About
me
When it comes to cycling I’m very much an enthusiastic amateur! However, I hope by sharing some of my challenges and endeavours I can encourage you too to get out on your bike and enjoy the great outdoors.
Believe me, if I can do it, anyone can!
I’ve spent most of my working life as a journalist, first as a local newspaper reporter and then as a radio and TV producer for the BBC. I’ve also done stints as a press officer for Essex Police and the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI).
Although I cycled a lot as a child, I didn’t venture far until 2009 when, at the age of 44 and with no real preparation and training, I rode from Land’s End to John O’Groats. It completely changed my life. I’d expected to feel elation and relief that the whole ordeal was over. I could now return the bike to the shed – reserved for the occasional short jaunt.
Instead I looked upon it in new found wonder. Just imagine, a machine requiring no fuel other than the power of my legs that could transport me the whole length of the country. Rather than being the end of my cycling endeavours I realised LEJOG could just be the beginning!
Rides to Paris, Cologne and Geneva followed, but once you’ve caught the long-distance cycling bug, it’s very hard to let it go. In 2014 I joined my former BBC colleague Terry Wooller and we rode the TransAmerica Trail — 4,264 miles from Virginia to Oregon. In 2019 we went back to the States, this time riding 3,084 miles from Florida to California.
In more recent years I’ve completed several cycling trips to the Netherlands, as well as riding many of Cycling UK’s excellent off-road routes, including the King Alfred’s Way, Traws Eryri, the Cantii Way and the Rebellion Way. Over the years my grandson has also joined me on several adventures, including cycling from London to Birmingham along the Grand Union Canal in 2022 when he was 12.
Lately I’ve combined my love of cycling with my writing, completing my first book — ‘TRANSAM — Cycling Coast to Coast on the Trail the US loved first’ in 2026, so my story appears to have come full circle. I’m currently writing my second book ‘Southern Tier’ about our 2019 ride.
Miraculously I’m still married and living in Essex with my wife Kate, who tells me I have too many hobbies (she’s right). When I’m not riding my bike, planning future adventures, or annoying Terry, I play trombone with our local brass band, Rayleigh Brass as well as spending time standing by the roadside after breaking down in old cars I tell Kate are ‘classics’. She’s not convinced.
Meanwhile I’m still dreaming of the open road and another long ride…..watch this space!