The last few years have seen me increasingly returning to riding my bike solely for the reasons that drew me to life on a bike as a child.. to explore, to escape, to have fun, to go camping.. and to go fishing. Something else I used to do an awful lot of when I was young and had the time. I’ve now sold all of the racing stuff, including the bikes; after more than 20 …
Tag: Surly Cross Check
A Vintage Autumn
Arguments over whether it is late summer or early autumn aside, it is turning into a vintage season for blackberries. Apparently the summer was warm and damp while I was away, and this is the result. My Surly Cross Check makes a great tool for foraging with an old tub zip-tied to the front rack, either for specific missions or simply while out enjoying the trails. Something else it does really well given there is …
Early Spring Lunch
Last weekend Cornwall was still very much in the grip of winter, but spring does appear to have since arrived… yesterday the sun was warm, the wind was light and the lanes were fragrant with the scent of flowers.. so a spin out for lunch with a riding buddy was in order.. it turned into an all day, slightly muddy, exploration of Penwith backroads, bridleways and tracks with lunch in the sunshine atop the granite cliffs …
Mid-Winter Mid-Cornwall
The ‘permarain’ of the past few weeks eased for a bit on Sunday to leave some much needed spells of sunshine between blustery showers. Rather than just go riding as usual for a few hours on the fixed wheel trainer a friend and I decided to make an all day intimate exploration of the tiny backroads and dirt trails of mid-Cornwall. It was very much a day characterised by steep hills and lush valleys, ancient …
Eskişehir… the end of my road
It is only 140km from Afyon to Eskişehir but it is very much a journey that needs to be taken slowly over 2 days and savoured.. and it is worth a decent post here… it was a wonderful ride. There are plenty of reasons and opportunities to dawdle from enjoying the fine landscape of the Phygian Valley to the enormous rock carvings and cliff tombs left behind by the Phyrgians after whom the valley is named. …