Spring time is an exciting time for cycling fans. It’s not all about the Tour de France, there are other bike races! Some of them last for a few days, some for as long as a week, but some of the most famous of all are one-day races. These include some of cycling’s most famous,… Read more

Last year on one of our Burgundy trips there was a heated debate around the dinner table in Châteauneuf on the subject of bike helmets. Châteauneuf, by the way, is amazing. Davide, an Israeli cyclist, said ‘It’s amazing, just amazing. I thought Loubressac was the most beautiful village I had ever seen, but it is… Read more

Somebody asked me recently whether the deepening recession might halt the recent runaway price increases of the top wines from Bordeaux and Burgundy. An interesting question. Doing a bit of research led me to a recent attempt to re-classify the 1855 classification of clarets. Let me recap briefly on what the 1855 Classification means. Officially… Read more

The last four days here in SouthWest England have been glorious. Sunny and warm. It’s starting to get a bit windy, but we’ve had a sneak preview of how glorious it can be to be out cycling in the summer. Of course, with the best will in the world, cycling in Devon is never going… Read more

What a shame, we’re looking for a new web developer after a bit of a spat. Over the last 20 years I’ve become fed up with technical people explaining why some technical reason means that a dog’s dinner is an acceptable marketing process. The answer is usually imagination, but my patience isn’t what it was… Read more

Beautiful downhills in Tuscany, Dordogne, Bordeaux, all over. Yesterday, faced with unexpected sunshine, I set off on my bike. I followed part of the route we took on a CTC ride last Wednesday evening, except this time it was light and I could see. So I didn’t cycle through a huge pothole, I didn’t buckle… Read more

Well, he isn’t a Sir, but he should have been. One of my favourite Chain Gang cyclists, veteran of the Loire Valley, the Dordogne and Burgundy, sadly died last Friday. He’d been fighting cancer for some time, and lost. John was an Eastbourne Rover, and I met him with his friends Stuart, George and Mike… Read more

Just before Christmas, at the suggestion of my good friend Andy Sinclair (aka Dr Bike) I looked into a scheme which trains kids in Exeter’s schools to ride their bikes. It seems to be run by a combination of Sustrans, Exeter City Council and Devon County Council, so you already know that it starts out… Read more

One of my favourite places on any of The Chain Gang tours is Assisi. Leaving Bevagna on Thursday morning we visit Spello, and then we follow a brilliant, tiny back-road that brings us to Assisi, perched on the foothills of Mount Subasio. It is a striking looking place – from the direction of Perugia the… Read more