I've been in love with bicycles since I could ride them, but it was only in my teenage years that I started seeing a bicycle as a way of exploring and engaging with the world at large. I've experienced good times and rough times during my life, but above all music, people and my bicycle have always helped me pull through. In 2008 I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, a lifelong condition which profoundly changed not only how I live but also my worldview. Since my diagnosis, I've been pushing myself to prove that having diabetes does not have to be a disability unless you make it one, and cycling is my primary way of doing just that. Diabetes is a part of body, but does not define who I am. It is all mine, but it is not all of me.

 

In 2011, aged 16, I cycled solo from John O Groats to Lands End, on a 900-mile route, in 12 days. This gave me a taste of just how self-actualising bicycle travel can be, and since then, I've been attempting to go everywhere I can by bike, whether over shorter periods of time - like cycling the UK's steepest passes on no sleep after my university exams - or in the longer term in Europe, the Middle East, or further afield. The aim has always been to push further and discover my limits and marvel in the fragile beauty of the world around us. In 2014, over the course of 42 days, I cycled solo 2,809.6 miles across the USA, from Wilmington NC to Seal Beach CA, and in 2022, I concluded an ersatz round-the-world trip with over 13,400 miles on the clock. I try to take every opportunity I can to get out on a bike, exploring the cartographies and geographies of my surroundings, wondering what lies beyond the horizon. I am addicted to this kind of travel; and this addiction, with its highs and lows, has made me who I am.

 

I'm also a passionate believer in incorporating bikes into the wider movement toward sustainable living which can help humanity co-exist better with our planet. In a world increasingly suffering from the choices humans have made, I think it's important for us to reverse, or at least reduce, the negative impact that we are all responsible for, and that bikes can play an important part in this effort.

 

This blog is for you to read about my journeys, take some inspiration for your own, or just look at some pictures. Try as I might, they will say more than I ever can.