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Mountain bike ride to McMahons Lookout in the Blue Mountains

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I�m very fortunate that my occupation allows me time to indulge in a daily bike ride. Usually, I hop on my road bike and complete a 28km circuit of back roads near my house in the Blue Mountains. It�s rather hilly, as you�d expect, but the grind is more than compensated by spectacular views and quiet roads.  However, lately I�ve noticed that my focus on the ride has shifted slightly from a sense of calm and joy at cycling in such beautiful surroundings to being keenly aware of the car approaching me from behind. I guess I�ve read, or written too many articles on the dangers of road cycling. I�ve even bought a Fly6 rear-facing video camera and flashing light-set to hopefully mitigate against the perceived dangers of distracted motorists. Don�t get me wrong. I still love my daily ride. But the presence of looming vehicles driven by texting motorists set me thinking. I live on Narrow Neck Road in the Blue Mountains, just a few hundred metres uphill from the majestic Narrow Neck plate...
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my life on a bicycle

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As a child, I rode a bicycle regularly from the age of eight until I was a teenager. When not kicking a soccer ball, I�d cycle around the suburb after school and on Saturday morning I�d ride the eight kilometres to my football game. A bicycle gave me independence and a finely-tuned sense of adventure. Mum didn�t care where I went, as long as I was home for dinner. My brother and I would venture to a nearby suburb where there was an aerodrome. We'd alternate between cycling over the sand hills down by the creek and watching the planes taking off. I liked planes but I loved my bicycle. When I was a teenager, my parents moved house. I didn�t want to change high schools, so I embarked on a twelve kilometre round-trip each day on my bike. It seemed entirely natural to spend every morning and afternoon on a bike. I reasoned I only had six months until I could leave school anyway. And then I had to go and spoil it all by getting a job and buying a car. The bicycle rusted in the shed. The ...
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My Top Ten rides of 2015

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I'm fortunate to have a job that allows me to travel extensively and, on most occasions, to take my bicycle with me. Here is a list of the Top Ten bikes rides I was lucky enough to enjoy in 2015. 10. Myrtleford to Bright, Australia There are regular calls for abandoned railway lines to be converted to rail trails for walkers and cyclists. The Myrtleford to Bright rail trail proves the viability of such a project. My wife and I have ridden it many times and are always impressed with just how well-used the path is by locals and tourists alike. It�s a boon for the regional economy and this section is a thirty-kilometre cycle through farmland featuring hop fields and dairy cow meadows with Mt Buffalo rising invitingly to the south. Worth a climb after a beer at the Bright Brewery. 9:  Hoorn to Franeker, The Netherlands Cycling anywhere in The Netherlands is a joy. It�s usually flat terrain, the infrastructure is wisely designed for the cyclist and there�s always a cafe serving apple c...
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a virtual launch of 'cycling North'

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Welcome to the virtual launch of my ebook �Cycling North.� Book launches are usually characterised by three things: proud speeches, free cake and champagne; and the chance to sell books. So here goes.   The Speech.   I hereby launch �Cycling North,� my fifth cycling travel ebook.  This ebook project has expanded much further than I could have imagined when I first took my bike, Craig to France in 2012 to ride from the Atlantic Ocean to the Alsace. I enjoyed the cycling, the food and the writing of the subsequent book - �baguettes and bicycles� .   My next project was to convince my wife to join me. It proved easier than I imagined, perhaps linked to the fact that Cathie had already coined the phrase �cycling is just an interlude between meals.� It�s how we approached the next two journeys - down the Danube for �bratwurst and bicycles� and along the Canal du Midi for �bordeaux and bicycles.�   We�re not long-distance cyclists who camp in a tent at the end of a ...
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Col de l�Espigoulier : An excerpt from 'Cycling North' - from the French Mediterranean to the fjords of Norway by bicycle

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I wake, pull back the curtains and am greeted by clouds, a lone palm tree on the promenade and the morning whine of a motor scooter labouring up the hill. Which is what Cathie and I will be doing in a few minutes, after the obligatory croissant and coffee for breakfast. In the car park, our bicycles have camped under an awning and are loaded with twin panniers at the back. Our preference is for full stomachs and light panniers.  The sun wins its battle with the clouds as we head up the first hill of many leading away from the sea. Today is all mountains. Yellow and purple wildflowers bloom beside the D559. Thankfully most of the cars turn onto the motorway while we wind slowly uphill. Our steel bikes are designed for touring and the 5% gradient doesn�t trouble them as much as it does their riders.  But what goes up, comes down into the ancient village of Aubagne, now popular as a wealthy satellite suburb of Marseille. At caf� Noailles, an immaculately dressed woman in slacks a...
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cycling a section of the Paris-Roubaix

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When any cyclist hears the word 'Roubaix' they think of the legendary Paris to Roubaix one day classic. And cobblestones. Dubbed 'the hell of the north' the race includes numerous sections over ancient cobblestones, many laid hundreds of years ago.  Renowned as one of cycling's oldest races, the cobblestone sections have lead to the development of innovative tyres, frames and wheels to combat the 'Sunday from hell.' Don't you love a race with such beguiling names? Today I rode perhaps the most infamous of the cobbled sections - a 2.4 km straight 'road' through a forest just north of the French town of Valenciennes, labelled the Tranchee d'Arenberg. The trench of Arenberg. I didn't actually plan to ride it. I was following a Google map between Valenciennes and Roubaix. As Cathie and I cycled into a forest, a man walking his dog, noticed our panniers and assumed correctly that we were long-distance cyclists and foreigners. He excitedly call...
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Marseille to Annecy

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We've been on the bike for eight days now. That's a little over 600 kilometres. But the real effort has been on the inclines ... let's call them hills, shall we? My Garmin tells me I've climbed 8,700 metres. It's more than I'm used to, even when cycling daily near my home in the Blue Mountains. Perhaps cycling over Mont Ventoux and Col de l'Espigoulier had something to do with it? Certainly, the highlight of the trip so far has been Col de l'Espigoulier on the first day. A winding switchback climb of nine kilometres, it was mercifully free of cars in perfect weather with the sun on my back and no wind. It's the first time I've climbed a mountain on Bruce, my new AWOL touring bike and he performed admirably, carrying me and the panniers to the summit without a creak. My wife sensibly cycled around the Col and met me on the other side. Both bikes have been great so far - they offer comfortable long-distance cycling and yet can climb any mountain th...
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