By The best car boot sale on the planet, in my experienced view, is in the Rhone-Alps region of France, in a little village called Leyment, and is held in early September. Actually, the permanent village is the centre of the event. However, the actual car boot sale, brocante or Vide
1911 – Arch Truss Railway Bridges, French Labor racing bicycles, Major Taylor, American Gibson Guitars and the worlds greatest blues musician.
1911 Story Connection 1 The Romans where among the first to utilise the truss arch bridge design, and bridges where not the only thing that they used the truss arch design for either. Once they found out about its strengths, they used it in aqueducts as well. So, after more
A Hill Climb, somewhere in North Wales, UK.
Thereās a place in North Wales, UK, called the Horseshoe Pass, and for obvious reasons, its name describes the landscape as it is a huge rock amphitheatre. On one side there is an impressive limestone escarpment and on the other side, old slate quarries. There are two roads that navigate
RANT!
What will it really take to get female cycling racing to the same level of support, exposure etc etc etc as we have for men??????? The world has changed, is still changing, and cycling needs to catch up take an equal gender approach to what its doing, every minute of
This decades performance cycling fabrics and S&S.
āDoes this cycling jersey need washing at 30 degreesā shouts my wife from the laundry room, where sheās trying to categorise fabrics and colours for the next few washes. As the saying goes āyouāve got to go there to come backā, and thats exactly what has happened to cycling jerseys
A rubbish cycling poem or great lyrics to a punk-cycling song?
Ride away The hills are hard, the hills are easy. Spinning & grinding legs. You probably donāt have need for an ashtray. Ride away. New cycling kit, looking good, feeling good. Cappuccino and Cake. Cafe tray. Ride away. New tyres and punctures. Go-faster helmet. What a display. Ride away. Big
The bike brand thats (quite probably) completed the most Tours De France
If youāre a cyclist, a ābikeā has pedals and no engine. If youāre a motorcyclist, a ābikeā has an engine and no pedals. So, the ābikeā brand that has appeared in Tour de France photos the most and (quite probably) completed the most since the 1930s, is of course, The
Spoke Tailor
Back in the early 1990ās, āSpoke Tailorā was the title of an article about the great fashion designer, Paul Smith, and which appeared in one of the Sunday paper colour-section-magazines. Whilst the article gave a chronological cycling tour of Mr Smith, it focussed on his latest, new bike. It was
Sundays CTC (Cyclist Touring Club) ride – sometime in 1976
It takes me 15 minutes, post-cornflake-breakfast, to ride to the meeting point and ready for the 9am start. Itās early May and Spring is starting to breakthrough the UK northern skies above me. I arrive at the meeting place and am greeted warmly by the small group already there. I
Mysterious address Plate
I wanted (read as: didnāt actually need) to get hold of an original French Randonneur bike, and one that was made between 1950 & 1955, as this was the breakthrough period for the type of bike. These post-war bikes were built to a specific frame geometry, wheel size etc, so
