Category: Big Adventures
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Day 5: Managing The Cold
I crawl out of my tent to find that my thermometer is registering ‑16°C. I still haven’t found a ‘proper’ thermometer to calibrate it against, so I take the reading with a pinch of salt. If anything, it’s possibly a little high. It’s made a big difference to my camp, in any case. Continue reading →
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Day 4: The Darkness
The days are short, barely enough to tire me out after riding from sunrise to sunset. I could continue into the night if I needed to, with the energy I have. But — let’s face it — that would be pointless. Continue reading →
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Day 3: Why
Another full day of pedalling. More fresh snow, slow progress, slipping and sliding. Surely I’ve had enough of long-distance cycle-touring by now? Evidently not. There still exists something which has brought me here to Norway on a bike in the wintertime. Continue reading →
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Day 2: The Learning Curve
I am woken at some unknown hour of the night by the sound of flapping canvas. The wind has picked up, changed direction and is now blowing side-on at my tent. A poor pitch, admittedly, and now I’m being punished for it. I wedge my boots into the fabric of the awning in a bid to keep the canvas taut. Continue reading →
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Day 1: A Mostly-Forgiving Departure
In an instant, the fear and worry vanish. I’ve swung my leg over the bike and taken my first pedal stroke. In that moment, immeasurable familiarity takes over, earned during hundreds of long days in the saddle, and I am reminded of what I need to remember most: These journeys are taken one step at a time. I am already a hundred miles away from the flat I just left. Continue reading →
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A Life Without Risk Is No Life At All
Imagine leaving your house. It’s another winter’s day, the sky a malevolent grey. Up to ‑1°C from ‑7°C last night. That’s warm, you think. The streets are frozen; slick ice and hardpack underfoot, great mounds of ageing snow shoved casually beside the pavements and alleys. Your breath condenses in front of your face, your body warm from the toasty interior of your home. You’re standing by your front door, and you have the choice to go back inside. Now, imagine carefully the following scenario. You are not allowed back inside. For a month. One entire month, day and night. There… Continue reading →
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The Long Road To The Starting Line
Seven a.m. on a Sunday morning. Glass, neon and chrome drive silently up into the dawn sky. The engine’s monotone grumble dies out with a hiss, and the far-off squabbling of a rag-tag band of revellers gives away its position on the far side of a huge, empty thoroughfare. I’ve been on the bus for twenty hours already, and I’m hungry. I’ve only a vague idea of where I am on the map — somewhere near the north-west coast of Germany, I decide, on the way up towards Denmark’s peninsular. A brief survey of the area reveals that my choice… Continue reading →
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Packing for Norway
I don’t think I titled my previous announcement post very well, as lots of people are wondering why I keep tweeting about Norway. Well, in a few days’ time I’ll be in Oslo, preparing to leave the city for a month of ice-biking in rural Scandinavia. Continue reading →
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VIDEO: Bikepacking Outer Mongolia (Part Four)
This is the last part of my series of videos from mountain-biking in Mongolia last year (start with Part One if you just found this). In this episode we find ourselves spending several days pushing our bikes down a deserted valley in search of a town whose name we are unable to pronounce, lured on by the faint hope of a big plate of deep-fried dumplings with which to celebrate the end of our trip. I really hope you’ve enjoyed these videos. Now’s the time for you to help me improve the next project. What was your favourite scene or story?… Continue reading →
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VIDEO: Bikepacking Outer Mongolia (Part Three)
This is Part Three of my series of videos from cycling in Mongolia last year (here’s Part One if you missed it). In this episode we travel along the banks of Lake Khovsgol, which on a heavily loaded bicycle is a bit more difficult than it might sound. We meet some local holidaymakers and embark on what begins to look like an unrideable ‘shortcut’ to a town on the far side of a mountain range. Please leave your comments below! Continue reading →