Phil

If you try searching for advice on bikepacking with a laptop, you’re generally going to get a few responses: Backpack - Gives you a sweaty…

I cycled from Bristol to Morocco, and back at the end of 2019 and early 2020. Why? After my stupid achilles injury that took up most of…

Are you a couple of miles (or days) from the nearest bike shop? If you’re like me, and enjoy creative problem solving, then this is a fun…

Bristol and Bath are two amazing cities that I’m lucky to have called home most of my life. I lived between the two cities, riding in and…

When you’re out riding for weeks at a time, there are all sorts of devices to keep charged. Phone, bike computer, head torch, the remote for…

I took the Garmin Edge 530 for a little jaunt through Ireland, England, north Spain, then down the west coast of Portugal. It was my main…

Going from fundraising 70,000 trees in summer, to being injured and unable to do shit, meant I had to think outside the box in order to keep…

Ferries have been a crucial part of my European touring adventures this year, and it wasn’t just me boat-packing around. Every ferry I got…

I think it’s generally healthy to find and push your limits, but I kicked my limits in the face and hurt myself. Riding a loaded touring…

Various questionable decisions had lead to me being in the Balkans in July. It had been hot as hell in June, and the first half of July wasn…

Figuring out exactly what bags to get for my tour was tough. There’s loads of options and obsessing about it is hard to avoid. Should I try…

Bosnia was wild. It was first wild camp since the Slovakian mosquito/bivy failure, and it was the most remote, spidery, beautiful, broken…

It’s not my first time in Serbia, but this was a fantastic experience. I set off from the Hungarian side of the border after having…

This fundraiser managed to get 100,000 trees in the ground in 2019. In 2020 things are far worse, so we’re going bigger. I have started a…

Since the madness in Slovakia I’ve gone a bit quiet on the place-based blogging. I’ve moaned about how bad the Garmin Vector 3 pedals are…

Tubeless in cyclocross and mountain biking these days is pretty much the default, but going tubeless for road is a long frustrating drive on…

When you spend $900 on some fancy power pedals, you kinda hope the hardware won’t literally fall apart while the software bugs out every few…

The last stop in my Czech crossing was Brno, and I struggled leaving, it was so nice, and hot, and I ended up having lunch and a beer with a…

I’ve not felt this at home in any country. Czech Republic, to me, feels just like being in the west country (South West, UK). Hello is “ahoy…

When I started out in Spain there was just one shop in town which had a rack: a big heavy steel bastard, and just the one panier which was…

Two months ago I set off from Spain heading north, with no real goals other than “hit as many countries as you can and do a good job at your…

I have a reputation for haphazard bike work, and getting into stupid situations. I crash, I forget to torque my bars up so a crash mid cross…

After my brief stop in Milan, I had fresh bearings, fresh legs, and some beefy new tubeless tyres, all in perfect timing for a venture into…

Milan was a great rest stop after a bonkers trip through the French Alps, and I had three days off the bike as once again there were things…

After taking a week long break in Nice to relax on a beach, get my back wheel re-spoked, and get a bit of work done, I popped over to Monaco…

Things went to absolute shit between Montpelier and Nice, and got a bit silly getting over the Alps to Italy. Constant headwinds and cold…

The pace in Spain had been a bit funny. I got drafted to speak at API Meetup Barcelona, which was about a week after I had originally…

After leaving the states and spending five weeks in the Canary Islands, it still felt too soon to rush into a new life back in the UK, so I…

After quitting my job and leaving the States in a rush, and with Brexit not making going home to the UK too appealing. It was February and…

2018 was a blast, in a bunch of unexpected and ridiculous ways. It had come to my attention sometime around June that I hated by job. Lots…

DCCX was a road-trip weekend down to a UCI race around Lincoln’s summer home… or something. Two very different days, with two very different…

The last few weeks have been lighter on cyclocross than they should have been. I had planned a double weekend of Lucky Charm and Cooper…

Some of the big takeaways from last year were about breathing. My last race Elm City was a mess once my nose turbine (a little plastic…

With my trial ride up Cere Jefe out of the way, Idiota Gringo set off for a bigger adventure: Panama City to El Valle de Antón. Anton Valley…

Some friends moved to Panama from Colombia and invited me down, so I grabbed my cross bike and went for an explore. Unlike last years trip…

Nobody wants to hear about sweating away on TrainerRoad so I’ve been quiet since cross season was done, but now I have an adventure to write…

Last year, Elm City was my first cross race. It was the last of the season, and that was no coincidence. I was desperately waiting for my…

Supercross CX has to be one of the top tier northeast cyclocross events. It’s absolutely huge, and with two variations over two days it felt…

Back home from Kutztown, there was just enough time to fix up the bike, get beer and nachos in the belly, and get the kit washed for another…

Kutztown CX is a grassy, turny crit. There’s nothing particularly technical other than a 6-ft pump track, and a set of barriers after a…

It’s cross season, and all my bones are working! Last season I was in a boot, but this time around I’m all good to go.With very little cross…

Traveling to major cities, figuring out the taxi/train/bus to and from the airport, then bumbling about yet another globalized concrete…

Over the last five weeks I’ve been getting into the swing of road racing. I’ve done plenty of Brooklyn alley cat type stuff, snuck in that…

One-armed struggles in the pain cave, fixing up a set of wobbly handlebars on the go, and a rather stupid mountain bike crash - with an…

I’ve had a spot of bad luck over the last few months. First a fractured heel in late October, all my bikes have had mechanical trouble, then…

I try setting up a Cyclops Hammer and was about as smooth as a brick. Ended up running through about five bike shops to find a 11-speed…

As a road rider and occasional mountain biker, cyclocross always seemed alien, expensive, and tricky to break into. I met a chap at the new…

After a really strong season of riding, I’m having to take a break. On the commute to work, some daft bastard ran me off my bike, giving me…

This season I’ve noticed an increase in people “getting into cycling” and wanting to go on bike adventures, which suits me nicely. I got…