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 rides, on the hills .
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. Same editor as BikeBiz, an award winning web site from a cycle trade mag publisher. Statistics, advice, trade directory, and a downloadable version of the publication.
Bryans' bike page Cycling etiquette, tips for novices ... The main page itself is quite big, so the link is to the index.
North Lanarkshire Council has a good section on its web site on many aspects of cycling. Mostly relevant to all, not just those in Scotland, although it does include a Cycling in Winter tips page (but no mention of considering grippier tyres for the season).
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.
Books: Our favourite author on the practicalities of cycling, Richard Ballantine, has new book out, City Cycling (Aug 07). "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 - £4 off at Aug 07. Cyclecraft: The Complete Guide to Safe and Enjoyable Cycling for Adults and Children (Paperback) by John Franklin.

Next Steps

CycleWeb Pretty good lists of cycle museums, holiday companies, publications, but no descriptions to guide you.
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.
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 now on CycleMalvern blog.

Touring and off-road

HikerBiker Information for the UK touring cyclist.
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 weblog.
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.
City Cycling Online magazine which does get out of town some of the time.
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.
Steve Thomas is a travel writer/photographer with a cycling focus. Some nice pics and a few articles on the site.
Cycling Images gallery and stock photos from Jason Patient.
Joolze Dymond mountain bike evets, cyclo cross and other photos.
Mountain Bike Girl - based somewhere in Britain.
Favourite bicycle related blogs: Velorution (from old LCC colleague Andreas), 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, now part of a larger firm.

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.