The Cycling Europe Podcast

Have you ever struggled to come up with an interesting, different, perhaps even unique idea for a long cycle ride? The Cycling Europe Podcast is coming to your rescue! In this feature-length episode of the podcast recorded on location in the Yorkshire Dales and the English Lake District, Andrew P. Sykes chats with fellow cycling writer and master of the innovative cycle ride Rob Ainsley, Guinness World Record breaker David Haywood and David Bowie fan James Briggs who all reflect upon their inspirational cycle tours with a twist. If this episode of the podcast doesn't get you thinking about your own next ride, nothing will!

It may be flatter in The Netherlands but can that really explain why women set off on their bicycles 25-times more often than here in the UK? It seems unlikely. Cycling UK's Women's Festival of Cycling takes place from 11th-31st July. Its aim is to encourage more women to cycle and The Cycling Europe Podcast talks to Cycling UK's Helen Cook about the thinking behind the event and what will be taking place. On July 11th the 4th list of '100 Women in Cycling' will be published by Cycling UK. The podcast speaks to Susan Doram who appeared on the list in 2019 about her cycling journey from the company car to cycling the globe, via much, much more...

This episode of the podcast is going to be slightly different. Rather than talking to a current cyclist, I’m going to be investigating the life of a cyclist from the past. You’ve probably never heard his name before and you’re even less likely to have heard his story. He was a German-born American called Maximilian J. St. George. His story is told via extracts from his book, Traveling Light or Cycling Europe on Fifty Cents a Day read by the actor Jeremy Walker with contributions from the historian Dr James Stout, the cycling writer Michael Hutchinson and two Romanian long-distance cyclists Lehel Benedek and Elod Keresszegi. It’s an epic take of an epic cycling journey from over 100 years ago by the original Mr. Cycling Europe…

When I started writing my first book – Crossing Europe on a Bike Called Reggie – I never imagined that it would one day help encourage a man who I’d never met to chuck in his long-term job and start cycling around the World. But apparently it did. That man is Ian Finlay and in this episode of The Cycling Europe Podcast he tells us about his journey so far through Europe, Asia and across Australia to New Zealand where, yet again, a certain virus put a spoke in his plans…

It doesn't matter who you happen to be, whether it's Mark Beaumont, Josie Dew, Alastair Humphreys, Fred Bloggs or even (dare I say) Andrew P. Sykes, if you're intent upon embarking on a long-distance cycling adventure of your own, at some point you need to move out of your comfort zone, push the bike out of the garden gate and set off cycling, however uncomfortable that may feel, initially at least. That's what Abigail Melton and Lilith Cooper decided to do and they've just written about their experiences as first-time cycle tourists in a new book called Gears For Queers.

If you are a long-distance cyclist in Europe, it's highly unlikely that you have managed to avoid the EuroVelo network of cycling routes. Created and administered by the European Cyclists' Federation, the 16 routes are a source of support and inspiration not just long-distance cyclists but also those who set off on much shorter trips within Europe. But what is the thinking behind the EuroVelo network? Why was it created? What can you expect if you choose to cycle one of the routes? And where is the network going in the future? All questions that we asked Ed Lancaster of The European Cyclists' Federation, the man in charge of developing and promoting Europe's greenest travel network.

Epic cycle tours come in many shapes and sizes. Some stretch over many thousands of kilometres, some take in dozens of countries, lots take months, perhaps even years to complete. But few cycle tours take 12 years and still claim to be unfinished. That's what a group of Welsh cyclists have been doing since 2007 since they set off from the port of Holyhead in Anglesey, Wales. The Cycling Europe Podcast spoke to Geraint Rowlands, Owen Peak and Gareth Cadwaladr about their cycle tour of Europe with a difference.

Welcome to this rather special episode of The Cycling Europe Podcast. Since the inception of the podcast in 2017, we’ve featured many people with fascinating stories to tell; people who have cycled across the world, people who have inspired others, people who have displayed their passion for cycling in some extraordinary ways. But the guest on this episode of the podcast eclipses almost all others when it comes to long-distance cycling achievement, Mr Mark Beaumont.

Imagine you set off to cross a continent on your bicycle only for a global pandemic to stop you in your tracks. That's what happened to Paul Gentle as he attempted to cycle from Tarifa in Spain to Nordkapp in Norway. The Cycling Europe Podcast spoke to Paul about his plans, his cycle through Spain and France and his race against the clock to get back home to the UK while it was still possible.

The Cycling Europe Podcast returns with a celebrity interview! Mark Beaumont? Tim Moore? Josie Dew? Not quite… This celebrity not only has surprising long-distance cycling credentials but also some thought-provoking comments to make about the joys of heading off on your bike for a long-distance adventure. His name? […]

The British people have spoken and, by popular demand, The Cycling Europe Podcast returns with episode 013. In this latest audio extravaganza of all things cycling, we head to Matlock in the English Peak District to meet the travel writer and long-distance cyclist Helen Moat. In 2015 she […]

The Cycling Europe Podcast is back in the UK and heads to Scotland to chat with Paul Cheese, musician and long-distance cyclist. His travels took him on an astonishing journey to almost every nook and cranny of Britain with a bicycle between his legs and a microphone in […]

The Cycling Europe Podcast berths in Santander, Spain for two weeks of adventure across the Iberian Peninsula via Potes, Riaño, León, Puebla de Sanabria, Bragança and Porto to Coimbra in Portugal. Join Andrew P. Sykes as he discovers the cycle path less travelled up and over the remote […]

The Cycling Europe Podcast is heading to northern Spain but pauses en route for two days of cycling on the Isle of Wight. Andrew P. Sykes follows the Round-the-Island Cycle Route in an anticlockwise direction before hooking up with the Red Squirrel Trail for a return to Cowes […]

The Cycling Europe Podcast hits the road and heads along the Yorkshire section of the EuroVelo 12, otherwise known as the North Sea Cycle Route, from the iconic Humber Bridge on the southern edge of Britain’s largest county to the coastal treasure that is Whitby. It was a […]

The Cycling Europe Podcast returns with a new touring bike special. Andrew P. Sykes visits CycleSense in Tadcaster, Yorkshire to pick up his new Koga Signature WorldTraveller bicycle and chats to the owner David Stainthorpe about his purchase. We hear from Koga brand ambassador Alee Denham from the […]

Cycling the Yorkshire Dales Cycleway (eastern loop) from Malham to Settle and back, travelling in Japan and an interview with Mike Webb of PulpedTravel.com and cycling to the summit of one of the Tour de France’s most iconic climbs: Mont Ventoux.

The Cycle Touring Festival 2018 featuring Stephen Fabes, Libby Bowles, Sophie Esterer and Laura & Tim Moss, taking your bicycle on a train in northern England and William Manners, author of ‘Revolution: How The Bicycle Reinvented Modern Britain’.

Around the World with Tim Moss – ‘With The Sun on Our Right’, cycling the National Cycle Network routes 66 and 69 in Yorkshire, and sound effects…