It is probably fair to say that we self-powered, two-wheeled folk aren't terribly well catered for when it comes to streaming services. Occasionally you'll see a documentary pop up about a certain racing cyclist from yesteryear, or industrial-scale doping scandals, but you very rarely see anything...positive. It could be why people are drawn to crowdfunded... Continue Reading →
Timmy Mallett’s cycling around Britain
Children of the 80s rejoice! Timmy Mallett is back with more wholesome entertainment. This time he's cycling around the coast of England, Wales and Scotland, along with his paints. Starting out in London, heading south, along the coast to Lands' End, before heading north along the coast to Scotland. As of 16 June (2022) he's... Continue Reading →
The Fear…
When I started this site way back in 2015 I was very much obsessed with cycling. It was everything I did, thought about and wanted to do. It got me through some tough times and helped to push some of life's challenges into the background. However, in 2017-18 things started getting really weird and the... Continue Reading →
Bike locks tested to destruction
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfZ-S63AsPQ This is a very entertaining, albeit sobering video from Francis Cade. Here he tests a variety of locks, from the cable locks I keep asking you not to use, to the Sold Secure Gold rated alternatives. Most locks will be defeated with time, but a good lock just buys you more of it. Whilst... Continue Reading →
Car Dependency – Urban planning and the cost of living
Just as night follows day, you can guarantee that whenever someone puts forward the idea of increasing costs for drivers, an army of concerned motorists will suddenly leap to the defence of those on lower incomes. We know that motoring is expensive, but what if you've been left with no choice but to drive? Is... Continue Reading →
A social dilemma
I've reached that point in the year where I'm starting to think about what I'm going to focus on next year. I've spent an unseasonably warm December afternoon re-watching the Social Dilemma on Netflix and right now I'm trying to figure out whether the problems we face as humans on this planet are going to... Continue Reading →
Something to watch: Trails on Trial – A film by Manon Carpenter and Dwaco
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGFR2tYVWBg A very good video this, featuring our local pro mountain biker Manon Carpenter. You'll also no doubt recognise a lot of the locations --the Garth, Graig-y-Allt; Barry Sidings Cafe and many more. It talks about the growth in mountain biking around here, as well as the growing conflict around the informal trails that have... Continue Reading →
Something to watch: Alternatives to sprawl – Case studies in building better suburbs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-sA2LeHTIUI If we are serious about moving away from cars, we really need to stop building for them. As we talked about in our LDP post, a new way of looking at urban development needs to be found. We need to move away from US-style suburbs that require a car to get around and arguably... Continue Reading →
Cycle lane congestion myths
I've been actively trying to avoid reacting to the usual churnalism that tries to drive a wedge between people in the name of clicks, but today our twitter feed was alive with reports of data produced by Inrix, which is part-owned by Porsche and produces data for the auto industry. However, whilst the press have... Continue Reading →
What a sustainable life may look like…
This started out as a light hearted piece about the fascinating story of Ken Smith, who has lived as a hermit for nearly 40 years. But then, as I was writing it, things got really quite dark. When we think about what living sustainably would look like, we are probably not going to find it... Continue Reading →