The Bike Show Podcast show

The Bike Show Podcast

Summary: Podcast devoted to the art, science, politics and transcendental pleasure of cycling, in London and beyond. Presented by Jack Thurston the show has been running since 2004, initially as a radio show on Resonance FM. It covers the intersections of cycling, culture, society and creativity from a variety of perspectives. From Tour de France to roller-racing, from Brompton commuters to bicycle messengers, from Kraftwerk to hip hop, from urban design to countryside trips. Literature, history, travel, art, music and sport.

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Podcasts:

 A Ride in Border Country | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 1789

In the last show of the summer season, Jack goes for a leisurely spin around the Welsh borders with local cyclist Owen Davies as his guide, from Abergavenny to Monmouth and back, past Raglan Castle, Rockfield recording studios and the unlikely Welsh residence of the notorious Nazi politician Rudolf Hess. Continue reading →

 C’est Magnifique! C’est le Tour de France! | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 1796

This year's Tour de France was the hundredth edition of the world's biggest and best bicycle race - and it proved to be a race to remember. Jack Thurston talks with 'Buffalo' Bill Chidley about three weeks of outstanding bike racing. Next year the Tour will begin in Yorkshire and cycling journalist Peter Cossins is already excited about the race passing right by his house in Ilkley, West Yorkshire. Continue reading →

 Boardman versus Obree | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 2993

The sporting rivalry between Chris Boardman and Graeme Obree is among the greatest in history, on a par with Ovett and Coe, Borg and McEnroe or Ali and Frazier. Twenty years on from their record-breaking exploits, Jack Thurston and Edward … Continue reading →

 Uphill State of Mind | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 1653

Cyclists have a strange fascination with riding up hills and it's definitely a pleasure/pain thing. Jack goes in search of the hill climb junkies, first at the Catford Hill Climb on Kent's North Downs, the oldest continuously held bicycle race in the world, and then to Abergavenny where a new course has revived the local cycling club's flagging hill climb event. Continue reading →

 How Britain Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love Bike Racing | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 3200

In the first show of the new season, Jack takes a leisurely ride in the Welsh Borders with Ned Boulting, one of the faces of ITV's coverage of the Tour de France. They discuss Ned's new book "On the Road Bike: the Search for a Nation's Cycling Soul", an engaging and ideosyncratic history of British bike racing. Continue reading →

 Podcast special: Reading Le Tour de France | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 3106

It's just a few days until the start of the hundredth edition of the world’s greatest bike race, the Tour de France. Book publishers have taken this historic milestone as their cue to commission and produce an enormous quantity of books about the race, its history and legend. To help sort the wheat from the chaff is Feargal McKay, a man who’s read more books about professional bike racing than there are hairpin bends in the Pyrenees. As the resident book reviewer at the Podium Cafe website, Feargal Mckay has built a reputation for outstanding book reviews that are both thorough and thought provoking. Continue reading →

 Soon We’ll Be Wheelbuilding | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 1832

The spoked wheel is the unsung hero of the bicycle. Jack Thurston embarks on a journey of discovery, to understand how a bicycle wheel works with the help of engineer and materials scientist Professor Mark Miodownik, and then tries to learn how to build one, taking a class at London's Cycle Systems Academy. Continue reading →

 Eileen Sheridan: The Mighty Atom | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 1972

Land's End to John O'Groats is a classic cycle touring route. But it was also the blue riband distance among the long distance record-breaking heyday of the 1930s to the 1960s. In 1954 Eileen Sheridan, a diminutive cyclist from Coventry sponsored by the huge Hercules Bicycle Company, set a new record that stood for decades. Now 89, Eileen recounts a truly epic journey and tells the story of how she became one of the best-known, and best-paid, cyclists in Britain. Continue reading →

 What It Really Means to Go Dutch | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 2986

To many UK cycling campaigners, David Hembrow is a Moses-type figure, handing down tablets of smooth, car-free red asphalt from the streets of Assen in the Netherlands where he lives and writes the blog A View from the Cycle Path. He's also a controversial figure, arguing that separation of cars and bikes is essential for mass cycling and that many UK campaigners are either on the wrong track or suffering from hopelessly low expectations. In an extended interview David explains why he moved from England to the Netherlands in search of cycling nirvana and what the Dutch have got to teach the rest of the world when it comes to making cycling friendly towns and cities. Continue reading →

 Live from the V&A: Bike V Design | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 1721

Contemporary bike culture is blossoming into a mesmerising kaleidoscope of bicycle-related art, craft and graphic design. Small artisans are leading the way while big brands try to cash in on the action. Alice Marsh of Bike V Design leads a discussion recorded in front of a live audience at the Victoria and Albert Museum, bringing together a panel that includes Tom Donhou, a former product designer turned bicycle frame-builder, the founders of The Ride Journal and Boneshaker magazine and James Greig, a graphic designer and bike blogger. Continue reading →

 A Bright New Dawn for Cycling in London? | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 1782

London Mayor Boris Johnson's new Vision for Cycling has won widespread praise for its ambition of making London streets more inviting for people on bikes, following the successes of cities like Amsterdam and Copenhagen. Jack Thurston is joined by three cycling activists for a look at the details and to share their views on what really needs to be done to make London a safer and more pleasant place to ride a bike. Featuring Trevor Parsons, coordinator of Hackney Cyclists, blogger Mark Treasure and ex-London bike messenger Buffalo Bill Chidley Continue reading →

 When Will We Stop Lorries Killing Cyclists? | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 1984

As another cyclist is killed by a lorry in central London, Jack Thurston asks whether it's time to take a harder line to make the city's streets safer. Featuring Cynthia Barlow of RoadPeace, former bike messenger Bill Chidley and Mike Cavenett of the London Cycling Campaign, which has recently proposed a new design for lorries working in London. Plus news of Jack's new book, Lost Lanes: 36 Glorious Bike Rides in Southern England. Continue reading →

 Podcast special: Did Cycling Kill Kraftwerk? | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 3662

On the eve of Kraftwerk's eight night residency at the Tate Modern, Jack is joined by David Buckley, music writer and author of a new biography of the German electronic pop pioneers. Among the revelations in his book is evidence that a serious obsession with cycling contributed to the slowing of the band's musical output in the 1980s and, ultimately, the break-up of the group's classic line-up. Jack and David talk about Kraftwerk's journey from experimental music-making to the pinnacle of influence over pop, rock, hip-hop and dance music as well as their love affair with riding their bikes. Continue reading →

 Happy Christmas from the Vulpine Christmas Fête | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 3035

In a seasonal podcast special, Jack heads to Balham, Gateway to the South, for the Christmas Fête organised by Vulpine, the London-based cycle clothing company. Featuring The Ride Journal, Artcrank, Michaux Club, Pannier.cc, Marsh-Mallows Cycling Holidays, Fresh Tripe and Nick Hussey of Vulpine. Continue reading →

 Podcast Special: The Gospel According to St Grant | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 2924

Grant Petersen thinks most cyclists need to 'unrace themselves', that is to say, stop following what professional racing cyclists do. Instead we should all ride more comfortable bikes in more comfortable clothes and be more relaxed about the whole experience. He's written a book called Just Ride and, in an extended interview, he tells Jack Thurston exactly what he means. Grant Petersen is a highly regarded bicycle designer, formerly of Bridgestone USA and founder and owner of Rivendell Bicycle Works in northern California. Continue reading →

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