It was February 2022. Chris Whitty had just been knighted, the UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson had published an official statement about ‘how we will live with COVID,’ relaxing practically all the restrictions concerning meeting and travel, and I was cooked. I’d been working for the London Cycling Campaign for approximately two years, overwhelmingly indoors, and not really doing much cycling, and I was really not in a good way at all. My sleep cycle was all over the place and the only in-person communication I was getting was with a very occasional couple of laps of Regents Park with friends I really treasure. But this occasional relief wasn’t enough; I needed to go and figuratively touch grass. My chosen way of doing this was to quit my white collar job and become a cargo bike courier with an employer of cargo bike pilots. I did this for just over 2 years. This is a blog post about what I learned about Urban Arrow cargo bikes and how what I’ve learned might help you going forward.
Tag Archives: bike
Why I’m not doing the Via Francigena, from Canterbury to Rome, and what I’m planning instead
I’ve lost track of when I first heard of the Via Francigena. I think it was from a Reddit post a few years ago, on some kind of cycle touring community, where someone wrote up their account of doing a ‘mini Francigena’, riding from Milan to Rome. This when I first learned about the existence of this >1,000 year old pilgrimage route from Canterbury to the Eternal City, which really captured my imagination. I’ve felt like this would be the dream adventure and I’ve related how much I want to do it to a many people, but after some agonising, I’ve decided to put it on indefinite hold. This is a short write-up of why I wanted to do the Via Francigena, why I’ve decided not to, why that’s worth writing about, and what I’m thinking about doing instead.
What I’ve learned about first aid and how it could help you with your cycling
I’ve been carrying a compact first aid kit in a hip pack for a few years now. It comes with me while cycling and running, and when I’m out at work too. I’ve used it a few times now and thought this short post about how first aid might be something you should think about more and prepare for. But emore importantly I’ve done a variety of training which is honestly more important than just ‘having the gear.’ I’ve tried to condense this into a shortish article about my reflections on the topic, and hope it’s useful.
Skipped a quarter of the Brother Big ‘Un 2025 and drove there late: Learnings and observations
Ordinarily with a cycling event I’ll turn up the night before, camp, do the ride, camp again, and get the train home the next morning. This was the draft plan for 2025’s Brother Big ‘Un ride in Kent, but events conspired and I just didn’t finish and get home from work until around 7.30 pm the night before. The good news was that I’d been lent an electric van to go with, so my thinking was I’d just drive in the morning and do the ride. This is a post about what I learned and observed in so doing.
What I learned cycling some of the Cantii way the wrong way round with a new camera
August is dead quiet for my 9-5 job so I took Tuesday-Friday off this week (the week before August Bank Holiday 2025). I decided to ride some of the Cantii Way in Kent, which is a cheapish 90 minute train ticket away from London, and also had a Panasonic Lumix GF1 camera, which I hope will mark an improvement in the output on this blog. I should also add this is the first blog post following a trip done on my new bike, which is a titanium frame with bits and gubbins from the Merlin swapped on to it. This is a short article outlining what I learned and observed.
Learnings and observations about doing a gravel ride fixed-gear with an Olympus OM Tough 6 camera, and why I returned it
I am very aware that the quality of the photos on this blog aren’t exactly something to call the Pulitzer nomination committee about, which I’m working on. To this end, I bought an ‘OM Tough TG-6’ camera for bringing on rides, with the idea being that it would improve the blog without leaving me constantly paranoid about the state of the gear. This is what I learned from doing so.
What I learned and observed doing the Dunwich Dynamo fixed – again
The first time was so nice, I had to do it twice. It didn’t hurt that my other bike had a cracked frame either. For the second year in a row I took the fixed gear commuter bike on the ride to Dunwich, and there were a few bits I jotted down you might beContinue reading “What I learned and observed doing the Dunwich Dynamo fixed – again”
3 successes and learnings riding from Hackney to Brighton off-road
I’m very lucky to have pals who commit to big plans and full days out; I asked my friend Maria if they’d be free for ‘a ride’ on a coming Saturday, and they immediately came back with a full .gpx file going from Hackney to Brighton overwhelmingly off-road. For me this came to a day’s 165km/100mi of riding. We kicked it off at 0715 to make the most of the sunshine and to hammer it out of London before it got too hot, and we met up with two other pals in Richmond and Weybridge. It was a great day out with some big wins and learning points, so here they are.
What I learned doing the Dunwich Dynamo on my fixed gear bike
Despite me having been a cyclist in and around London for about 6-7 years, I’d never done the ‘Dun Run’ before. It had coincided with the now sadly discontinued London Orbital Audax (the night of a full moon being particularly good for long rides to spare you cycle lights battery life). But in 2024 the calendar worked out that I could give it a go.
I’d done some longer fixed gear rides before, such as the Audax I did a few years ago before the pandemic, but it had been a bit of a break so the nerves were getting to me a little in the run-up. Luckily, it ended up being a marvellous ride. Hopefully you can learn a bit from this blog post and feel like a fixed gear Dun Run might be the thing for you in 2025.
2 flops and 2 wins at the Pan Celtic Gravel Rally 2024
Last weekend I rented a van with my pal and drove from London to Eryri National Park (Snowdonia) with our tickets for the Pan Celtic Gravel Rally in our pockets. This meant a 19km ‘night stage’ on the evening of the Friday, starting at 2030, and the 136km ‘long’ route the next day starting atContinue reading “2 flops and 2 wins at the Pan Celtic Gravel Rally 2024”
Calum On Wheels 