Cycling, skiing, food & photography
It’s about 8pm on the 13th day of the Transcontinental - a Friday night. I’ve just crossed into Bosnia, leaving the EU for the first time on the ride. It’s Matthieu’s birthday and I find him and Thomas sharing a beer at a gas station on the edge of Gradiška the scrubby border town with … Continue reading Review
This Christmas my Mum gave me her signet ring. In the last year her fingers have swollen up meaning it no longer fitted. The swelling was caused by problems with her lymphatic system and ultimately the return of her cancer which she is now fighting with chemotherapy. The ring has the Mackenzie insignia of a … Continue reading Perseverance
I've been here before. Wondering whether what I'm about to do is possible, sensible, desirable even. Can I cross a continent? 20 years ago the plan was similar but different. I'd been living in Hong Kong, teaching English in a secondary school: my take on the middle-class British rite of passage that is the gap … Continue reading Retro
This weekend has been beautiful and sunny in southeast England. The bluebells are finishing their epic display in the woods. I saw houses and pubs clad in beautiful wisteria on my ride today, their heady aroma wafting across the road. The first British asparagus of the year has hit the shops and I stuffed a … Continue reading Seasons
When I started this blog I made a promise to myself: I wasn't going to start another journal where some middle-aged guy gives you a blow-by-blow account of his "epic" day on the bike. We all know what it is like to suffer on the bike, to bonk, to be wowed by the views, have … Continue reading Lessons
Wednesday moring. I'd just finished my turbo session, cooled down, had some breakfast and showered. There wasn't a sudden creak, crack or snap. I just realised I could no longer move my neck freely or without pain. I took the day off work and - frankly - panicked. Visions of the dreaded Shermer's Neck before I'd … Continue reading Setbacks
That's me up there, pretty physically and mentally distraught at the end of Rapha's Hell of the North a year ago today. It wasn't an especially tough ride at a little over 100km and 1,000m of climbing albeit with quite a lot of bridleways and terrain not normally suited to road bikes. It was the punctures that … Continue reading Suffering
How did I get here? A decade or so ago I was a runner. I cycled to get around and that was pretty much it. I'd done a bit of cycling touring but that was mostly because it was the only way to tempt my friend Chris to go exploring in exotic locations. Today cycling … Continue reading Origins
The Domestiquated Animal 