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Edward Pickering

@edwardpickering.bsky.social
2.1K followers 128 following 342 posts

Author of Ronde and Yellow Jersey Club UWE Urban Planning MSc student Writing: edwardpickering.substack.com Taiko: taikomeantime.rhythmworks.com Running: strava.com/athletes/344738 Insta: @edwardpickering

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Edward Pickering @edwardpickering.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Your colleagues in Exeter Labour watered down bus lane improvements, kiboshed an LTN, voted against better pedestrian and bike infra on a key route into Exeter and are in the process of unfiltering a strategic bike route. They have done nothing but resist active travel improvements here for years.
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Edward Pickering @edwardpickering.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Tonight, in east London! Us whacking massive drums with big sticks! www.blackheathhalls.com/whats-on/tai...
blackheathhalls.com
Taiko Meantime: 25th Anniversary - Blackheath Halls
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Edward Pickering @edwardpickering.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Love it! Can I use this one please?
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Edward Pickering @edwardpickering.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
So good.
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Edward Pickering @edwardpickering.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Any Londoners at a loose end on Saturday evening, feel free to come and join me and my taiko group, Taiko Meantime, at Blackheath Halls for an evening of big beats, tight rhythms, thunderous resonance and big energy! www.blackheathhalls.com/whats-on/tai...
blackheathhalls.com
Taiko Meantime: 25th Anniversary - Blackheath Halls
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Edward Pickering @edwardpickering.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Tickets here: London: www.blackheathhalls.com/.../taiko-me... Cleethorpes: cleethorpes.parkwaycinemas.co.uk/kemono-michi Farnham: farnhammaltings.com/.../taiko-me...
blackheathhalls.com
Taiko Meantime: 25th Anniversary - Blackheath Halls
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Edward Pickering @edwardpickering.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
We're performing in Abingdon, Cleethorpes (with absolute taiko legend Leonard Eto), London and Farnham. If you're near any of these places, please buy a ticket and enjoy an evening of percussive entertainment, thunderous repertoire and tight rhythms.
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Edward Pickering @edwardpickering.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
My Japanese drumming group, Taiko Meantime are performing a series of concerts this autumn to celebrate 25 years of bashing big drums with big sticks.
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Edward Pickering @edwardpickering.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
This could ginger up the final kilometres in Liège-Bastogne-Liège.
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Edward Pickering @edwardpickering.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Looks like Visma will fill the top two places in the points classification at the Vuelta. This is rare – last time this happened in a Grand Tour was in the 1980 Vuelta. Last time in the Giro was 1966. And it doesn't seem to have ever happened in the Tour. Feel free to check my maths.
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Edward Pickering @edwardpickering.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
Or: how cycling works.
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Edward Pickering @edwardpickering.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
54) Quick Step Via Felix Lowe. On insta at @blazinsaddles.
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Reposted by Edward Pickering
Will Norman @willnorman.co.uk · 04/09/2026
Croydon unlawfully removed a safety scheme paid for with public money. Rightly, TfL have required the money to be repaid & paused future funding - subject to the council submitting a revised plan that meets the requirements. mylondon.news/news/transpo...
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Edward Pickering @edwardpickering.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
So good. defector.com/there-is-onl...
defector.com
There Is Only One Lesson Of Red Vienna | Defector
Two things are true about me: I hate rich people and I love architecture. These days that presents a terrible contradiction, because only the extremely rich are able to finance the perpetuation of arc...
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Edward Pickering @edwardpickering.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
53) Halfords
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Edward Pickering @edwardpickering.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
Devon County Council are looking to make a strategic cycle route in Exeter more dangerous, and using funds allocated to active travel to pay for it. Please consider donating to our crowdfunder, which will help us with legal action against this outrageous plan.
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Edward Pickering @edwardpickering.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
My local park in Exeter last week.
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Reposted by Edward Pickering
Exeter Cycling Campaign @exetercycling.bsky.social · 16/08/2026
🚲 Campaign Update Thanks to your support we've raised £3,605 so far! It's helping us secure the professional legal advice needed to challenge the proposal. Please consider helping us reach our target. Every little helps and will make a positive difference. 🔗 crowdfunder.co.uk/p/dryden-roa...
crowdfunder.co.uk
Dryden Road- Safe for Everybody
Fund specialist legal advice to keep Dryden Road safe
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Reposted by Edward Pickering
Exeter Cycling Campaign @exetercycling.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
❤️❤️❤️We broke through the £3,500 barrier this morning, so thank you to everybody for the support. Every little helps, even £5 will help us to keep Dryden Road safe for active travel. ❤️❤️❤️ 🔗 crowdfunder.co.uk/p/dryden-roa...
crowdfunder.co.uk
Dryden Road- Safe for Everybody
Fund specialist legal advice to keep Dryden Road safe
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Edward Pickering @edwardpickering.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
The Labour Party are mainly really bad when it comes to environmental issues. Including our local party in Exeter, who consistently vote against active travel measures in the city.
