Journal

The ride you never told anyone about

The rides that end up on a wall are rarely the ones with a number pinned to them. Here is why the ordinary Tuesday...

The only product where the verb is what you do with it

Every other print goes on a wall. A tote goes back out to the water with you, which changes what belongs on it.

Not a sport, and that is the point

A road trip has no training plan, no result and no category. It also produces some of the best-looking route prints we make.

The catch-all, and what ends up in it

Rowing, hyrox, horse riding, a walk to the shops that turned into eleven kilometres. If it has a GPS trace, it has a shape.

Why a climb needs its profile

A route drawing shows where you went, which on a mountain you already know. The profile shows the part you felt.

What makes a route worth hanging

Some rides draw beautifully and some do not, and it has almost nothing to do with how hard they were.

Long days in the Highlands: riding the North Coast 500

Roughly 830 kilometres from Inverness around the top of Scotland. What the loop actually asks of you, how people break it up, and why...

The elevation profile tells you more than the map ever will

A map shows you where you went. A profile shows you where it hurt. One of those you already know.

Getting a clean line out of a messy FIT file

GPS drift, tunnel gaps, and the smoothing we refuse to do. What actually happens between your device and a printed sheet.

Bealach na Bà: Britain's most un-British climb

Nine kilometres out of Tornapress, a single-track road climbs to 626 metres with hairpins that would not look out of place in the Alps....