Going Long

The Zwift Racing League season is ending. The team's place in the League table is yet to be finalised. The previous five races have been well subscribed and hard fought. This final race report includes some background in the run up to the start gun, the outcome and ultimately the results from all the team's hard work. Thanks for listening. Feel free to check out the Going Long blog at  www...

I hardly need an excuse to tap out a quick century bike ride. When an excuse does rear its ugly head I'm all over it. Following and incident that required me to travel from London to Poole to collect something, I jumped at the chance to go by bike. It's a lovely route that has been tweaked over many years to go through some stunning English countryside. This is all about how the ride went....

Many have fear of the dentist. Few are as fearful as me. Rather than dwell too much on dentistry, this episode takes a tiny detour from the usual content and tells tale of a brief meeting with an old friend in my beloved Soho, where I lived for most of my adult life and brought up my three kids with my life partner... Thanks for listening. Feel free to check out the Going Long blog at  www.goinglo...

Having been handed a heavy box of broken parts that once was a V1 Wahoo Kicker, there soon came a time to put it all together and make it work. This episode details the deep rabbit hole I ventured down to eventually get that to happen. My journey takes me to the far flung reaches of the internet as well as places like Windsor and Richmond IRL. Did I succeed in my quest? Have a listen to find out.....

It was a dark night around 10 p.m. in a car park outside an Olympic velodrome somewhere in London, where the exchange took place. A small group of people huddled around the back of a car, stuffing a mysterious cardboard box into its boot. An onlooker may have thought something sinister was afoot. Have a listen to this episode to find out what was really going on. Thanks for listening. Feel free to...

What's it like to captain your cycling club's Zwift racing team? Follow the process from the initial idea through recruiting to the final reward of seeing the results come in. Get an insight into the challenges, the camaraderie, the excitement, and the sort of things that can and do go wrong. It's not as easy as you might think, but leading a diverse group of individuals towards a comm...

There's something very special about a short spin around Pool Harbour on a late summer evening when the light is fading. I have a regular loop from where we stay when visiting family that leads you out to Sandbanks, past the ferry crossing, and back. It's around 10 miles and cuts through one of the wealthiest areas in the UK. In this episode, I chat you through this ride, where I stop for...

Hill Climb Racing is a cycling discipline unique to the UK that's been around for more than 100 years. The season runs over the course of a few weeks, just before winter breaks. It's simple. Cycle up a short, sharp UK hill as fast as you can! You can ride any bike or be of any age or persuasion. There's nothing quite like it. It's a fantastic spectacle of different riders on a wide...

Moonrakers And Sunseekers is a long distance bike ride from Bristol to Poole on the South coast and back, taking in some fantastic roads and amazing countryside. The route leads me and my good friend Alex down memory lane, through roads and places I knew from my teenage years. Starting at night and ending late the next day, this is a ride to remember and share. Thanks for listening. Feel free to c...

When summer fades and the weather closes in, the natural tendency for our creature known as The Cyclist, is to drag out the indoor trainer, switch on the fan and sweat it out in their warm dry shed, garage, hall or even front room. This static indoor 'training' usually involves staring at a computer screen running an app called Zwift. In this episode, we learn of the shock to the system th...

I talk about makerspaces, places where you can access all manner of tools that enable you to make and fix all sorts of things, including bikes and bike related stuff.. You'll also hear how I get inducted to use industrial machine tools, in particular and Bridgeport milling machine, which then helps me to machine the things I design. Thanks for listening. Feel free to check out the Going Long b...

This is how I got into virtual cycling, with the help and encouragement of my clubmates. I delve into getting and setting up the trainer and describe taking my first tentative steps on the Zwift platform. I recount what it was like to see my power data for the first time, and I also tell of how the process affected my fitness and eventually led me to becoming the captain of a Zwift racing team......

A report on some of the ups and downs of doing the Dunwich Dynamo night ride for the fourth time at midsummer, when temperatures reached 36 degrees in the UK. On this magical journey, you start out from London in the evening, follow the twinkle of taillights through bustling English villages, and reach the seaside in Dunwich for daybreak. Having covered the 110 miles, there's a little respite...

This very short episode puts the final touches on a picture of a teen torn between the love of riding his bike and playing guitar. You discover the reason why he eventually succumbed to the allure of a rock and roll lifestyle, left home for London, and eschewed any thought of sport or fitness to seek fame and fortune.  Thanks for listening. Feel free to check out the Going Long blog at www.goinglo...

In this episode, I recall some of my memories of when carbon fibre bikes were only a dream. I describe the culture of the UK cycling scene as I experienced it at the time. For example, I recall how we fearlessly followed inches behind fast-moving vehicles in their draft, and I reminisce about the weekly club runs. Also, I talk about the weekly track training and weight lifting we did and how we ma...

This is the 1st episode of Going Long, about all things bike. I go back in time to when, as a teen, I became inspired to ride. I touch on how I got selected to race for the South Of England juniors and how my life choices lead me from a healthy lifestyle on two wheels into carrying 22 stone (308 lbs/ 139 kg), struggling to walk. The story continues to where I am today. Thanks for listening. Feel f...