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Reposted by Edward Pickering
Exeter Cycling Campaign @exetercycling.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
🎉🎉🎉A huge, huge thank you to everybody who has donated! We made our target in a single day, and we're blown away by the support! 🎉🎉🎉 www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/dryden-roa...
crowdfunder.co.uk
Dryden Road- Safe for Everybody
Fund specialist legal advice to keep Dryden Road safe
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Reposted by Edward Pickering
Exeter Cycling Campaign @exetercycling.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
🚲 For the first time in 10 years, we're asking for your financial support. 🔗 crowdfunder.co.uk/p/dryden-roa... 🧵
crowdfunder.co.uk
Dryden Road- Safe for Everybody
Fund specialist legal advice to keep Dryden Road safe
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Edward Pickering @edwardpickering.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
Prudhomme said that thing about a Tour with only middle mountains to Al Fotheringham in an interview for Cycle Sport's 2010 Tour preview. Wasn't presented as a direct quote, but Al and I chatted about it at the time and it's always stuck in my head.
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Edward Pickering @edwardpickering.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
For all my Tour de France writing this year, please visit my Substack, and if possible subscribe and recommend to others. More to come! edwardpickering.substack.com
edwardpickering.substack.com
Cycling, the Universe and Everything | Edward Pickering | Substack
Essays, longreads and nerd stuff about cycling and other interesting things. Click to read Cycling, the Universe and Everything, by Edward Pickering, a Substack publication with hundreds of subscriber...
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Edward Pickering @edwardpickering.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
I didn’t love the GC times being taken 40km from the finish line, but I did love the knife-edge balance between Van der Poel and the sprinters in that final 10km pursuit match. My stage 21 piece: edwardpickering.substack.com/p/tour-de-fr...
edwardpickering.substack.com
Tour de France 2026 stage 21: We'll always have Paris
Reflections on the scintillating final stage of the 2026 Tour de France
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Edward Pickering @edwardpickering.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
This is Dance at Le Moulin de la Galette by Renoir. The Moulin de la Galette is still going, and is on the Rue Lepic, the climb which now defines the final stage of the Tour.
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Edward Pickering @edwardpickering.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
Montmartre may have been a tourist trap for years, but it’s got about as rich a cultural heritage as any square kilometre in the world. During the Belle Époque, it was home to Van Gogh and Picasso, and artists like Renoir, Toulouse-Lautrec and Utrillo painted lively scenes from the district.
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Edward Pickering @edwardpickering.bsky.social · 26/07/2026
My reflections on stage 21 of the 2026 Tour de France, featuring Stendhal, Picasso, Van Gogh and a bit of bike racing. substack.com/home/post/p-...
substack.com
Tour de France 2026 stage 21: We'll always have Paris
Reflections on the scintillating final stage of the 2026 Tour de France
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Edward Pickering @edwardpickering.bsky.social · 26/07/2026
Here’s my piece about a day of contrasts and epic scenery, which was the 2026 Tour in a microcosm. substack.com/home/post/p-...
substack.com
Tour de France 2026 stage 20: Déjà-vu, all over again
Reflections on the final mountain stage of the 2026 Tour, which was epic in its scale and in the way it unfolded
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Edward Pickering @edwardpickering.bsky.social · 26/07/2026
I loved the contrast between the crazy, chaotic Friday stage on the Alpe and yesterday’s understated, quiet ascent of the Sarenne. I also found the battle between Sepp Kuss, a smooth, classy climber, and Richard Carapaz, a tenacious, punchy fighter, very compelling.
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Edward Pickering @edwardpickering.bsky.social · 25/07/2026
My stage 20 piece, on a race of epic proportions and a battle of extraordinary intensity for the stage win. In which not much actually changed overall. substack.com/home/post/p-...
substack.com
Tour de France 2026 stage 20: Déjà-vu, all over again
Reflections on the final mountain stage of the 2026 Tour, which was epic in its scale and in the way it unfolded
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Edward Pickering @edwardpickering.bsky.social · 25/07/2026
Pedersen, dropping Bernal on the Croix de Fer, there.
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Edward Pickering @edwardpickering.bsky.social · 25/07/2026
Pogačar’s ride, for me, was a distillation of what he has meant for cycling. Yesterday finally saw the greatest cyclist ever on the sport’s greatest climb. substack.com/home/post/p-...
substack.com
Tour de France 2026 stage 19: The Eighth Wonder
Reflections on what Tadej Pogačar's Alpe d'Huez stage win means for the rider and the Tour
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Edward Pickering @edwardpickering.bsky.social · 25/07/2026
I loved seeing the Alpe back on the race and it looked mad on the climb – sometimes too mad, but the Tour is at its most compelling when it walks the very fine line between chaos and control.
