The New Forest was on course to become the first rural location to run a bike hire scheme. However, in August the New Forest National Park Authority members voted not to go through with the scheme. The plan was to operate up to 250 self service style hire bikes located at 20 docking stations around the forest. Despite the high profile backing of Sir Chris Hoy, it was deemed … [Read more...]

Updated for the 2015 edition 2015 marks the 102nd edition of the Tour de France. So we thought it might be helpful to update our guide to this great sporting event! Introduction The Tour de France is the oldest and most prestigious cycling stage race in the World. The first Tour de France took place in 1903 with the goal of promoting sales of the magazine L’Auto. The Tour de … [Read more...]

Lovely work by British design icon, Paul Smith. He was commissioned to design a set of posters to mark the UK stages of the 2014 Tour de France. The posters are free to download on Paul Smith's website. The design of the posters takes inspiration from the three UK stages of the Tour, helping to mark the great occasion! Paul Smith is a well known fan of cycling, having loved … [Read more...]

The use of tacks to disrupt cycling events is becoming a regular occurrence. Here in the New Forest there have been a couple of notable instances of sabotage involving people scattering tacks on the road to disrupt a cycle event. Not only is this costly (a bike tyre can cost between £30 and £60), it's also dangerous. The first of these was during the Wiggle Spring Sportive … [Read more...]

This project started in 2013 with the seemingly simple idea of coming up with a range of road cycling routes that would inspire people to get on their bikes and ride them. As with many things in life, this project has had to fit round work, family and church, but we got there in the end! The maps that accompany each route have been custom designed so as to fit on one sheet … [Read more...]