Beewee - Rides
Keen racing cyclists talk about and get a bit precious about their palmares - this is just my touring and a few other rides worthy of recording over the years . . . partly as a personal memory and in part to perhaps inspire would-be cycle tourists.
A compendium of bicycle rides undertaken by Rob with various cycling chums1 as a simple list that will, hopefully, be added to over time (and add more detail and possibly photographs to the entries)
How it all started . . . in 2002 I rode the Sustrans Coast-to-Coast (C2C) route as an organised, suported ride - 140 miles from Whitehaven to Sunderland - and got 
the taste for cycle touring adventures . . . .
Initially dubbed the Boys’ Outing an annual pattern emerged, with the rides usually taking place in May or June - following a winter of planning routes, booking accommodation etc. Planning consists of “the idea” and then perusing maps, guide books and various publications - and yet more felt-pen lines made on the long-suffering road atlas - as well as the PC-based mapping. Accommodation is sourced and booked in advance - primarily to make sure we have somewhere to stay each day without having to hunt around - B&Bs, pubs with rooms or small hotels.
Key criteria (originally, although they did dwindle after 2011): the seaside should be involved; not too many hills; about 6 or 7 days; fish and chips for lunch at the finish, with beer … and the quest for the ultimate lamb shank2
2002
Family holiday - an organised, supported cycle-tour covering about 100 miles in the Loire Valley
The Coast to Coast - 140 miles, organised and supported, from Whitehaven to Sunderland, via Keswick, Penrith, Alston, the Pennines, Stanhope and Consett.
2003
San Francisco - day ride across the Golden Gate Bridge to Sausalito and Tiburon before taking the ferry, with the hired bike, back to Fisherman's Wharf
The Trans-Pennine Trail - 220 miles from Southport to Hornsea with Steve & Jon (Steve's son-in-law)
le Tour de France - just 30 miles around central Paris.
It being the 100th year of le Tour the organsers invited 10,000 amateur riders to take part in an event on the final morning of le Tour with every rider being issued with a yellow jersey. The ride, led by one of the offical le Tour cars and the Gendarme group on motorcycles, started by the Eiffel Tower, crossed the river and along the banks of the Seine, to the Bastille and back via Rue de Rivoli, Place de la Concorde and into the Champs Elysses to cross the official race finish line - before riding all the way to l'Etoile (Arc de Triomphe), back down the other side of the Champs and turning right along the river and to the finish at the Military Academy near the Eiffel Tower. An amazing experience.
The Dunwich Dynamo - a.k.a. The Dun Run - about 120 miles ridden overnight from Hackney, London to Dunwich on the Suffolk coast - with Steve. The longest single day ride that I have ever done. [Google it for more details and the history]
2004
The Pennine Cycleway - 355 miles from Derby to Berwick-upon-Tweed with Steve & Peter
2005
John O'Groats to Land's End - The JOGLE3 - 935 miles with Joe4 (and Steve joined the ride for a 100 or so miles over a couple of days)
Annecy, French Alps - part of a family holiday with rides round Lake Annecy and an ascent of the Col de la Forclaz (from the Talloires side)
2006
The Side-to-Side - 420 miles from St David’s in Pembrokeshire to Lowestoft in Suffolk - from the westernmost point in Wales to the easternmost point in England - with Steve & Martin
Palace to Palace - charity ride for the Prince's Trust, 48 miles from Buckingham Palace (actually Horse Guards Parade) to Windsor Castle ... with special dispensation from Prince Charles to cycle along The Long Walk. I rode on my fixed wheel bike and although it wasn't a race by some miracle I was first of about 200 riders to arrive at the finish. Goody bag from Waitrose, who else? - with a couple of Duchy products.
Annecy, French Alps - another ascent of the Col de la Forclaz (from the Albertville side) and up to Semnoz on the west side of the lake (with a 19km downhill that requires no pedalling, including a coffee stop)
2007
USA - San Francisco - day ride across the Golden Gate Bridge to Sausalito and Tiburon before taking the ferry, with the hired bike, back to Fisherman's Wharf - the same ride as in 2003, but with my wife.
