Ypres: Tour de France Stage 5

It's not just Yorkshire preparing to host the Tour de France in July. To mark the centenary of the First World War, Stage 5 of the Tour is starting in the Belgium town of Ypres, where 54,000 Commonwealth soldiers died. Emily and I went to Brussels a few of weeks ago to visit my sister-in-law Swizz and we went to Ypres for the day. I had to get my recorder out!

Here's my story on BBC Radio Sheffield:

listen to ‘Ypres’ on Audioboo

Cycling Tour de France Stage 2

It's fewer than 4 weeks to go until the greatest cycle race in the world comes to South Yorkshire. To find out what it'll be like for the 198 Tour de France riders, I cycled Stage 2 of the race from York to Sheffield at the weekend. The 125 miles took me two full days of cycling with a night in Hebden Bridge. 

Six of us started the ride in York but after countless long, steep, climbs and descents, I was cycling alone. Our good friend Phil fell off his bike coming down a hill after Cragg Vale. We wish him a speedy recovery. I completed the ride at the finish line outside Sheffield Arena at 23:15 on Sunday. It's amazing that the pro riders will do the stage in fewer than 6 hours on Sunday 6th July!

Here's my interview on BBC Radio Sheffield:

listen to ‘My Stage 2 Ride’ on Audioboo

How Safe is Cycling in the Peak District?

Training session in Stannington for new road cyclists

Last month a 22-year-old woman from Sheffield died after she cycled down Winnats Pass in Castleton when her bike hit a wall at the bottom of the hill.

This sad story made me want to look into how safe it is to ride in the challenging but beautiful climbs and descents of the Peaks. I dug out the figures and found the numbers of cyclists who had died or been injured on the roads in the national park has trebled in five years, although these numbers are relatively low (four injured in 2008 and twelve last year, including one death).

When I asked other cyclists about this story I was told that many accidents are not recorded in the figures because cyclists that are hurt often do not report it to the police. Here's my story...

listen to ‘Bike Safety’ on Audioboo