and Magdeburg. Much of the Harz today is a national park and the area is home to a… Continue Reading