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Tag Archives: Cycling
Georiders – Mountain Biking in the Republic of Georgia
When I was travelling in India in 2009, I often dreamt of going back to Georgia and doing loads of mountain biking. I wanted to get involved in the local biking community and contribute. Back in Georgia, I was lucky to meet some local mountain bikers. I didn’t expect to find them because I thought [...]
Posted in Constructive Ranting, Georgia Also tagged Georgia, georiders, Mountain Biking Leave a comment
Utility cycling and long distance cycling
“Utility cycling encompasses any cycling not done primarily for fitness, recreation such as cycle touring, or sport such as cycle racing, but simply as a means of transport. It is the most common type of cycling in the world”
I recently cycled from Dover to London and from London to Stevenage on the way [...]
Posted in Constructive Ranting, England, Europe, Expedition Journal Also tagged Bike, centre, city, cycle route, utility 2 Comments
A couple of Morons go off the beaten track
Over the last week of riding Tom and I have hit the off the beaten track after deciding that it would be more interesting. From Bulgan we reached the end of the asphault which was a token gesture as we left the settlement. Soon we were back on the dirt tracks which have made Mongolian [...]
Wind-powered pedalling and diving into walls of dust for fun
Summed up the last week has been a lot of fun cycling off-road tracks through stunning scenery with a generous helping of bizarre weather conditions.
We started out from Ulaan Baatar on a hot sunny afternoon through the gridlocked traffic but were soon in the countryside. We stopped briefly for a plate of noodles with mutton [...]
Soviet Mattress Suspension and Ulaan Baatar
Tom and I are now in Ulaan Baatar. The bus journey here was arduous. We expected it to take around seven hours but it took the entire day. However, one day is nothing compared to the four days on the train. The bus had extra springy suspension and Tom and I were lucky enough to [...]
Mountain biking across Mongolia – Trans Siberian to Ulan Ude
Tom and I are in Ulan Ude. We spent 4 days on the train and 5600km on the Trans Siberian crossing Russia from Moscow. I came overland from London to Moscow via Eurolines and Ecolines buses. Tom came from Yerevan on trains and buses and took the ferry from Trabzon (Turkey) to Sochi (Russia).
The countryside [...]
Curry, Dolma and Wilderness Mountain Biking in Armenia
Tom emailed me last week and to tell me he was going to follow an old man on a horse to a hot spring at 3000m. That sounded like my idea of fun so I decided to go to Yerevan and do it.
I went to the bus station in Ortachala in Tbilisi at 9.30 am [...]
Posted in Armenia, Asia, Expedition Journal, Mountain Biking Also tagged Adventure, Andy, Armenia, biking, caldera, church, Curry, dolma, epic, explosif, kona, Mountain Biking, Mountains, retro, snow, tom, Wild, wildnerness 4 Comments
Bicycle Critical Mass Tbilisi, Georgia for Climate Week
On 24th October cyclists, walkers and skaters gathered outside the Philharmonia theatre in Tbilisi to parade down Rustaveli as part of Climate Week combined with the ‘Tbilisoba’ or Tbilisi’s day- a yearly traditional celebration.
Posted in Climate Change Also tagged activism, bicycling, Climate Change, climate week, critical mass, demonstration, Environment, Georgia, protest, Tbilisi Leave a comment
Weddings, unlike lightning, strike in the same place twice…
This is the first post in a while to the Ride Earth blog because I’ve not been cycle touring recently.
I returned via Public transport back from France to Tbilisi at the end of the summer. I met Tom in Venice and we spent a long and strange evening sleeping on a bench drinking wine with [...]
Posted in Asia, Europe, Expedition Journal, Georgia Also tagged Georgia, Life, Mountain Biking, Tbilisi, Wedding, Work Leave a comment
Memories from Iran
I wanted to write something more about my experience in Iran. At the time I didn’t write much on the blog. But I did write a lot in my diary which will appear in a book in the future.
Some experiences stay in my mind in particular. They started at Agarak, the Armenian-Iranian border. I remember [...]
Posted in Expedition Journal, Georgia, Iran Also tagged bam, Couchsurfing, culture, desert, history, Iran, isfahan, kerman, memories, Philosophy, south iran, yazd Leave a comment
New Kona Caldera Mountain Bike Frame
On Monday I received a shiny new Kona Caldera aluminium hardtail mountain bike frame from Kona. They supported Tom and I with our Explosif frames. However, my frame came a cropper in New Delhi when it snapped near the rear dropout (after 16k of riding loaded with luggage). I was able to get it welded [...]
Posted in Expedition Journal Also tagged aluminium, Bike, bruce lee, caldera, frame, kona, mountain bike, Mountain Biking, quote, red, review, shiny, sponsorship, steel, Wisdom 1 Comment
A Two Month Storm
Long time since I wrote, I know. In fact I’ve been spending a lot of time in front of a computer. I’ve been writing every morning and now have written 95000 words of my book. I met one of my sister’s friends a couple of days ago who has just finished writing a book she [...]
Posted in Climate Change, England, Europe, France, Georgia, Mountain Biking, Switzerland, Turkey, writing Also tagged 4HWW, andrew welch, biking, boat, CENN, Climate Change, creativity, critiscism, Dancing, dave allen, demonstrations, design, effectiveness, England, Environment, folklore, freedom square, Georgia, georgian, georiders, greece, GTD, Motivation, Mountain Biking, ngo, parliament, Photography, portfolio, public transport, rustaveli, saakashvili, saburtalo, swimming, Tbilisi, Timoty ferriss, travel, Turkey, uk, Websites, writing 3 Comments
10 things I’ve learnt from writing a book so far
I’m now 55,000 words into my book’s first draft and I’ve learnt a few things which I thought I’d share:
Get up early in the morning to write. e.g. 6 am. I tried writing late at night and got into a counter-productive routine of falling asleep at 10.30 pm, waking up at 2 am and working [...]
Posted in Climate Change, Expedition Journal, Georgia, writing Also tagged learning, Process, productivity, tips, writing 5 Comments
Getting things clear
I’ve been working a lot on creative stuff recently. My profession is in the field of web design. I’ve been posting artwork onto the Ride Earth flickr photo album, and other creative nuggets of inspiration and perhaps they don’t belong there.
David Bryne – the Bicycle Diaries, Cycle touring as a narrative and a way to understand the ‘real world’