Write Around

Writing (and taking photos) about cycling.

Cycling web sites:
- getting started,
- next steps,
- touring and off-road,
- writing and photography.
Also a Cycling Miscellany. Jewellery, history and memorabilia, odds and sods.

Also see

Cycling around Malvern - planning a leisure ride.
CycleMalvern blog.

Cycling web sites

There are many racing/touring club sites and various attempts at putting wider facilities together. Here's some less sport dominated:

Getting started

Bike for All Advice and information to potential and developing cyclists. Pulling together material from other web sites with helpful notes, plus news and events listing sections are quite good too. The editor is also connected with BikeBiz (below).
Bryan's bicycle page Cycling etiquette, tips for novices ...
Why Cycle provides 'impartial advice for potential and new cyclists in the UK'. Includes a forum to ask your questions. Not bad at all, recommended for its intended audience and more.
Bike Club Projects around the country to get youngsters 10 to 20 cycling.
Books: City Cycling (Aug '07) from our favourite author on the practicalities of cycling, Richard Ballantine. "Richard guides the city cyclist through the pitfalls of riding in traffic, how to buy and maintain a good bike, safety and riding with confidence." Buy from Amazon.co.uk. Cyclecraft: The Complete Guide to Safe and Enjoyable Cycling for Adults and Children (Paperback) by John Franklin.

Next Steps

Company of Cyclists A business promoting 'everything cycling', and provides cycling promotion support services. Also an extensive and varied library of cycling images, Bike Try-Out Roadshows/Bike Culture Weeks.
CycleWeb seems to have died autumn - had pretty good lists of cycle museums, holiday companies, publications, but no descriptions to guide you.
One Less Car Cycling and juggling in Northern Ireland.
Try Park Tool Co's bike repair and maintenance section for advice on common problems (they're American but that shouldn't create too much confusion).
Campaign sites are featured on CycleMalvern blog.

Online Cycle Networks and News

There's a few UK-based discussion forums/social networks on cycling that have arrived in thelast year or two.

Cycle Chat.
CTC forum. The open discussion area from the cyclists organisation.

Online cycling news and features

Bike Radar Sections on Mountain Biking, Commuting, Family cycling (although they do seem to overlap greatly).
City Cycling Online magazine which does what it says on the tin, but also gets out of town some of the time.
road.cc A bit of a road cycling focus, but good general coverage of 'real' cycling news too. Currently our preferred cycling news feed.
BikeBiz is for anyone in the cycle trade. News, features, product guides, trade directory, jobs, etc.

Touring and off-road

HikerBiker Information for the UK touring cyclist.
Touring blog from the CTC - with the latest updates from CTC members, and staff.
Cycletourer A couple's experiences and advice on cycle touring with a tent.
Cycle-n-sleep Info for 'long distance bicycle touring', using National Cycle Network routes. But there's also a good Links page.
WarmShowers.org helps create reciprocal hospitality amongst touring cyclists.
Women's Mountain Bike and Tea Society (Wombats) is a network of women of all ages and abilities who share a passion for pedaling in the dirt, US but happy to have international 'chapters'. Also check out Jacquie Phelan's blog.
Crazy Guy on a Bike - a place for bicycle tourists and their journals
SingleTrack - 'The Art Of Mountain Biking'. Magazine with lively web site.
Mountain Bike Trail resource sites: British Trails, UK Bike Trails.

Writing and photography

Josie Dew: cyclist, writer and cook. News updates are worth checking out as tasters and in their own right.
BikeReader, 'a riders digest'. Brilliant site - run by an American living in Britain, and has loads of UK stuff. An archive of essays, humour, links, etc and photo section has much improved since our first visit.
VeloVision Quarterly magazine celebrating cycle culture and cycling inovations from around the world. You can read a sample edition online at Exact Editions.
A to B Magazine Mainly for info on folding bikes, but also covers electric bikes, bike trailers trikes, trains and alternative transport. Online guide to whats available, advice, sample edition online at Exact Editions. Want more on collapsing transport? Then go to The Folding Society web site.
Cycling photographer Brian Donnan is based in Cheltenham, so loads of localish bike pics, including 'Hell of the North Cotswolds' reliability events and a folding bike outing which I saw while out walking that way.
Cycling Images gallery and stock photos from Jason Patient.
Joolze Dymond mountain bike events, cyclo cross and other photos.
Mountain Bike Girl - based somewhere in Britain.
Favourite bicycle related blogs: Velorution, which is a hip London bike shop with a wide folding bicycles range; Dave Moulton's Bike Blog, from an ex-frame builder who has moved to the US from Britain (has some good information/tech pieces too). Copenhagen Girls on Bikes - cycle chic where cycling is just a way of life, or its sister Copenhagen Bike Culture blog, Cycleliciousness.

Cycle Miscellany

Companion Cycling A charity in south west London which enables people who are unable to ride "solo" cycles for whatever reason to enjoy the pleasure of cycling with a companion in the delightful and traffic free surroundings of Bushy Park. Also has Links page featuring specialist cycle suppliers.

Offroad Impact of Mountain Bikes A New Zealand assessment.

Malvern Star is an Australian bicycle maker from the early 1900s. Although now part of a larger firm, the brand was relaunched 2008.

Sheldon Brown's Bicycle Glossary.

UK Cycling Web Ring Mainly those pesky racing clubs, but wider than that.

Unicycle.com Some unicyclists are even bonkers enough to do off-road stuff!

And so to off-road tandem enthusiasts at the Double Forte site.