USA - San Diego - day ride from Coronado to within sight of the Mexican Border and return
Cream Tea to Oysters - 360 miles from Exeter to Whitstable via the South Coast, The Isle of Wight and involving 5 sea voyages5 - with Steve & Martin
2008
USA - Charleston - day ride across the 4km Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge to visit aircraft carrier, USS Yorktown, submarine USS Clamaore and the Cold War submarine memorial, and return
USA - Hilton Head - day ride around the manicured estate and its exclusive mansions (on a Schwinn Cruiser bike hired from a shop that had over 3,000 rental bikes in its fleet, across four locations)
Bowling Along - 201 miles from Balsall Common (near Coventry) via Southwell, over the Humber Bridge and skirting York to finish about 10 miles N of Harrogate - with Steve, en route to stay with friends and watch the Test Match in Leeds.
French End-to-End - 930 miles from Calais to Montpellier6 with Jon (another one) - the first night dinner at Guines, near Calais holds the current record for the ultimate lamb shank2
2009
Northern England - 170 miles based roughly on the Reivers Route from Newcastle-upon-Tyne to Carlisle - a CTC Southern Wheelers Club ride
Annecy, French Alps - just a couple of days - round the lake and then up to Le Grand Bornand to watch the finish of a Tour de France stage (riding along part of the course 
) Followed by watching the Individual Time Trial the following day.
Bowling Along, again - for this trip we were limited on time so it was a train to Nottingham, ride to the B&B on the outskirts of Doncaster and then on to the destination N of Harrogate - with Steve. Sadly the cricket was absolute rubbish on both the Friday & Saturday ... but the ride was good!
2010
Land's End to John O'Groats - The LEJOG - 935 miles following pretty much the route, in the reverse direction, from the 2005 JOGLE - with Jon
2011
The Oxford Tour - about 200 miles riding around Oxfordshire starting from Warwickshire, with brief forays into Gloucestershire and Buckinghamshire - made memorable by one of our group, Roy, at dinner in a pub in Princes Risborough asking if they could do Horlicks! - a CTC-Heart of England Club ride.
2021 sees a reprise of this ride as an overseas tour isn't possible
2012
For 2012 and later also see the Cycle touring -overseas page
2021
Leicester - My mother would have been 100 on 24 August (she died in 1974) - she was born and brought up in a little village just south of Leicester, Great Glen. I rode from home to Great Glen and stayed in the pub at the end of the terrace of cottages where she lived - and rode home the next day by a slightly different route. About 60 miles each way.
2022
London/Essex/Herts - Following the same theme, my father would have been 100 on 23 May (he died in 1994) - he was born and brought up in Hackney, East London - and as a family we lived in Wanstead, E11 and then Buckhurst Hill, Essex. I took the train to London and rode around Hackney, then Wanstead and to Buckhurst Hill, staying ovenight, before riding north to the area around Bishop's Stortford where I lived with my (then) wife and children before moving to Gloucestershire in 1986 (and then later to Warwickshire). I continued to stay overnight at a pub at Rickling Green. My (now) wife had driven to the pub to stay overnight before spending the day in Cambridge on the way home.
1 Any similarities with Jerome K Jerome’s book, Three Men on the Bummell, are purely coincidental
2 Since the Pennine Cycleway ride in 2004 lamb shank has been the dish of choice for dinner each evening if available. The overnight stops on the S2S and subsequent rides have been awarded a “lamb shank rating” (maximum is 4 - although 5 may be possible near a nuclear power station!) - it’s based on the quality of accommodation, not the lamb shanks.
3 JOGLE = John O’Groats to Land’s End
4 Rob & Joe’s JOGLE is a report of the 2005 journey - No 176 in the cycle-endtoend.org.uk Journals. This worthy tome, although yet to enter the Amazon best-seller lists, has become an established source of reference with a number of End-to-Enders.
5 Sea voyages are actually ferry crossings
6 The subject of Rob & Jon's book - Wine-ding Down Through France - in the cycle-endtoend.org.uk Journals and for sale as a printed copy.
The first big ride abroad was the 2008 journey from Calais to Montpelier in the South of France - undertaken with Jon and detailed on the www.cycle-endtoend.org.uk website, and our book Wine-ding Down Through France.
