A group of green laners, rough stuffers and folk of a relaxed persuasion based in Manchester
Summer holidays… wide-open beaches… beating sun… ice cream… factor 50. I didn’t get any of this, but that’s what you get for bike touring in September. Over the last few years I’ve been on some sort of cycling holiday with my dad, it’s become something of a Dibble tradition. After the lockdown and the closing …
Being of the disposition to be constantly scouring over maps, mostly of my local area, in the constant hunt for new roads, lanes, tracks and bridleways to ride, inevitably one finds that the original boundaries one holds become more and more relaxed in relation to what can be defined as rideable. Having ridden pretty much …
Welcome to my second post for Grass Up the Middle! I’m not your traditional grass-up-the-middler: I only ride SWorks race bikes; every ride is training; and I only ride nicely paved roads—mud, cobbles, and off-road are all off limits! So why be an [honourary] member of Grass-Up-the-Middle? I luckily got to know Paul very well …
Continue reading Living the Life of Baz Luhrmann’s Sunscreen…
It feels as if we are suffering from some particularly depressing Manchester weather this winter, so much so that the enthusiasm to ride bicycles evaporates as soon the early morning alarm clock rings.It’s probably (almost certainly) a normal winter, but a combination of a Manchester winter topping off a year that’s been dominated by the …
Paddling Not Pedalling... After a recent post of mine on Instagram, Steve Makin asked if I'd write an account of last week's 'Ocean Adventure Camp' overnighter. Parking the cycle's up for a few days, Wifey & I opted to take the days between our Labour weekend and (our district) Marlborough Anniversary Day off for some …
French Fender Day... Our way... On the wrong day! 🙂 Way up on the 'Dream List' for a number of our group (certainly for myself & Steve) would most definitely be a trip to Lyme, Connecticut in the good ol' USofA. If you are aware of the frame builder J P Weigle, you will probably …
An account of a recent multi-day ride from Glasgow to Manchester, using either the GBDURO or Second City Divide routes by a pair of ‘first-timers’… (310+ miles/18,000’ climbing over eight days) Entering the pandemic period it soon became clear that normal behaviours were going out of the window. Regular cycling activities that came and went …
Continue reading ‘GlasChester 2020’ – Glasgow to Manchester off road’ish…
After I finished my first long ride in October plans were quickly made for an overnighter with some friends at the end of May. In the mean time I upgraded and swapped parts on my 1978 Koga Miyata that I have now baptized... the Budget Rando! Because (a) I want to do randonneuring and long …
At GrassupthemiddleCC HQ (the bench) yesterday morning, it was suggested that we need more ‘high brow, cerebral’ blog posts on the website, so I’m not sure how I’m going to fill that brief here, but let's see where it takes us... One of my favourite podcasts is BBC Radio 4’s 'Don’t tell me the score’ …
A second Chippy ride in the space of a week?!! A first? Quite possibly. Much welcomed regardless 🙂 What a cracking turnout too. 8 go wild for chips, beer (fizzy pop for me), sunshine and trails on a Friday night. What more do you want! I'll let Steve's lovely photos do the rest of the …
