About Me


So how did I get here?....

As a youngster I had always been interested in cycling. School holidays would be where adventures were made, cycling off with mates to far away villages, 4-5 miles away from home, expanding our mental map of what’s where. Each time we pushed our boundary, cycling further and further, always intrigued what was over the new horizon we'd stumbled upon....then after returning home and proudly telling our parents of the day's achievments we'd be told of by for going that far!



Then I left school, grew up, got a job, a house and things got routine, mundane & no challenge to my existence.

2001:
I start snowboarding, having been every year since then. The awesome scenery & views on the mountains (Austria & France) is the main attraction that pulls me back each year for more, well, also the night-life!!!....

2004:
My friend, Andrew, moved to Majorca & I would fly out to see him. Flying over the Pyrenees Mountains gave an excellent view of the beast, looking down from the window seat I could make out twisty winding roads & thought how good there'd be to cycle. The seed of a new adventure had been sewn...

2005:
In a phone call to my mate I jokingly said I reckon I could cycle to his. Now the seed had been watered, & it started to grow!! I bought a copy of Microsoft’s Auto-route & started plotting. I had proposed to start cycling from Le Havre, straight across France, over the Pyrenees into Spain, then onto Barcelona for the ferry to Majorca. This worked out at 750 miles. Being my first tour I wasn’t too sure of what mileage I could maintain, but had planned 70 – 75 per day, this would give me 3 days on the island, before flying back.

Using orange sticky strips I transferred my plotted route onto IGN cycling maps for the sections of France I'd be on, & to help navigate the big cities I was passing through, such as Le Mans, Tours & Toulouse printed off ‘zoom-in’ views from the Auto-route program. The tour was booked for the first two weeks of May 2006, which gave me eight months of preparation, packing list to compile & training.

The tour was a cyclist’s dream! Awesome, well marked roads in France (they put ours to shame!), & the Pyrenees? Certainly some big climbs, but what goes up…

Thankfully the weather was excellent as I don’t think my £10 Tesco tent would have kept much rain out!

Best section of the tour? The road from Borg-Madame (Fr/Sp border town) to Ribes de Freser (Sp), a twisty, snaking, winding road that hugs the side of the mountain yet still makes good forward progress, unlike sections of the first pass that hairpin back & forward, still rewarding though with a 1915m summit (6300ft).

2007.
Where next me thinks. Push the boundary! MK to Majorca.
Back to Auto-route, plot, plot plot. This time it’s 1050 miles. Having previously achieved a comfortable 85 miles / day this still seemed viable over a fortnight, just with less time at my mates. Heading down to Dover for the Calais ferry I would first aim for Cleremont Ferrand, then head south-west & aim for Pammiers, just south of Toulouse, & pick-up the same route I had previously done across the mountains.
Best section of the tour? Same as before, it really is ace!

2008:
So back from the previous tour, where now? Erm, deep thought. I can't do France again, I like croissants, but there's a limit! So what's this U.S. route 66 all about then? I’ved heard many great things said about it from documentaries & films....

To save me waffling on & repeating notes here click the following link to read a presentation I gave Route 66 John Lewis presentation
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