Starting in 2012 I organised overseas trips with groups of members from Heart of England Cycling Club (CTC-Heart of England prior to 2015) - this is just a quick list, I may add more detail and photographs in due course:
2012
- Eurotunnel Bike service and ride to Ypres with tours of the WWI sites on the "Peace Trail" cycle route - 7 members
The story as a .pdf document (opens in a new window, close window to return here) CLICK HERE
2013
- Eurotunnel Bike service and hired coach with bike trailer to the Loire Valley staying at two centres and then riding via Orleans into Paris and the Eurostar train ride to London - 13 members
The story as a .pdf document (opens in a new window, close window to return here) CLICK HERE
2014
- Eurotunnel Bike service and a reprise of my ride with Jon in 2008 from Calais to Montpelier, travelling back on the European Bike Express bus service - 5 members (I should have been riding but I was seriously ill and unable to go)
2015
- Eurostar train to Paris and then TGV to Metz to ride along the Moselle to Koblenz, via Luxembourg, and then along the Rhine to Koln before turning left to cross Holland and finish in Belgium for the Eurostar train ride to London from Brussels - 8 members.
2016
- Eurotunnel Bike service and a reprise of the Ypres ride, adding Ghent and Bruges on the way back to Calais - 11 members
2017
- ferry from Portsmouth to Caen and then riding along the coast to Calais and the Eurotunnel Bike service to Folkestone - 11 members
2018
- ferry from Portsmouth to St Malo and riding in a large loop around the Cherbourg peninisula to the ferry at Caen - 9 members
2019
- ferry from Portsmouth to Caen, hired van for the bikes and train to Tours for stays at two centres in the Loire Valley ending at Angers (Tour of the Cointreau factory) and train/van back to Caen and the ferry - 10 members
2020
- the one that got away . . . . the plan was ferry to St Malo and then ride/part train to the area around St Nazaire for stays at two centres - 10 members. [The Covid pandemic forced cancellation]
2021
- a reprise, as an overseas tour wasn't possible, of the 2011 Oxford Tour with a few changes - about 200 miles riding around Oxfordshire starting from Warwickshire, with brief forays into Gloucestershire and Buckinghamshire. An unfortunate incident involving a kerb and falling off necessitated the Captain (me) retiring hurt and taking the train home on the penultimate day.
2022
- we did it . . . the one that got away . . . . ferry to St Malo, van for bikes and then ride/part train to the area around St Nazaire for stays at two centres - 10 members.
2023
- ferry to Caen, van for bikes and then ride/part train to the area around Alencon for stays at two centres - 10 members. This is the tour when one of the team was bitten by a dog on the first day ride (and it was her birthday) - some changes and repatriation and 10 members became 8 for the second half..
2024
- trains to London and then Dover, ferry to Calais and trains to Paris before setting off to ride la Seine a Velo along the Seine to Honfleur and on to Caen for the ferry to Portsmouth and trains home - 7 members. One of the members celebrated his 80th birthday during the trip with a memorable dinner in Rouen at what is billed as the "oldest auberge in France"
2025 . . . .
Something I'm rather proud of doing, as a volunteer - and had great fun too.
Like a lot of good ideas the charity fundraising rides started in a pub - an informal cycling group thought it was a good idea to organise an event both to promote cycling and raise some money.
The plan unfolded for the MacRide quite quickly with Macmillan Cancer Support as the charity and a simple event with two routes at 25 and 50 miles - and we didn't want to just raise a few hundred pounds . . if we couldn't raise £5,000 it wasn't worth doing. Planning continued with the organising team diminishing to be pretty much just me!
The Area Fundraising Manager for Macmillan became involved and between us we put on the first event in October 2005, starting at Stratford-upon-Avon High School - 180 entrants at £5 and we raised a total of £14,000* with sponsorship and donations. On that basis it was worth doing it again.
The concept became MacRide Events which moved to a new venue at the Stratford Parkway Park and Ride and went on to become 3 events each year : MacRides for casual riders - continuing the same format, Shakespeare 100 Sportives and MacRide Tours - together with few other events. In parallel a Macride Events website was created that not only promoted the events but managed online entries, sales of jerseys and donations etc.
