Stunning Scottish scenery? Check. A great mix of gravel tracks, cycle paths, and lovely quiet roads? Check. Some of the world’s finest distilleries? Double check.
If all of those things are on the list for your next bikepacking holiday, check out Markus Stitz's newest short film, Wild About Bikepacking, where the long-distance cyclist explores the new Bikepacking Argyll's Islands route.
Commissioned by Wild About Argyll and CalMac Ferries, and created by Bikepacking Scotland, the route maps a 496-kilometre trek across the Isles of Mull, Jura, Islay, and Bute, offering plenty for new and experienced bikepackers alike.
“For me, boarding a ferry to an island is the perfect start to a bikepacking adventure, and this route includes some of the most scenic ferry journeys in Scotland,” Stitz says.
“A gravel bike is the perfect bike to cycle the Bikepacking Argyll’s Islands route. What I really like about it is the combination of great cycling, culinary offers and accommodation.”
Great cycling, places to stay, and top-notch food and drink? Sign me up. Though I better start doing some proper training…
You can read more about the route over at off.road.cc.
Cycling UK announced yesterday that it plans to launch a new long-distance cycling route in Kent, which it says will be ready for the public to ride from Kent Day on 26 May.
Named the Cantii Way, after the Iron Age Celtic tribe who lived in Britain before the Roman conquest, the route comprises a 145-mile loop starting and ending in the village of Wye, close to Asford in Kent.
According to Cycling UK, it is designed to be ridden over three to four days in one go, but can be split up over several weekends thanks to the number of train stations along the way.
Using a combination of quiet ways, country lanes, byways and bridleways, the route passes through Canterbury, Whitstable and Dover and is designed with cyclists of all abilities in mind. For the foodies amongst you, it also promises to be “equal parts culinary and cycle tour”.
The charity’s campaigns officer behind the route, Sophie Gordon, said: “Kent is rich in history, rich in culture and rich in cuisine – all of which make it a perfect destination for the cycling tourist. At Cycling UK we feel with the Cantii Way we’ve struck the right balance between each of these.
“Routes like the Cantii Way aren’t just great fun to ride, but they also bring a real benefit to the local rural economy.
“The people cycling through Kent’s network of paths and quiet ways will quite literally be fuelling themselves from the local shops, pubs and tea rooms they pass through – and many of these will be off the beaten track.”
To help prepare for the expected boost in cycling over the summer, Cycling UK is also providing accommodation and hospitality businesses with guidance and free equipment bundles worth up to £400, as part of its Cycle Friendly Places initiative.
The new route in Kent is part of the charity’s broader aim to see the creation of a national network of long-distance, off-road routes, taking in “amazing places and wild landscapes” across Britain.
The Cantii Way is the fifth long-distance cycling loop Cycling UK has launched since its riders’ route for the North Downs Way was unveiled in 2018. A sixth route is expected to be unveiled at the end of the summer in Norfolk.
U2 on bikes#bicyclestpatricksdaypic.twitter.com/LkKUezGwDN
— Cool Bike Art 🚴 (@CoolBikeArt1) March 17, 2022
A Ukrainian bike mechanic is using his mountain bike tour business to raise funds for his country’s defence and evacuation efforts.
Yurii Panchenko fled Ukraine with his wife and daughter after a Russian missile exploded near their home. He runs a mountain bike company which offers cycling tours in and around Kyiv using Airbnb.
With the Ukrainian capital on the receiving end of indiscriminate missile strikes and shelling by the Russian army, Panchenko was astonished to find that someone had booked a tour in the city last week.
“First, I didn’t understand. Then I read a note from the customer, where they said they didn’t want to take the tour and they just wanted to support us,” he told ABC News.
That gave Panchenko an idea – he changed the name of his tours from ‘Mountain Biking in Kyiv’ to ‘Support Ukrainian Army Mountain Bike Tours in Kyiv’, and the number of bookings suddenly skyrocketed.
