The Cycling Europe Podcast

Cycle touring is normally undertaken on a bicycle composed of two wheels of the same size and one cyclist sitting on the saddle. But not always… The guests in this episode of the podcast didn’t for one minute allow their desires to break free from the norms of cycling to quell their lofty ambitions. On the contrary. All three contributors - tandem cyclists Rachel Marsden and Catherine Dixon, and p...

Markus Stitz is a German-born, Edinburgh-based cyclist, writer and filmmaker. In 2015 he set off to cycle the world on a single-speed bicycle, travelling 34,000km through 26 countries. Since his return to the UK, he has been involved in a series of Scottish-based projects promoting both on- and off-road riding. However, in the autumn of 2020 he returned to his roots and embarked upon a 700km cycle...

Simon Parker is a travel writer, broadcaster and newspaper columnist. He has travelled to over 100 countries on reporting assignments for the BBC, The Daily Telegraph and The Independent. He also has a sideline in cycle touring… In 2016 he sailed and cycled from China to London and in 2018 he set off from northern Norway and cycled 3,000km south to the southern tip of Sweden. His 6-week adventure...

In 2015 I cycled from Tarifa in Spain - the southernmost point of mainland Europe - to Nordkapp in Norway - the northernmost point. It took me over 100 days. In 2019 Dr Ian Walker - an academic at the University of Bath - completed the journey in the opposite direction… in 16 days 20 hours and 59 minutes. In the process he became the fastest person ever to cycle across Europe north to south. That’...

In the annus horribilis that has been 2020, cycling has had a relatively good year. When it comes to the number of people cycling, you might even say it’s been an annus mirabilis. An interesting time, then, to start work as the CEO of Britain’s leading cycling organisation, Cycling UK. Channeling the ghosts of Christmases past, present and future, The Cycling Europe Podcast asked Sarah about her b...

Duzer TV is a YouTube channel run by 40-something American adventure cyclist Ryan Van Duzer based in Boulder, Colorado on the eastern edge of the Rocky Mountains of the USA. His videos recount his adventures going back over 10 years in the Americas and beyond. He spoke to The Cycling Europe Podcast about cycling, filmmaking, bears, alcohol, eating termites, his 'mom' and even the Muppets! It's fro...

An upcoming episode of The Cycling Europe Podcast will tell the full story of my cycling trip around the four capitals of the United Kingdom during the Coronavirus summer of 2020. Here's a short teaser to whet your appetite. It focuses upon the background to the journey and cycling day one from my home in West Yorkshire to Bolton Abbey at the southern edge of the Yorkshire Dales. The full podcast...

In January 2010, Dr. Stephen Fabes set off on a bicycle tour around the World. He had quit his job working in the A&E department at St. Thomas' Hospital in London and was to spend the next 6 years cycling nearly 90,000 km, visiting 75 countries in the process. His achievement puts almost all other cycle tours into the shade. The Cycling Europe Podcast met Stephen at Hyde Park Corner for a cha...

Have you ever struggled to come up with an interesting, different, perhaps even unique idea for a long cycle ride? The Cycling Europe Podcast is coming to your rescue! In this feature-length episode of the podcast recorded on location in the Yorkshire Dales and the English Lake District, Andrew P. Sykes chats with fellow cycling writer and master of the innovative cycle ride Rob Ainsley, Guinness...

It may be flatter in The Netherlands but can that really explain why women set off on their bicycles 25-times more often than here in the UK? It seems unlikely. Cycling UK's Women's Festival of Cycling takes place from 11th-31st July. Its aim is to encourage more women to cycle and The Cycling Europe Podcast talks to Cycling UK's Helen Cook about the thinking behind the event and what will be taki...

This episode of the podcast is going to be slightly different. Rather than talking to a current cyclist, I’m going to be investigating the life of a cyclist from the past. You’ve probably never heard his name before and you’re even less likely to have heard his story. He was a German-born American called Maximilian J. St. George. His story is told via extracts from his book, Traveling Light or Cyc...

