I’m Richard, a cyclist based in Kent, and this is where I write up my rides. I ride every day and cover about 25,000 km a year, mostly on the lanes around home, by day and by night.
Why I ride so much
Most of my riding is steady and easy, because what I’m after is a big aerobic base rather than a fast hour. I would rather spin gently on a tired day than take a day off, which is how a daily streak gets started and then becomes hard to stop. So far in 2026 I’ve ridden 21,348 km with 217,720 m of climbing, and the streak is at 144 days.
Where I ride
Home is Maidstone in the English county of Kent, where the riding is all flat lanes, short sharp hills and more oast houses than you might expect, so I’ve started counting the ones I see on each ride. I’m trying to cycle the whole of Kent by the end of 2026. So far I’ve covered 91.4% of the county: 1,587 of the 1,737 tiles (about a square mile each) that can be ridden, with 150 to go.
- Done: 1,587
- Left, with a public road: 99
- Left, tracks or paths only: 51
- Can’t be ridden: 56
The counts include Medway and the Isle of Sheppey.
When I can, I take the bike further afield. In 2026 that meant nine days in the Algarve, which came to more than 1,500 km, and ten days in France, riding around the Lot and the Loire Valley.
Here’s everywhere I’ve ridden so far. The linked places have ride posts on this site, and the figures are my outdoor rides on Strava, counted under where each ride started.
| Where | When | Rides | Distance | Elevation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kent | 2013–now | 514 | 36,563 km | 330,357 m |
| Northern Ireland | 2019–2026 | 46 | 2,631 km | 25,439 m |
| Hampshire and the New Forest | 2025–2026 | 6 | 918 km | 6,921 m |
| Sussex | 2013–2025 | 4 | 275 km | 3,252 m |
| Yorkshire and the Peak District | 2024 | 3 | 118 km | 1,659 m |
| Isle of Wight | 2024 | 1 | 107 km | 1,492 m |
| Costa Blanca, Spain | 2025–2026 | 16 | 1,601 km | 27,939 m |
| Algarve, Portugal | 2026 | 9 | 1,546 km | 18,983 m |
| Mallorca, Spain | 2025–2026 | 18 | 1,319 km | 21,930 m |
| Tuscany, Italy | 2025 | 10 | 685 km | 7,959 m |
| Northern France | 2024–2025 | 5 | 633 km | 7,137 m |
| Lot and Dordogne, France | 2026 | 7 | 600 km | 7,325 m |
| Flanders, Belgium | 2024–2026 | 5 | 489 km | 3,178 m |
| Netherlands | 2014–2024 | 9 | 418 km | 1,387 m |
| French Alps | 2026 | 3 | 303 km | 6,154 m |
| Ardennes, Belgium | 2025 | 2 | 228 km | 3,027 m |
| Germany | 2024–2025 | 3 | 169 km | 909 m |
| Girona, Spain | 2026 | 2 | 168 km | 2,360 m |
| Loire Valley, France | 2026 | 3 | 151 km | 704 m |
| Gran Canaria, Spain | 2025 | 1 | 122 km | 3,295 m |
| Alsace, France | 2025 | 1 | 52 km | 346 m |
| Total | 668 | 49,096 km | 481,753 m |
My bike
I ride a Merida Scultura 6000 Di2, a gloss black carbon race bike with Shimano 105 Di2 electronic shifting. I’ve had it since May 2024 and it has now done 43,128 km. I’ve made a few upgrades along the way, including deep-section Roval Rapide CL III carbon wheels. It usually carries a saddle bag and a top-tube bag, and I’m usually in a jersey that I can compare, mostly unfairly, with one from the Giro d’Italia.
What you’ll find here
Each ride post has the story, my photos, the numbers, a route map and the climbs. You can also browse the places, roads and music from my rides, look through the gallery, or download a GPX file from the Routes page and ride one yourself.
Looking for my Oracle work? That’s over at OracleAppsBlog.