There is ‘London tight’ and there is ‘Roubaix tight’; this passed through my mind when after much bike preparation I hit the first stretch of pave at Troisville the first section of cobbles on the route used by the Paris Roubaix pro road race held in April. In the race the riders take in a… Continue Reading
Latest Posts
-
-
Since my big change in life I have ridden my bike, listened to more LP’s and read more books in one month than I did in a year. Maybe this also has something to do with me being without a TV service which means no plonking myself in front of the ‘telly’ (which I do… Continue Reading
-
Mayday is a public holiday in Germany and like most public holidays and Sundays retail life slows almost to a halt and it all seems a bit old fashioned compared to the 24/7 shopping fuelled frenzied lifestyles (and endless sales) which seem the norm in the UK. Except, even here in Germany there are those… Continue Reading
-
Where I go mad on a road bike… and I win Paris Roubaix. “Don’t play in the dirt it’s dirty” – an often used expression to curtail an action of an adventurous child, and if inculcated deep enough it could mean a lifetime of avoidance of all sorts of things. Thankfully I know that there… Continue Reading
-
Around the globe most of the land is owned by just a few people and this affects how much access we have to it. I’m not a believer that land is somehow French, German or English and for me talk of sacred soil is weird and somewhat nudging on nationalist fanaticism. What I believe is… Continue Reading
-
Looking through a box in der German house (day 23 since I moved) I came across this first edition book – ‘Der Weltkrieg In Seiner Rauhen Wirklichkeit’ or ‘The World War In Its Harsh Reality’ published in Germany in 1926. The book contains 600 black and white photographs taken by Hermann Rex for the German… Continue Reading
-
Light snow had been falling all day on Tag 21 on the German Haus, nonetheless David led us into the forest for an evening ride – we did feel a wee bit like Hansel and Gretel especially when we hit some truly gnarly single track made slick by the snow. This forest was planted in… Continue Reading
-
I am a new immigrant; I am not an expat hiding behind a term because of prejudice toward immigrants, a prejudice that is oddly extolled by some people who themselves live in a foreign country. Whilst I am an alien I do blend in with the majority of people in Germany (even when wearing Lyrca),… Continue Reading
-
Video and picture links to UCI rated cyclo cross races unless otherwise stated. The big issue being geo-restrictions on content (I try not to post links to stuff that may be taken down) – 2018/19 calendar Latest posts are at the top and do watch out for updates. Livestreams are sometimes available on Eurosport (plus… Continue Reading
-
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
-
Paul Churchill was at the German National Cyclo Cross Championships at Kleinmachnow on January 13 2019. Defending champion Marcel Meisen takes page out of team leader Van der Poel’s play book. Despite wet and windy conditions the decision to hold the German championships in the suburbs of Berlin and Potsdam meant impressive spectator numbers and not… Continue Reading
-
I have been ignoring my YouTube channel for a while now ever since Facebook made posting video much easier and allowed good access to friends etc. Now I have renamed my YouTube channel Velo Klubhaus to reflect this (my) website. I shot my first video on November 13, 2011 at Stanmer Park, Brighton for a… Continue Reading
-
The South East Cyclo Cross Championships 2018 held at Cyclopark, Gravesend, Kent on December 2. On the first weekend of December across Great Britain the Regional Cyclo Cross Championships are held and I was at the South East Championships promoted by the London Cyclo Cross Association and British Cycling SE. The racing used almost the same… Continue Reading
-
It soon became apparent that when going through pictures for a recent feature on the Smithfield Nocturne held in 2007 I could not find one picture of a woman racer. This got me thinking about the creation of the ‘London Women’s Cycle Racing’ league. The London Women’s Cycle Racing was formed in 2010 to offer… Continue Reading
-
The first edition of the Smithfield Nocturne was held in June 2007 at the central London Smithfield meat market and a place of execution of ‘heretics’ in the 16th century. The event has now moved deeper into the City of London and has been relabelled as the ‘London Nocturne’. This event in 2007 marked for… Continue Reading
-
The 6. IhmeCross der RSG Hannover 2018 promoted by Radsportgemeinschaft Hannover e.V. and flanked by the Ihme River in Germany. Around the globe cyclo cross events have almost the same elements, of course a different spoken language stands out, but the general building blocks remain much the same. I bitterly wished I had seen the… Continue Reading
-
Cyclo Cross lends itself to the introduction of whimsy and cycle racing like many other sports can be enhanced in look and feel by racing in the dark under lights, an added nuance is that beer and food can add to a great evening out. For many, cyclo cross races at night offer a carnival… Continue Reading
-
Crawley Wheelers led by Doug Fox first promoted a London and South East Cyclo Cross League event at the Sussex Showground during the 2015/16 season. The venue soon became a favourite with its wide expanse of land, large car parks, great facilities, the commitment of a wonderful cycling club and a friendly host owner, we… Continue Reading
-
The Kinesis UK London and South East Cyclo Cross League held round five of the 2018/19 season at Herne Hill Velodrome, south London. Organised by Herne Hill Youth CC on October 7, 2018. In the mid 1990’s we held the first cyclo cross race at the Herne Hill Velodrome and a handful of people took… Continue Reading
-
All the pictures in this gallery feature on this site and are just a sample of what you might find on Velo Klubhaus. You can also find the pictures ‘featured’ on the HomePage here. If you would like to know more or be sent a picture do let us know – https://veloklubhaus.com/contact/
-
During 2018 I featured a number of cycle races that had a touch of the ‘Roubaixesque’ about them, road events that featured sections of dirt tracks, pave, green roads, gravel and farm tracks in addition to tarmac. The semi concrete steep climb to the finish of stage 17 of the Vuelta Espana on September 12, I thought… Continue Reading
-
Cycle road races that travel over gravel, pave and dirt. Listed below are races that I look forward to on the road race calendar of which some are well known and others not so much. (this page was updated on October 4) What all have in common is a touch of the ‘Roubaixesque’ about them, each… Continue Reading
-
The second round of the ‘Kinesis UK London and South East Cyclo Cross League’ of the 2018/19 season was held at Crystal Palace, south London organised by London Phoenix on September 16. Crystal Palace had been a ‘Lost Cyclo Cross Course’ since the mid 1980’s and therefore it was a very welcome return because the… Continue Reading
-
The Kinesis UK London and South Cyclo Cross League holds round two of the 2018/19 season at Crystal Palace, south London organised by London Phoenix on September 16. The London Cyclo-Cross association came into being in the 1950’s and a league has run ever since, although in the 2000’s ‘South East’ was added to the… Continue Reading
-
Cyclo cross has a deep, deep programme of events at a local, regional, national and world level. Each one of these races can often attract 500 or more riders, plus huge numbers of fans at some and below is a calendar of UCI registered races. The UCI ranks each race in status with CMM (World… Continue Reading
-
Cycling is healthy and good for the environment, especially when compared to motor vehicles, but we cyclists shouldn’t be complacent or too smug as we do have a carbon footprint. We are all part of a consumer society that is gobbling up resources and disposing of them often thoughtlessly when worn out. I considered this… Continue Reading
-
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
-
Finsbury Park to Alexandra Palace gravel cycle ride and a gem in London. In an effort to optimise the sales value of the cluster of luxury high rise towers in Vauxhall and Battersea, rebranded as ‘Nine Elms on the Southbank’, there was much hype about a new linear park to link Vauxhall with Battersea Park… Continue Reading
-
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
-
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
