Articles and advice on cycling, technology, home efficiency and more - 2023

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These pages are written and managed by John & Julii Swindells, and we take every effort to ensure their accuracy, relevance and engagement. If you don't think this is the case at any point, please contact us and explain where you think that we're going wrong. Otherwise, happy browsing!

600k Ben Allen's Summer Outing

Audax: long-distance cycling

The weather couldn't have turned out better! Not only was it nice and sunny most of the time for the audax, back home it was quite chilly ...

Aylsham 10k race

Recreation 07 May 2023

Here are some photos and a short video from the 2023 edition of Aylsham 10k.







Michael managed 41:09 ...

Fakenham 5k race

Recreation 09 Apr 2023

Here are photos and video from the 5k race, focusing on the Bure Valley Harriers.

2023 Programme and Diary

Cycling Performance Programme 04 Apr 2023

A wet 3Down I rode almost 800km over three days in late March and early April, and it was raining most of the time. Lots of changes of clothing ...

300k 3Down London - New Forest

Audax: long-distance cycling

I had planned this as a relaxed three days of riding down to the south coast and back, with stunning scenery of the New Forest as the highlight ...

Blickling Parkrun - 400th edition!

Recreation 25 Mar 2023

There was a better-than-ever atmosphere at the anniversary edition of Blickling Parkrun, and long-time volunteer extraordinaire Sarah Morter ...

Calculate your New-distance Eddington Number!

Cycling 16 Mar 2023

When you've connected your Strava account to swinny.net, we analyse each activity to figure out how many "new miles" or "new kilometres" you ...

My Strava Climbing Number

Free-to-use Strava Tools 11 Mar 2023

The Climbing Number is the greatest number of days that you've ridden amount of elevation gain.
So, if you've managed 100 or more days ...

Calculate your Climbing Number!

Cycling 10 Mar 2023

In physical activities, the Climbing Number is a progressive score that is based on the number of days that you've climbed that number of feet ...

Calculate your Eddington Number!

Cycling 09 Mar 2023

The Eddington Number is a strangely addictive score for cyclists, devised by British astrophysicist Arthur Eddington for ranking their achievements ...

200k Alfreton to Wrags

Audax: long-distance cycling

The East Midlands and Fens delivered dry roads and no rain, but it was fairly chilly and overcast. There were over 100 starters from Alfreton ...

West Suffolk February Cross

Cyclocross

Really pleasant, sunny day at West Stow! The ground was firm but not dry, making for fast cornering and not too much attrition from the various ...

Milton Cross

Cyclocross

A fabulous morning of racing on a technical course (muddy banks with lots of off-camber sections) in mild and sunny weather. Under-10s ...

Stow Scramble

Cyclocross

No wind and some sun, but this was a freezing cold morning! The ground was mostly frozen solid but loosening up on some of the grassy turns ...

230k mid-winter DIY audax

Audax: long-distance cycling 21 Jan 2023

This was a ride part of the way home from Somerset, starting just before sunrise and finishing around dusk. I was expecting it to be cold ...

Iceni Velo Cross

Cyclocross

A bright and mild start to the event was perfect for the youngsters, and the vet-50s race also stayed fairly pleasant. However, a heavy hailstorn ...