When I started writing my first book – Crossing Europe on a Bike Called Reggie – I never imagined that it would one day help encourage a man who I’d never met to chuck in his long-term job and start cycling around the World. But apparently it did. That man is Ian Finlay and in this episode of The Cycling Europe Podcast he tells us about his journey so far through Europe, Asia and across Australia...

It doesn't matter who you happen to be, whether it's Mark Beaumont, Josie Dew, Alastair Humphreys, Fred Bloggs or even (dare I say) Andrew P. Sykes, if you're intent upon embarking on a long-distance cycling adventure of your own, at some point you need to move out of your comfort zone, push the bike out of the garden gate and set off cycling, however uncomfortable that may feel, initially at leas...

If you are a long-distance cyclist in Europe, it's highly unlikely that you have managed to avoid the EuroVelo network of cycling routes. Created and administered by the European Cyclists' Federation, the 16 routes are a source of support and inspiration not just long-distance cyclists but also those who set off on much shorter trips within Europe. But what is the thinking behind the EuroVelo netw...

Epic cycle tours come in many shapes and sizes. Some stretch over many thousands of kilometres, some take in dozens of countries, lots take months, perhaps even years to complete. But few cycle tours take 12 years and still claim to be unfinished. That's what a group of Welsh cyclists have been doing since 2007 since they set off from the port of Holyhead in Anglesey, Wales. The Cycling Europe Pod...

Welcome to this rather special episode of The Cycling Europe Podcast. Since the inception of the podcast in 2017, we’ve featured many people with fascinating stories to tell; people who have cycled across the world, people who have inspired others, people who have displayed their passion for cycling in some extraordinary ways. But the guest on this episode of the podcast eclipses almost all others...

Imagine you set off to cross a continent on your bicycle only for a global pandemic to stop you in your tracks. That's what happened to Paul Gentle as he attempted to cycle from Tarifa in Spain to Nordkapp in Norway. The Cycling Europe Podcast spoke to Paul about his plans, his cycle through Spain and France and his race against the clock to get back home to the UK while it was still possible.

The Cycling Europe Podcast returns with a celebrity interview! Mark Beaumont? Tim Moore? Josie Dew? Not quite… This celebrity not only has surprising long-distance cycling credentials but also some thought-provoking comments to make about the joys of heading off on your bike for a long-distance adventure. His name? […]

The British people have spoken and, by popular demand, The Cycling Europe Podcast returns with episode 013. In this latest audio extravaganza of all things cycling, we head to Matlock in the English Peak District to meet the travel writer and long-distance cyclist Helen Moat. In 2015 she […]

The Cycling Europe Podcast is back in the UK and heads to Scotland to chat with Paul Cheese, musician and long-distance cyclist. His travels took him on an astonishing journey to almost every nook and cranny of Britain with a bicycle between his legs and a microphone in […]

The Cycling Europe Podcast berths in Santander, Spain for two weeks of adventure across the Iberian Peninsula via Potes, Riaño, León, Puebla de Sanabria, Bragança and Porto to Coimbra in Portugal. Join Andrew P. Sykes as he discovers the cycle path less travelled up and over the remote […]

The Cycling Europe Podcast is heading to northern Spain but pauses en route for two days of cycling on the Isle of Wight. Andrew P. Sykes follows the Round-the-Island Cycle Route in an anticlockwise direction before hooking up with the Red Squirrel Trail for a return to Cowes […]

The Cycling Europe Podcast hits the road and heads along the Yorkshire section of the EuroVelo 12, otherwise known as the North Sea Cycle Route, from the iconic Humber Bridge on the southern edge of Britain’s largest county to the coastal treasure that is Whitby. It was a […]

The Cycling Europe Podcast returns with a new touring bike special. Andrew P. Sykes visits CycleSense in Tadcaster, Yorkshire to pick up his new Koga Signature WorldTraveller bicycle and chats to the owner David Stainthorpe about his purchase. We hear from Koga brand ambassador Alee Denham from the […]

Cycling the Yorkshire Dales Cycleway (eastern loop) from Malham to Settle and back, travelling in Japan and an interview with Mike Webb of PulpedTravel.com and cycling to the summit of one of the Tour de France’s most iconic climbs: Mont Ventoux.