In the past week he’s received 500 tour bookings, raising over £11,000 – even though he dropped his prices to allow more people to donate.
“People from all over the world have booked tours for several months ahead just to support us,” Panchenko said. “Except for Russians. We haven’t had bookings from there yet.”
The money will be used to buy fuel and medicine in support of evacuation efforts in Ukraine, as well as body armour, helmets and special devices to be used by Ukrainian troops.
Panchenko’s family are now living in Vienna, after travelling for four days through Romania with a single bag of clothes and essentials and under £800 to their name.
They managed to find temporary housing in the Austrian capital, where Panchenko has also found work as a mechanic in a bike shop.
He said: “We’ll be here for at least three weeks. We’re faring much better than other families who are still stuck in Ukraine. We’re trying to help those in need as much as we can.”
I know they say he’s an all-rounder, but this is ridiculous…
No Julian Alaphilippe at Milan-Sanremo this weekend… but he is running at Cheltenham Festival later today! 🐎 pic.twitter.com/lBJB3VtyQt
— Joe Timms (@Timmsoski) March 17, 2022
Also, in honour of St Patrick’s Day, it seems as if Alaphilippe has declared for Ireland today at Cheltenham. If only…
Motorists complaining at filling up with fuel approaching £2 per litre when cyclists have been filling up with coffee at almost £3 per cup for years!
— Bike Boom! (@bikebooom) March 17, 2022
Speaking of which, almost time for a coffee...
After school clubs, weekend sports, parties, shopping trips, visiting her friends. Rain or shine (today rain). There she goes, on the back without complaint. She doesn't even know that 27% of her trips in 2021 were on an E-Cargo bike. She hates being in the car. What a legend 🥰 pic.twitter.com/eHM271UT6G
— Karim Dia Toubajie (@karimtoubajie) March 16, 2022
St Patrick’s Day, good people in green - always makes me think of Sean Kelly and Stephen Roche... pic.twitter.com/RKQYzTL7bx
— Graham Watson (@grahamwatson10) March 17, 2022
Just in case you hadn’t already noticed on social media, it’s St Patrick’s Day – the day the good people of Chicago, for some inexplicable reason, dye their river a radioactive shade of green.
So to celebrate Ireland’s patron saint – and the fact that Milan-San Remo is just 48 hours away – let’s start the day by looking back on one of Irish sport’s greatest moments: Sean Kelly’s daredevil descent off the Poggio to win the 1992 edition of La Classicissima.
Kelly’s second Milan-San Remo win is legendary. One of the dominant riders of the 1980s, by 1992 the man from Carrick-On-Suir was 35 and in the autumn of his career. Despite taking Il Lombardia the year before, the future Eurosport commentator wasn’t considered a big favourite for Milan-San Remo, a race he had last won in 1986.
But with old rival Moreno Argentin looking set to take the victory as he led by eight seconds over the Poggio with three kilometres to go, Kelly launched his iconic move off the front of the peloton.
Even now, thirty years later, Kelly’s descent is something to behold. Sprinting out of every corner, he practically bounces off the walls and greenhouses that line the descent of the Poggio to catch the Italian at the bottom with just one kilometre left – prompting an audible groan from the home fans at the finish as they hear the ominous news.
The tifosi were right to groan. Kelly duly dispatched Argentin in the sprint, taking his second victory at La Primavera and the last big win of his illustrious career.
You can relive it all here, complete with the brilliantly idiosyncratic commentary of the late, great David Duffield:
Is Kelly’s breakneck descent of the Poggio your favourite Irish cycling moment?
Or is it Phil Liggett’s iconic cry of “That looks like Roche. It’s Stephen Roche!” at La Plagne in 1987?
Perhaps it’s Dan Martin being chased by a panda on his way to the 2013 Liège-Bastogne-Liège? Or even Paul Kimmage’s infamous appearance on RTÉ’s Late Late Show after A Rough Ride was published?
Pour yourself a Guinness and let us know in the comments!