John has been writing about bikes and cycling for over 30 years since discovering that people were mug enough to pay him for it rather than expecting him to do an honest day's work.
He was heavily involved in the mountain bike boom of the late 1980s as a racer, team manager and race promoter, and that led to writing for Mountain Biking UK magazine shortly after its inception. He got the gig by phoning up the editor and telling him the magazine was rubbish and he could do better. Rather than telling him to get lost, MBUK editor Tym Manley called John’s bluff and the rest is history.
Since then he has worked on MTB Pro magazine and was editor of Maximum Mountain Bike and Australian Mountain Bike magazines, before switching to the web in 2000 to work for CyclingNews.com. Along with road.cc founder Tony Farrelly, John was on the launch team for BikeRadar.com and subsequently became editor in chief of Future Publishing’s group of cycling magazines and websites, including Cycling Plus, MBUK, What Mountain Bike and Procycling.
John has also written for Cyclist magazine, edited the BikeMagic website and was founding editor of TotalWomensCycling.com before handing over to someone far more representative of the site's main audience.
He joined road.cc in 2013. He lives in Cambridge where the lack of hills is more than made up for by the headwinds.
What kind of cat do you have, Simon?
Easier said than done, there are always situations in a bunch where the speed at the front slows suddenly and the rear closes up and spreads out to...
I had to investigate why the steering was "a bit lumpy" on one of my brother's eBay bargains.
They just need to grow the back half of the case a bit, slip in a bigger battery and call it the Fly 6 Endurance (probably up the price by 25 quid...
Well, this is an interesting one. I remember being very against helmets as a teenager and thought that they were very uncool. UNTIL I got knocked...
Is this the journalistic equivalent of gogglebox? Hasn't this person had their 5 minutes of fame now?
Yes! I think a lot of men 'of a certain age' have this issue too. I have tried all sorts of saddles but find Specialized the best. I think the key...
Sometimes it is not about the most padding but the best fit. I have ridden some shorts with a very full pad which felt more like an adult nappy,...
I personally rate the Tacx Flow Smart turbo trainer - small and compact and perfect for a 20 minute blast in the conservatory after a long day in...
Top tip, NSFW shopping googling, especially if you add rubber as a qualifier....