Posted on 26 Aug 2011 by Ed | No Comments | Permalink

News from our Audax Adventurer came in last night:

“I completed Paris Brest Paris in just over 78.5 hours, arriving back at 1.50am on Thursday August 25th.

These bare facts that can’t possibly convey the highs and lows of this most epic of cycling events. I’ll post a full ride report a little late when i’ve had a little more time to reflect on the event, and there is a film in the pipeline too. For now I’m just glad I made it, relieved it’s over but mostly delighted that all the effort, training and preparation paid off. It’s time to reacquaint myself with the family now, safe in the knowledge that as far as cycling goes I’ve completely emptied the tank on the roads of Northern France.

Bon Courage.”

Well done Pete, we [...]

Posted on 17 Jun 2011 by pete | No Comments | Permalink

There are plenty of cycling blogs out there, including my own modest contribution to the genre here on the Milltag site but rarely do I find one that as entertaining, witty and evocative as this one. It records a recent trip from Paris to London, nothing so special about that except when you realise they are doing in on Penny Farthings!

What elevates this tale above the ordinary though is the authors’ musings on life, cycling, continental breakfasts as such like. Here’s a little taster –

“Todays’ ride was the best so far, we battled out of the Etap after a Spartan breakfast that would have been considered being put on a ‘special diet’ in Colditz, the drizzle lubricated our bearings and we were off up the N1 trying to get to [...]

Posted on 5 May 2011 by pete | 1 Comment | Permalink

As the world turned it’s gaze towards London and the Royal Wedding i had bigger things on my mind, my next PBP qualifier started the following morning, departing the now familiar Community Centre in Chalfont. The ride heads out through the Cotswolds and the Forest of Dean to Chepstow, then crosses the Severn Bridge before returning back via Malmesbury and along Thames Valley. A 400km ride is always a tough distance to cope with as it invariably means long hours on the bike with some amount of night riding to finish off with.

I’d decided on neither depriving the family of the car, nor waking then up at 4am clattering about getting ready so instead opted for the luxuries of the Premier Inn in High Wycombe the night before. A brief [...]

Posted on 7 Mar 2011 by pete | No Comments | Permalink

Welcome back, it’s been a while. The path to true cycling greatness never runs smooth as I was to discover this weekend. Since my last posting I should have been building on good early season form ready for the spring season and my next qualifiers. Alas, a mixture of circumstance and motivation meant that i’ve managed nothing more than a single training ride of 5okm and a trip to the Manchester Velodrome. I also went ski-ing for a week in Slovakia; fresh mountain air, vigorous daily excercise and leg muscle conditioning. Not a bit of it. Massive portions of heart-attack inducing food, beer and wine with every meal and general merriment means that i returned last week a few kilos over my fighting weight with heavy legs and decidedly out [...]

Posted on 30 May 2010 by Ed | No Comments | Permalink

You’ve got to love Malcolm Elliott – if ever there was a cyclist who it should be made a legal requirement to add the word ‘legend’ whenever his name is uttered, it’s the Sheffield Express. At 48 (49 in July), he showed the kids how it’s done on the cobbles and won Friday’s very testing Durham city curcuit in the Halford’s Tour Series and looks like he may well go on for some time yet.

This from a man that was a pro between 84-97 before a 6 year retirement and his subsequent return in 2003. Known as a sprinter, his career includes two stages and the points jersey in the Vuelta , two gold medals in the Commonwealth Games and winning the Milk Race and the Kellogg’s Tour (insert ‘eats [...]