Category: Being Made Recumbent 2015
-
Microadventure: Past Journeys, Lost Memories & Future Projects (Part 4)
This is the final part of an account of touring the Netherlands and the UK by recumbent bike. Start at the beginning. Two things surprised me when I woke up in a damp polo field in Cambridgeshire. Continue reading →
-
Microadventure: Naivety, Uphill Battles & Small Victories in Adventure Travel (Part 3)
This is Part Three of an account of touring the Netherlands and the UK by recumbent bike. Start at the beginning. In pitch darkness I pedalled away from the port, waving goodbye to the three Londoners I’d met on the ferry. Decked out in woefully inappropriate attire — tweed, a trilby, a tie-dyed T‑shirt — they had been cycling around the Netherlands on clapped-out old bikes piled high with cheap supermarket-bought camping equipment. Not a Brooks or Ortlieb logo could be seen among them as they wobbled off, and I felt suddenly jealous of them for reasons that I could not identify… Continue reading →
-
Microadventure: Touring the Netherlands on a Recumbent Bike (Part 2)
This is Part Two of an account of touring the Netherlands and the UK by recumbent bike. Click here for Part One. I gingerly lowered myself onto Challenge Bikes’ ‘Hurricane’ recumbent touring bike, lay back against the full-size padded seat, and swung the pivoting handlebar assembly towards me from its resting position. For a vehicle that looked like a deck-chair on wheels, it absolutely felt like sitting on a deck-chair on wheels. (I don’t know about you, but I’d choose a deck chair over a bicycle saddle any day. Yep, even over a Brooks.) Continue reading →
-
Microadventure: A Very Laid-Back Bike Trip (Part 1)
The last time I saw Holland was a day in late June 2007. I saw Holland disappearing in my rear-view mirror, the Belgian border drifting beneath my bicycle wheels as I crossed a river somewhere south of Maastricht. (I didn’t actually spot the border crossing itself, E.U. Freedom of Movement being the luxury that it is.) That was the last time I saw Holland – until last week. Continue reading →