bikes

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 ...

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...

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...

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...

On Friday afternoon, I drove from Bondi Beach to Katoomba. It took nearly three hours for the 120 km journey. For the first 60 km, I was stuck in traffic jams almost constantly. Yes, I'm well aware I was part of the problem. I saw only one bicycle on the entire trip, a person riding illegally on an empty footpath. But who could blame him? The bike lanes, which were little more than a white line between the gutter and two-tonne of angry vehicles, were a death trap. I saw very few pedestrians. Throughout the inner-city, from Bondi to Concord, it was just a line of we stupid people in cars. I also saw very little public transport. The occasional bus stuck in the same traffic jam as me. I wondered if there was any incentive to catch a bus for my fellow motorists. I was astonished to see some lanes were blocked by parked cars. Legally parked cars on a major road! One person's convenience was enough to bring two lanes of traffic to a crawl. One single car owned this valuable real est...

Welcome to the launch of  'cycling to Bohemia'  In the days before 'social media,' authors pleaded with their publishers to host a book launch, usually at a local bookstore. The publishers stumped up a few bottles of wine and some finger food and organised a fellow author to say something encouraging about the newly-released book. It gave old friends a chance to catch up over a glass of wine and perhaps buy the author's book. Everyone was a winner - free grog and book sales! Now, books can be produced and published electronically, without the author ever having to leave his/her study. So many people are omitted in this process - editor, designer, proofreader, publisher, distributor, salesperson.  I'm well aware of the dangers of this new world. There is no wise voice suggesting to the author that perhaps he/she needs to rethink Chapter Ten. No-one to say, 'do you really believe people want to read about you washing your cycling knicks in the hotel sink?'...

When an entitled white middle-class person meets an uncouth lawbreaker, the outcome is frequently the same. Lawbreaker swears and walks away. WMCP writes a column in a newspaper calling for the restriction of liberty , so WMCP can go on feeling all smug and secure.       Hello Elizabeth Farrelly. I understand you were abused by a person riding a bicycle illegally on the footpath. I�m sorry to hear that. But I can�t understand why this abuse leads you to suggest that we should register bicycles. Yes, if registered, you could have reported his number to the police, but I doubt that would have achieved much. Police usually need more evidence than a finger-pointing pedestrian saying, �Officer, arrest that man!� And how often have you reported red-light running cars when you�re out on your morning walk? How often have you confronted pedestrians who cross illegally?         When a journalist such as yourself, interested in town planning and architecture, wri...