RSF - The Off Road Cycling Club

The Adventure Starts Here

2017

“The bicycle is a curious vehicle. Its passenger is its engine.” — John Howard, US cyclist

 

All content in the journals is copyright either of the RSF or the author or indeed both. It's use without permission will result in a stiff memo. If you would like to use an article or images please contact the general secretary in the first instance

2017 Jan-Feb Vol 62 No.1
 
image description

This is not a tale of rugged cycling, rather more a description of a delightful place to visit, particularly by bike. Rottnest Island lies 19 km offshore from Perth in Western Australia. The name comes from the Dutch explorer Willem de Vlamingh who ‘discovered’the island in 1696 and declared it a Rotte-nest (rats nest) because of thesmall rat like animals that lived there. These were in fact Quokkas, similar to a small wallaby.
2017 March-April Vol 62 No.2
 
image description

When we told people we were going to Cape Verde they would say oohhow lovely, imagining parasols in a Thomson brochure. We had a different fantasy in mind – thousand-foot cliffs, fearsome crags, vertiginous narrow mule tracks clinging to precipices – more like Tolkien’s Mordor.The Cape Verde islands are a set of volcanic islands off Senegal; smaller,wilder and very different from the Canaries. Some islands are near-deserts; one is even an active volcano
2017 May-June Vol 62 No.3
 
image description

Last September I visited the island of Raasay for the first time, and a wonderful trip it was despite some very wet weather. Taking my bike wasn’t really an option as I was using a hire car from Inverness, so this was a walking holiday. Having done several Scottish rough stuff routes over the years I was looking at the tracks from a cyclist’s as well as walker’s viewpoint. The routes seemed to range from ridable forestry tracks to virtually impossible with a bike. Of course I’m sure some members will tell me that what I thought was impossible they’d ridden over with no trouble at all!
2017 July-Aug Vol 62 No.4
 
image description

Well, time to hold up my end of the bargain... Born out of a conversation on one of our usual Sunday rides, the idea was simple. Get a group of like minded friends together for a weekend of riding and wild camping on Anglesey. An introduction, for a few of us, to the strange world of bivvying and a great opportunity for my good friend Steve to share his knowledge and love for the island. He would, quite rightly, take up the role of Captain for this trip.
2017 Sept-Oct Vol 62 No.5
 
image description

To the Albrunpass, near the Binntalhütte Photo: Henk Francino Don’t know what caused me to wake up but slowly opening my eyes the queer thing that entered the mind was the top of an ice cream floating on an undulating layer of white satin. I had dozed off lying on my back somewhere between Blatt and Oxefeld on my way to the Albrun Pass. After having left the campsite at Giesse (in the Binntal, eastern Switzerland) it had been a sturdy climb all the way up to Brunnebiel where the road ended after a most enjoyable but tiring 3 miles
2017 Nov-Dec Vol 62 No.6 (Index)
 
image description

Mid Wales is our usual escape destination from the intense pressured life we lead in the Cotswolds, though in all our quarter-century of visits, the area between Aberystwyth and Machynlleth isn’t one we’ve much explored, and even the mountain bike guidebooks don’t have much to say about it. Perhaps this is because of its relative inaccessibility, and visiting cyclists are inclined to be distracted by Radnor Forest, Rhayader and so forth on the way. But it provides a real feast of bridleways and tracks and a thrill of undiscovered remoteness.

Categories Menu

Search The Archive

 pdf