Month: July 2010
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Moving Forward From Vanilla Cycle Touring
Five years ago, I invented cycle-touring. After rejecting backpacking out-of-hand as a fulfilling post-university form of escapism, I eventually hit upon the idea to ride a bicycle — a bicycle! — from England, all the way to Croatia. The loose motivation for this was to visit a friend, but having a cool adventure in exotic, […] Continue reading →
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Extrawheel Voyager Single-wheel Bike Trailer Review
Extrawheel’s original Classic model, with its cargo nets and canoeists’ drybags, is no longer in production. Why? Because Extrawheel, after a lot of prototype-testing and feedback by myself and other intrepid riders, have hit upon something that’s even simpler, lighter and more practical: the Voyager. The Voyager was launched last year and I’ve been able […] Continue reading →
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Risk and Uncertainty in Life and Travel
Andy has written an excellent and thought-provoking article on the value of risk-taking. He’s returned to live in the UK now and it’s interesting to see how he is applying the lessons learnt from travel to a post-Ride-Earth life: Often there seems to be a lot of emphasis put on being ‘certain’. We are used […] Continue reading →
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Four Spectacular Moments From Mongolia
These composite shots are from moments during my time in Mongolia when I made a special effort to capture the essence of the landscape and the atmosphere. You can be the judge of how successful I was! Continue reading →
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The Long Road Back To Yerevan
Coming home meant two things: a very long journey by public transport, and lugging an unwieldy collection of funny-shaped bags and bits of metal through a variety of cities in the summer heat. Choosing to travel exclusively by land meant that the excursion was really much more than just a bike ride in Mongolia. It […] Continue reading →
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Mongolia: The Cream Of Adventure Cycle-Touring
In 2006, Andy and I took our mountain-bikes up to Inverness and spent a week riding an off-road route to Fort William, which we had put together from detailed Ordinance Survey maps. We made a lot of mistakes — carrying all of our kit in heavy backpacks, relying for a good night’s sleep on a […] Continue reading →