MacRide - 25 miles and 50 miles (we did try a 10 mile ride but had few entrants) for casual riders
Shakespeare 100 - a Spring 100km early-season sportive and an Autumn end-of-season 100km or 100 mile sportive
MacRide Tour - something rather different - we took riders and their bikes to a start place about 100 miles from Stratford-upon-Avon - they then rode back about 40 miles the first day and 60 the second - with a hotel package for the overnight stop. Venues were : Stratford (the Olympic Park) London twice, Windsor, Bath, Chester, Cambridge and Winchester.
Other events - two sportives run with a local bicycle shop and a corporate day for a large property company.
In 2008 we introduced the MacRide Cycling Jersey - they carried the logos of sponsoring and supporting businesses with their contributions covering the production costs, meaning that the £30 or £35 that riders paid for their jersey was a direct contribution.
As the events grew so did the core organising team of volunteers - joining me were Jenni and Aidan, not forgetting my wife Philippa and the support of Bernadette and Sharon from Macmillan - not just the team but our major sponsors too, including : DCS Group, Barclays Bank, Listers Honda, Oldhams Removals & Johnsons Coaches . . . . and of course the riders deserve a big thank you.
[Pic. L-R : Jenni, Philippa, Rob, Bernadette, Aidan]
In 2016 some changes in the team's personal situations and to some extent the "cycle ride market" prompted us to cease the MacRide Events activity (and have a rest!)
The numbers :
11 years - 35 events - over 8,000 rider entrants - over 2,500 MacRide jerseys sold - more than 550,000 miles ridden - £800,000* raised for Macmillan.
The pre-start briefing Team Macride car leading out c1,000 riders
Listers Honda sponsored car (2 per event) Team from Alliance Medical, the signage sponsor
MacRide Tour . . . . . Jim with the van, empty . . . . . and 140 carefully packed bicycles!
Bike van and coaches ready to depart for the MacRide Tour
* all amounts quoted are net of costs - i.e. the actual amount Macmillan Cancer Support received from our efforts
In late 2018 I was asked by the Director of the RAF Spitfires Rugby 7s team, Squadron Leader Tim Barlow, if I would help them plan a cycle ride* and drive the support van from Zagan (Sagan**) in Poland - POW Camp Stalag Luft III - back to the UK. March 2019 would be the 75th anniversary of The Great Escape and the ride, as a fundraiser would be part of the Commemoration Ceremony at the site of the camp.
The story of The Great Escape is well-known in factual terms and also, of course, the film (that seems to be a Christmas TV perennial) . . . one of these showings Steve McQueen will manage to jump the motor-cycle over the fence!
Tim had been involved in a history project that recreated one of the prison huts at the Stalag Luft III museum at Zagan [Picture, right] The plan was that the Spitfires, together with a contingent of serving RAF personnel would travel to Zagan for the ceremony held in conjunction with UK, Polish and German dignitaries. Then the cycle ride home - The Home Run - was to reflect the challenges faced by the original escapees and, as a “forces development” project (and a bit of a jolly) to create a documentary that showed the RAF both with its place in history and also as being “cool and trendy” in today’s digital world – the objective being to get to a younger audience via YouTube, Facebook etc.
I planned the route and created .gpx files (cycling sat nav) which started at Stalag Luft III in Poland and crossed Germany (the former eastern sector) via Colditz (where we stayed the night), the Moehne Dam, Germany as we know it today, Holland, Belgium and into France before traversing another tunnel and finishing at Faversham where Shepherd Neame the brewer and the sponsor of the Spitfires team is headquartered. Along with the mapping I provided some guidance on cycle spares and packed my bag of tools and spares.
The RAF contingent travelled to Poland on 20 March 2019 and I flew from Birmingham to Berlin on Saturday 23 March 2019 to meet up with the van and drive to Zagan (having a glimpse of the Berlin Wall and Checkpoint Charlie en route)
Sunday saw the ceremony which was really quite moving - after some speeches from various dignitaries, some rousing music, national anthems, firing of blanks and a couple of fly-pasts the RAF personnel in "Number One" uniform marched slowly along the old camp road before the roll call of the 50 escapees that were murdered by the Gestapo on direct orders from Adolf Hitler. [76 escaped, 73 were captured (50 of them were shot) 3 got home] 50 RAF people each stepped forward as the names were announced, holding a framed photograph of the named person.