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Edward Pickering @edwardpickering.bsky.social · 25/07/2026
I’ve always had a soft spot for the climb to L’Alpe d’Huez – it was an annual fixture in the Tours of my teenage years, to the extent that when it was omitted from the route in 1993 for the first time since 1985, I was shocked that an Alpe-less route was possible.
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Edward Pickering @edwardpickering.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
Been downhill ever since 🤪
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Edward Pickering @edwardpickering.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
And here’s my stage 18 piece, featuring two great institutions taking to the hills en route to a great prize in Paris. substack.com/home/post/p-...
substack.com
Tour de France 2026 stage 18: On the Route Napoléon
Another crazy day of non-stop attacking saw many in the peloton trying to take their last chance for a stage win
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Edward Pickering @edwardpickering.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
It also had personal resonance for me. The first time I ever saw the Tour in person was the mountain time trial, also to Orcières-Merlette, in the 1989 race, which as we all know, is the greatest Tour there has ever been. Here's the pic I took of Greg LeMond that day.
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Edward Pickering @edwardpickering.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
I enjoyed stage 18 to Orcières-Merlette, which was far more bar brawl than Queensberry Rules in terms of strategy. These hilly stages have become incredibly complex, with break after break after break.
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Edward Pickering @edwardpickering.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
Today’s stage spent a little time heading south on the N85, better known as the Route Napoléon. So the riders of the Tour were not the first to travel this road en route to Paris, with some big ambitions. substack.com/home/post/p-...
substack.com
Tour de France 2026 stage 18: On the Route Napoléon
Another crazy day of non-stop attacking saw many in the peloton trying to take their last chance for a stage win
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Edward Pickering @edwardpickering.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
Still not convinced that only playing the very least interesting radio communications, about 10 or 15 minutes after they happen, is a great addition to the Tour's television coverage.
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Edward Pickering @edwardpickering.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
The 70s were also an era of lavish excess.
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Edward Pickering @edwardpickering.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
In The Great Gatsby, one of my favourite novels, Jay Gatsby drinks Green Chartreuse, which is used to represent the lavish excesses of the Jazz Age. It was apt that stage 17 was a day of lavishly excessive attacking, with a twist in the race for green. edwardpickering.substack.com/p/tour-de-fr...
edwardpickering.substack.com
Tour de France 2026 stage 17: It's not that easy being green
A chaotic, unpredictable stage took the riders of the Tour to Voiron, on the edge of the Chartreuse
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Edward Pickering @edwardpickering.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
I haven’t gone back to it yet, but reading about Voiron for yesterday’s stage, and learning that Green Chartreuse is distilled in the hills behind the town, and that only 2 (or maybe 3) monks actually know the recipe, which involves 130 different plants, made me think I’ll give it another go.
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Edward Pickering @edwardpickering.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
I had some Green Chartreuse poured down my throat when I was living in France as a student, and I think my 22-year-old palate wasn’t quite ready for the medicinal herbiness or notes of grated bark.
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Edward Pickering @edwardpickering.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
Today’s stage piece, in which I try to distil the important facts of today’s chaotic race on the edge of the Chartreuse with the care that the Carthusian monks at the nearby monastery put into distilling Green Chartreuse liqueur. substack.com/home/post/p-...
substack.com
Tour de France 2026 stage 17: It's not that easy being green
A chaotic, unpredictable stage took the riders of the Tour to Voiron, on the edge of the Chartreuse
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Edward Pickering @edwardpickering.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
Stage 16 piece is on my Substack feed – I managed to squeeze a bit of hydrogeology in there, as well as some cycling. edwardpickering.substack.com/p/tour-de-fr...
edwardpickering.substack.com
Tour de France stage 16: Still Waters
The Tour's time trial skirted the southern shore of Lac Léman, a beautiful place which has attracted writers and poets... and racing cyclists
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Edward Pickering @edwardpickering.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
(Stubbleman is the alter ego of Belgian-Anglo musician Pascal Gabriel, and fellow 1980s kids will recognise his number-1 hit 'Theme from S’Express'.) Ventoux Trilogy is a beautiful album and I wrote about it for Rouleur.
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Edward Pickering @edwardpickering.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
The first lines are: The everlasting universe of things / Flows through the mind, and rolls its rapid waves I immediately recognised where I’d seen this before. It’s the title of the final track on the ambient musician Stubbleman’s album '1:46:43 Ventoux Trilogy'. stubblemanmusic.com
stubblemanmusic.com
Stubbleman
1:46:43 The Ventoux Trilogy
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Edward Pickering @edwardpickering.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
Serendipitous discovery of the day yesterday came when I was looking at art inspired by Lac Léman, and covered in my stage piece. The poet Percy Shelley spent time there, and wrote his great Romantic poem Mont Blanc, which I’d heard of, but never read www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45130/...
poetryfoundation.org
Mont Blanc: Lines Written in the Vale of Chamouni
I The everlasting universe of things Flows through the mind, and rolls its rapid waves, Now dark—now glittering—now reflecting gloom— Now lending…
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