On the weekend I took part in the annual CycloTour du Leman around lake Geneva starting in Lausanne and finishing in Lausanne again. As with most of these recent crazy plans I have had I did it because someone else suggested it and encouraged me to do it (and again I did it without enough training leading up to it). I joined a group of riders from team Sisu who were setting out to hold the front group and try to complete the whole lap of the lake in under 4 hours 30 mins. I had...

Recently I got myself a new helmet to replace my old one which had hit too many rocks and trees with my head in it. I went for the Leatt DBX 3.0 Enduro which is a full face helmet that you can remove the chin guard to make it a standard mountain biking helmet. Looking at the specs I was pretty excited buy what I read. It was going to be much lighter than my old helmet and has plenty of ventilation and lightweight padding inside. It also has the Leatt 360 Turbine Technology for added impact protection. There is...

Recently I took an old vintage frame from old scratched and beaten to super slick new bike with a 105 groupset. It is not the first time I have done this and it is a real pleasure to do each time. But each time it presents new challenges. This frame was in a good condition although the paint was in major need of work and it was also lacking any clear branding that I could find proper heritage for. This would normally cause problems with a restoration project as you need to be able to get the proper decals...

Recently we took a family camping trip to Austria, more info here, but we also took our bikes, bike trailer for the kids and met some friends there as well for some cycling fun. The region around Feldkirch was a great place to go cycling and highly recommend it to others. There is a large cycle network that is well maintained and marked, there is great variety that suits both families looking for flat rides and mountain goats who love a good climb (we had both in our group). What was really nice was the extensive cycle network that...

Dropper Posts, why did it take me so long to get one? The simple answer to this question is that I didn't think it would be worth the money and always found other things to buy. How wrong I was. For years friends of mine have been laughing at me for not having a dropper post on my all mountain bike and telling me how good they are. I would always just stop manually and change my post from peddling position to downhill position when I thought there would be enough of either up or down to make that move...

Over the new year, on our family holiday, we took a few days out in Siem Reap and I was very surprised to see how different the cycling scene was there verses our trip to Tanzania last year. Whereas in Africa, where most poor people were walking and some people had access to bicycles and even fewer to motorised transport, in Cambodia our impression was that even a lot of the poor have access to a motorised bike of some sort. Fewer people then were on bicycles and seemingly even fewer actually walk. Motorbikes/scooters were everywhere. The congestion and pollution...

Recently I travelled to Tanzania to climb Kilimanjaro and to go on a safari. So although my trip was not at all bike related it did not take long to be reminded of how important the bike is to many people around the world. I (and many people I know) take our bikes for granted. Many of us will even have multiple bikes for different types of riding and different conditions. But for many people the bike is a luxury that helps improve their lives no end. While I was training for my mad ironman/triathlon season a few years ago...

I recently got myself a new pair of shoes to replace my ageing Shimano VTT shoes. It took me a long time to find the pair I thought would be good and now that I have these I am pretty sure I have made the right decision. For a while now I have been using the PD-M324 peddles from Shimano. These have a flat side and an SPD allowing me to have the advantages of SPD when needed but also the flat peddle for some more technical descending What my old shoes lacked was a way for me to be able...

This review for the Leatt DBX 3.0 X-Flow glove comes a little late from me as I bought these a while ago and have ridden them a few times and now it seams they are no longer available. They have been replaced by the DBX 4.0 which unfortunately I do not have to test and review here. Firs things first, I think the gloves are great! The protection provided to the knuckle has already saved my knuckles from the road when I had a crash a few weeks back when a car pulling into the road spooked me. You can...

Right a the start of riding VTT bikes I got myself a full face helmet. It was a no brainer. I ride like a bit of an idiot sometimes and the more protection I can have the better. Although the full face helmet was a no brainer it took me a bit longer to get into riding with goggles. At first I use to just use my sunglasses with my helmet but now I am mostly riding with goggles. Maybe it was just my helmet but I use to have problems getting my helmet on while already wearing my goggles,...