• 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

  • 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

  • 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

  • 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

  • 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

  • International 2016/17 Cyclo Cross

    UCI rated cyclo cross races unless otherwise stated. The big issue being geo-restrictions on content. 2015/16 Season Upcoming races (results & video links yet to be added) That’s it for the season. February 19 2017 Internationale Sluitingsprijs – February 19 The last international cyclo cross of the season held at Oostmalle, Belgium. Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60ajkDLIWSk (Bit of both races) Elite… Continue Reading

  • A2 – Cyclopark

    The 3rd January 2016 saw a heroic cyclo-cross race held when heavy rain fell and high winds lashed Round 12 of the London/SE Cyclo-Cross League at a venue that was created in 2012 on an abandoned section of the A2 road. Route 66 is an iconic highway that once spanned the USA and is probably the most famous road in the… Continue Reading

  • Poking Bart Wellens in the Eyes

    A string of professional cyclo-cross stars raced toward me, as I, with camera in hand, got ready to shoot – ‘Click’ went the shutter, ‘flash’ went the bulb and at that same moment Bart Wellens’ crashed to the ground screaming, “I can’t see, I’m blind, I can’t see”. Fellow riders flew to his aid and I… Continue Reading

  • The worst cyclo cross event in history

    The worst cyclo cross event in the history of all things – Round 9 of the London and South East Cyclo Cross League 2014/15. Rain fell and fell and fell and fell…. turning Wivelsden Farm into first a mud bath, then a swamp and then a river of water that flowed freely along the whole course. Senior winner Jonathan… Continue Reading

  • Riding the Kemmelberg Fahrradtour

    2014 saw the hundredth anniversary of the start of World War One and this caused a rekindling of interest in the long, bloody fighting line that straddled Europe between 1914 to 1917. To mark the occasion the 2014 Tour de France visited many of the major battlefields and stage five began at the Belgian town… Continue Reading

  • Belgium Cross Experience 2008

    Belgium is the heartland of cycling, especially cyclo-cross and much of the action is accessible to us Brit’s from the channel ports or the Eurotunnel. So I and Julian from London’s  Cyclefit did so in 2008. Belgium Cross Experience It may be a running British joke to try to name a famous Belgian and although the… Continue Reading