Gesamtlänge aller Episoden: 39 days 6 hours 27 minutes
Explore returns with the Tour d'Écosse, a multi-part series telling the story of the beautiful game on two wheels. It was an idea dreamed up by Lionel Birnie and Simon Gill during lockdown, inspired by their childhood passions of cycling and football. The plan was to ride from Gretna to Dingwall visiting all 42 of the Scottish Football League grounds on the way.
There are so many questions to answer.....
This is the Tour d'Écosse take two. Lionel Birnie and Simon Gill return to Gretna, the first town visitors to Scotland reach after crossing the border from north west England, to finally get their ride underway.
Starting from Gretna's Raydale Park ground, it's a ride of just over 75 kilometres to Castle Douglas. They tick off the first two football grounds – Annan Athletic's Galabank and Palmerston Park, the home of Queen of the South...
The clock is ticking today because Lionel and Simon want to make it to Stranraer's Stair Park ground in time for 3pm when the home side kick-off their match against visitors Forfar Athletic.
There's almost 100 kilometres to ride through the Dumfries and Galloway countryside offering plenty of time to reflect on the journey ahead and the nature of back-to-back days of riding.
The Cycling Podcast is supported by Supersapiens and Science in Sport...
This is the Robert Burns stage, as Lionel and Simon head from Stranraer to Ayr to the Scottish poet's home town. The town's football team, Ayr United, are nicknamed the Honest Men – a reference to a line in one of Burns's most famous poems, Tam o' Shanter.
They're getting into their stride now, tackling the second of three consecutive stages of almost 100 kilometres...
The Tour d'Écosse picks up where it left off, in Ayr, or more to the point in a pub in Ayr where Lionel and Simon have just ordered a dessert pizza that would horrify Ciro Scognamiglio and, for that matter, all Italians.
Then it's back on the road, past the golf courses that decorate the Ayrshire coast, on the roads that made the Girvan one of the toughest stage races in Britain, and via an extraordinary – if brief – Elvis impression by Simon...
In this episode of The Cycling Podcast we discuss the burning issues of the week and continue to revisit some of the main themes and topics of the 2022 season.
Daniel Friebe is joined by Brian Nygaard and veteran Sporza reporter and commentator, Renaat Schotte. Renaat explains why 2022 was a vintage one for Belgian cycling - and also tries, for the second time in recent years, to open Daniel's eyes to allure of cyclocross...
With the rain hammering on the windows of their Clydeside loft apartment, Lionel and Simon decide to sit tight round the large dining table drinking coffee and eating porridge until the weather improves.
There's the Killie Pie taste test, talk of Simon's phobia of big spoons, and then discussion of his previous exploits on two wheels...
We rejoin the Tour d’Écosse story midway through stage five, just as Lionel and Simon are about to cross back over the River Clyde and head into Glasgow...
We’re still in Glasgow, and this is the big one, the Queen Stage of the Tour d’Écosse with seven current Scottish Football League grounds on the route, plus a couple of wild cards.
Lionel and Simon drop in on Cathkin Park, the so-called ‘ghost ground’ and former home to the long defunct Third Lanark club...
Stage seven of the Tour d’Écosse is as close to the traditional transitional stage as it’s possible to get. The route avoids the Bathgate Alps and takes the low route from Glasgow to Edinburgh.
In Lionel and Simon’s defence they have to go via Livingston Football Club’s Tony Macaroni Arena. It’s a beautiful, quiet ride offering time for reflection and reminiscence before they reach the outskirts of the Scottish capital, Edinburgh...