• Cycle Pilgrim – North Downs, England

    The North Downs are a long line of green high ground to the south of London. The Downs have become a place of pilgrimage for cyclists on and off road and here you can find sunken roads, great views plus killer climbs – not a place for the pious rather a place for any cycling… 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

  • 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

  • Lost Velodromes – dash for cash

    English Victorian’s seem to have invented everything, whether this is true is debatable, but what we can say for sure is that they were mad on sport. Historian Christopher Hill described it as the ‘World Turned Upside Down’ – the period when the UK moved from an agrarian economy to being one of manufacture and… Continue Reading

  • Hackney GT Beastway MTB Series Round 1 2016

    The first round of the Tradervan/Hackney GT Beastway Mountain Bike Series held at Redbridge Cycle Centre, NE London on Saturday April 9. Grassroots MTB racing that has run for 24 years and after being a member of the ‘Tyranny’ that organised the series for 19 years, it was great to attend as a ‘civilian’. Lots… Continue Reading

  • 19 Years and Out – Beastway Grassroots MTB

    For 19 years I, Rod, Andrea, Tig, Bill, Grahame, Sarah, Ray, Gary, Andrew, James and scores of others ran the Beastway MTB Series in London, but in 2013 we called it a day, Nicknamed ‘Beastway’ because it was a bit of ‘Beast’, we as the ‘Structureless Tyranny’ enjoyed almost two decades of turning out in… Continue Reading