No Cops, No Cars, No Concrete: Gary Fisher’s Life on Two Wheels

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Jack talks with founding father of the mountain bike Gary Fisher about his life in cycling, the subject of his new book “Being Gary Fisher”, published by Blue Train Publishing.

After talking with Gary, Jack chats with Guy Andrews and Guy Kesteven about how they made the book happen, and their own reflections on Gary’s impact on the world of cycling.

The brilliant film of the 1980 Crested Butte to Aspen Klunker Classic is on YouTube here (part 1) and here (part 2).

Being Gary Fisher is available from Blue Train Publishing over here.

For free UK postage and packaging quote the code THEBIKESHOW at checkout. This is a time limited offer at the discretion of the publishers.

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Are Modern Bikes Rubbish?

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Bike technology is changing at a dizzying pace. There’s a bike for everything, from road racing and time trialling to gravel grinding and bikepacking to heavyweight touring and every shade of mountain biking. And that’s not to mention electric assist bikes, cargo bikes and folding bikes.

There are new technologies like self adjusting, all weather hydraulic brakes, tubeless tyres that mend their own punctures, and gear shifting at the press of an electronic switch – to name but three.

But has all this whizzbangery come at a price? Are modern bikes soulless, disposable products with obsolescence built in?

To decide whether or not modern bikes are rubbish, Jack is joined by two experts in bike technlogy – Guy Andrews and Dave Arthur.

Guy a cycling journalist of longstanding. He was editor of Cycling Today way back in the 1990s, Road Cycling UK and was the founding editor of Rouleur Magazine. He now runs the boutique publishing house Blue Train Publishing.

Dave is a freelance bike journalist, previously an editor of Bikemagic.com and before that staff writer at RCUK. He’s part of the team at road.cc has is own his own YouTube channel Just Ride Bikes, which has had more than 5 million views.

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Planning Your Next Bike Adventure

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As we emerge from coronavirus lockdown, is there a better summer holiday, a better way to get a change of scene, than heading out on your bike to explore the country where you live?

This episode of the podcast is all about cycle touring, cycle exploring, bikepacking, adventure cycling or whatever term you prefer to use to describe heading out into the world on your bike for a few days, a week or even longer.

Joining host Jack Thurston is Richard Fairhurst, creator of the brilliant cycle.travel website and (from 43 minutes in) Josie Parkinson, first time cycle traveller talking about her tour from Abergavenny to the Isle of Wight via Stonehenge.

Send your thoughts and reactions in a voice memo to bikeshow@gmail.com

Jack’s Lost Lanes books are full of ideas for day rides, weekends away and multi-day tours.

And do check out cycle.travel for planning your next long distance bike adventure.

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Rough Stuff in the North York Moors

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A ride report from the time before coronavirus. Jack heads into the wild uplands of the North York Moors on an audax event organised by Dean Clementson and hosted by Mike Metcalfe. “Don’t Keep to the Road” promises gravel tracks, broken roads and brutal climbs. Plus podcast listeners share their Covid-19 lockdown tales from the turbo. To order a signed copy of Lost Lanes North go to the web shop at https://lostlanes.co.uk/shop and for a free embroidered Lost Lanes cloth patch designed by Adam Hayes enter the coupon code ‘thebikeshow’ at checkout. Limited to the first fifty purchasers.

There is more information on the event, including a PDF route sheet and GPX file, on the Audax UK website.

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From Usk to Wye with Dr Ian Walker

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Jack goes for a ride with Dr Ian Walker, an environmental psychologist from the University of Bath and long-distance bike racer. Ian found global fame about fifteen years ago with an experiment he did to measure how close he was passed by overtaking cars, depending on what he was wearing.


Ian is also an accomplished bike rider, specialising in ultra long distance racing. He was a high placed finisher in the Transcontinental Race, he won the North Cape 4000 and last year set a new world record for riding across Europe in a north south direction.


The ride takes Ian and Jack from Abergavenny up the Usk valley and after a a climb via Pengenffordd into the Wye valley, returning via Cockitt Hill.

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A life in cycling with Isla Rowntree

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As a bike racer Isla Rowntree took on almost every discipline in cycling, rode professionally for the Raleigh MTB team and won the British national championships in cyclocross on multiple occasions. But it is as a bike designer and entrepreneur that she’s made the biggest impact, transforming the market for children’s bikes. The high quality kids bikes she designs have given a generation of children the best possible start to a life of cycling. Jack visits Islabikes HQ just outside Ludlow, Shropshire to find out about how Isla got into cycling, how she got where she is now, and where she’s going in the future.

Bonus material:

1. Isla on her experiences as a woman in the male-dominated bike industry:

2. Isla on the Islabikes Icons range of bikes for elderly people:

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So you want to go cycling in… WW1 battlefields?

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Tom Isitt (pictured above) has spent the past few years cycling around the battlefields of the first world war. He talks about his experiences on the Western Front and the mountainous border between Italy, Austria and Slovenia and tells the story of the extraordinary bike race that was held in spring 1919 across the devastated lands of Northern France and Belgium. The Rough Stuff Fellowship is the oldest off road cycling club in the world and club archivist Mark Hudson talks about unearthing a photographic treasure trove of inspirational adventure cycling from the 1950s to the present day.

Check out the Rough Stuff Fellowship Archive’s Instagram feed and visit the Kickstarter page.

Read more about Tom Isitt’s book Riding in the Zone Rouge.

And for more details on the Wayfarer Centenary Weekend (29-31 March), see the flyer and the dinner menu.

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