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
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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
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Today’s midweek ride with Gunnar Fehlau seemed to pay homage to the Spring Classics with a route that combined sections of Flanders like Kopfsteinpflaster, bergs and Ardennes fast tight flowing roads. I should add that of course we included gravel. Post ride Kitty seems to not be impressed with yet another ride by me and… Continue Reading
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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
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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
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Its day 19 in the German Haus and kitty sniffs my shirt contemptuously post ride – ‘what another ride’, he seems to be saying. Gunnar Fehlau and myself this time and where took off our coats there was once a railway now just a relic in the gravel. We mixed tarmac and gravel (with only… Continue Reading
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A 14 KM ride in 43 minutes early evening (6pm) saw me skip down the ‘Tilly Berg’ through housing and quickly onto the gravel paths that took me along the ‘watch towers’, across the Leine River, lingering at the Keissee Lake and onto the Bahn. Very few battles have been fought at this spot on… Continue Reading
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With time a little tight this day our ride with Gunnar Fehlau included more tarmac than normal, but it was good tarmac and mostly traffic free. We rode between the Leine River and the B27 along the Leine Valley (and back). There were also a couple of awesome gravel descents. From May we can stop… Continue Reading
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Inspired by the Gent Wevelgem women’s bike race we popped out for an hour. For the first time in a long time I felt a bit of sparkle or at least signs of life in my legs. Only a few short stretches of tarmac on this ride in between the ‘good stuff’. The ride: https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/3512812699… Continue Reading
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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
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Lunch time gravel ride with Gunnar Fehlau und Andrea Hofling, so gut! Almost all gravel and a lost railway riding between the Leine River and the B27 (Wendebachstausee, Rheinhausen, Gartetal). Five minutes of light traffic and then we were on the rough stuff, brilliant. The ride: https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/3503452420 Cycle Fahrrad Goettingen home page
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With so few miles in my legs in recent months this ride, my first since coming to Germany, felt tough especially on the cobbled climb through what were the Zieten Barracks and then the abandoned Panzer Weg up to Kerstlingeröderfeld. Once a place where Chieftains and Leopards roamed. My fitness will come back to me… Continue Reading
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The last days has seen huge rain fall, which although good for the forest, ground water and the water supply is still a pain. Today, and after a torrent in the morning the sun shone and made the trails look almost bianche as they dried. This ride is the smaller route version of the Gutingi… Continue Reading
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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