There is a Polish made film of the ceremony on YouTube CLICK HERE [Film opens in a new window, or scroll to the end of the page for a live YouTube link] - it's a bit sombre with the victims' names overlaying most of the film.
The ride started on Monday morning in bitterly cold rain and wind and on indifferent road surfaces . . . . but it did get better! The team on the bikes at any one time varied between 5 and 8.
Rather than give a day-by-day account of the ride there is a YouTube film CLICK HERE [Film opens in a new window, or scroll to the end of the page for a live YouTube link]
Some photographs - and we really did stay in Colditz Castle, it's been converted to a cross between a hotel and a youth hostel together with a school of music.
Tim Barlow having laid a wreath.
The RAF personnel with victims' photographs
One of the quieter lanes in Germany
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Some route discussion
Rider refuelling stop
Colditz, it really is as forbidding as it looks - we escaped.
The Moehne Dam (Repaired since the Dambusters Raid!)
Riding across the Moehne Dam
Ready to leave
The whole team on the beach at Dunkirk
The Battle of Britain Memorial at Capel le Ferne (Folkestone)
The route in strip map form (at Shepherd Neame Brewery, Faversham)
L-R: Nick, Tim, Nathan, Alex, Rob
Squadron Leader Tim Barlow
* I had undertaken a similar role in September 2015 when the Spitfires did a cycle ride around some of the Battle of Britain sites in Southern England - on Brompton folding bikes.
** Sagan was formerly in eastern Germany which, when the borders were amended after WW2, became Poland and the spelling changed to Zagan
In the Polish film there are a couple of brief glimpses of me sitting in the marquee
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I've ridden the boards at Manchester & Newport Velodromes!
Manchester Velodrome – November 2007
To celebrate my (significant) birthday, my daughters hired the Manchester Velodrome (Built in 1994 and used for the 2002 Commonwealth Games) for a private track riding session.
Fixed-wheel bikes, no brakes, steeply banked track - awesome!
I, my daughters & partners and cycling chums spent the session, with guidance from Fred the coach, pounding the track … slowly and carefully at first, moving to considerable speed and getting well up the banking - with some timed laps to sort the men from the boys, and girls (Results withheld by request!)
Picture : (l-r) Andy, Tamsin, Olivia, Olly, Zoe, Tom, Rob, Jenni, Steve, Martin and Jon. Mrs Rob took the picture, she didn’t ride.
Manchester Velodrome -April 2008
Another session at the track - the weekend following the World Championships. Fixed-wheel bikes, no brakes, steeply banked track and 14 riders (8 in MacRide jerseys) with a coached session.
Newport Velodrome - October 2008
Change of venue this time, to Newport Velodrome with the same size (250 m) track as Manchester but in a smaller building. A group totalling 27 riders, in two groups. Some slightly different exercises with a flying time trial and "chase the peloton" ride where the front rider peels off and sprints to catch the back marker within (hopefully!) 2 or 3 laps.
Newport Velodrome - December 2008
A track riding session for 15 pals from various connections - and I rode my new Geoffrey Butler track machine (see Bicycles/Gone) Our session was delayed starting as Chris Hoy and Jamie Staff were using the track for some training and filming with Sky. (They did ask if they could join our session, but as they hadn't booked in advance we couldn't let them)
Manchester Velodrome - February 2009
Another session with twenty-two riders, in two groups, pounding the boards. Not much else to add - just as much fun as before - and requests for another booking ....
Track riding - text extracted and abridged from the British Cycling website.
Track racing is one of the most exciting types of cycle racing both to watch and take part in. It is also accessible: at the track you can be just inches away from the cyclists riding at speeds of up to 80kph - yet you can ride on the very same track to have a go yourself.
Track racing takes place on short specially built tracks consisting of two tight, banked corners joined by two short straights. Tracks range hugely in length - outdoor tracks usually being longer and with shallower bankings - but Olympic and World Championship Track racing is generally held on indoor 250m wooden tracks like the Manchester and Newport velodromes. Many outdoor tracks are concrete or tarmac surfaced.
Track bikes are relatively simple in that they have no gears or brakes. The bikes have a fixed wheel (forcing you to pedal continuously) so the rider controls speed through pressure applied to the pedals.
