The car honk - invariably positive rather than angry as displayed in the Pie Chart of Positivity (scroll far right) "That looks like hard work" - as I struggle uphill and riposte predictably with "Yeah, it feels like it too!" The wave - drivers passing on the other side of the road or overtaking and sticking a hand out the window; pedestrians on the High Street or kids transfixed, their heads following me a ...

The most notable change for the second leg of my journey is that The Bug now works properly. Where previously my cycling was accompanied by a continual grinding-of-metal noise and my charge would lurch ever-so-slightly left with annoying consistency, it now does not. I hadn't thought it was having a great impact on my progress but soon found myself travelling a whopping great 2mph faster. I'm not kidding. T ...

My forearms rest over the handlebars and my head is down. My body rocks from side to side and my legs keep turning over. I look ahead at the rising road and subdue a smile with gritted teeth. In the pub last night, the guys propping up the bar all had the same response when they heard where I was heading: Puffed cheeks, shaking heads and a wry smile. Apparently there was a big hill ahead of me in the mornin ...

Tomorrow our country goes to the polls to decide who will lead the country and I'm taking a moment out of my day's cycling and my website's expedition updates to write about something I've been thinking about these past few days.I hope that whatever your views, you will be voting tomorrow. To not do so would be a great shame and a sqaundering of your right to a voice. But I'd ask you first to think carefull ...

Let's indulge for a moment in true British fashion. Let's talk about the weather. I've not been checking the forecast. I rarely do. But on two occasions I've been told in passing or overheard that "tomorrow" is going to be wet. I hate it. I spend the night worrying about a day spent cycling in the rain, wet kit and cold exremities even though riding through a torrent can in fact be a perfectly pleasurable e ...

Without going into too much boring detail, I've had a number of mechanical issues arising with The Bug since stopping in Edinburgh. They've largely revolved around dodgy wheels and ill-functioning brakes. Considering it was supposed to be a rest day, I found myself gunning up a fair few of Edinburgh's finest hills on a single speed bike kindly loaned by my host. I was on a goose chase for 6200RS cartridge b ...

There are lots of reasons that pedalling this contraption is quite slow and a little hard work - its size, its weight, its poor aerodynamics and the fact that the left wheel acts as though someone is jerking the break every two seconds giving the bike a sort of nervous twitch are just a few examples. Those, coupled with the fact that I'd only had one litre of water over the last six hours of cycling, I just ...

"I know you", she says, pointing a finger at me as she opens the front door. Hmmm. Is she a dedicated follower of my top-class website? Seen me give an inspirational talk somewhere? Or perhaps I'm jsuit the only person to have booked in some work on a bright yellow rickshaw that morning. "I'll get Mike" Mike comes out. "Eh, that looks light", he says with a grin as broad as his accent. "Lightest one on the ...

It's happening now. I started yesterday and am attempting to cycle 1000 miles from the Highlands to London.I'm in a rickshaw known as 'The Bug' (after the company that generously donated it to me - Bug Bugs) and, well, it's heavy. I've got all my camping kit on the back and the laptop on which I'm writing this update.I'll be Tweeting as I go and writing blog posts whenever I can. You can follow my progress ...

You voted yes. Yes, I should break a World Record. That's what you said. I was pontificating over the pros and cons of trying to break the World Record for the longest distance cycled in a rickshaw. I thought it was a slightly silly record to aim for and not really what my rickshaw trip was about but also recognised that it could do me some good and give me another challenge to work at. You seemed to think ...

For a number of reasons, I've been putting off "announcing" the start date of my next little adventure - the one with the rickshaw - but now, with D-Day looming, it seems silly not to have put it on my own blog. The Bug, as she is now known, still has no functioning front breaks, the seat hasn't been sorted out and I need to drill some more holes before it can take a rack for my kit. I think a bit of last-m ...