After nearly 10 years, I’m very sad – and equally excited – to say I’m leaving BikeRadar today for a new role elsewhere in the cycling industry.
Working in cycling media was my dream job – so much so that I applied for jobs at BikeRadar and MBUK three times, telling then-editor Paul Douglas on the final attempt that I would keep applying until he employed me.
I joined BikeRadar as a staff writer in August 2016, and my time here has changed the course of my life.
10 years on, above all else, I’m frequently stunned that, despite my many tiresome reminders of the fact I’m Scottish – and many threats to migrate back north – I have made a fulfilling and fun life in the tropical south of England with my wonderful partner, Laura.
I have only stayed in Bristol because my roles at BikeRadar have afforded me so many opportunities, experiences and, crucially, close friends.
I could list many people, but above all I will be forever grateful that I met Joe Norledge and Felix Smith at BikeRadar, and remain indebted to Matthew Loveridge – who I met in Edinburgh before we both moved south to work on the site – for helping me get started. They are three of my closest friends and trusted confidants. Few jobs give you that.
I cannot fathom the trajectory life would have taken had I not been so lucky to build an enormously entertaining career surrounded and supported by wonderful, talented and motivated people throughout the formative years of my working life.
Underpinning my time are the hundreds (thousands?) of articles, podcasts and videos I’ve produced, edited, written, presented or commissioned over the years.
It has been an enormous privilege to have largely unbridled freedom to produce work about the things that interest me, from the mainstream to the truly niche.
With that in mind, here’s a handful of highlights – I could have picked dozens more – from 10 years in my dream job. It’s been enormously gratifying and amusing looking back through the archives, and I’m very proud of a lot of the work I’ve produced, even if some of it fringes on the ridiculous.
Consider this a big, wet, soppy farewell kiss to our wonderful audience, loyal readers, good and bad commenters, brands and, above all else, colleagues who’ve supported me and BikeRadar.
For now, I will enjoy some time off before I move on to my exciting new job. If I can slip this shameless plug past the editor, follow along for my next step over on my Instagram account: @jacquelucque
Retirement, moustaches and bar ends with XC legend José Antonio Hermida
Shortly after starting, I was sent on back-to-back trips to see new products in the Basque Country, New York and elsewhere – outrageously exotic excursions for a junior staff writer that bent my tiny smooth brain.
The best of these early experiences was being sent to interview cross-country racing legend José Hermida four months into the job.
I’ve been fortunate enough to meet many superstars of the sport through my role, but Hermida remains the most immensely generous with his time – he was very kind to this very green young writer.
In the intervening years, I’ve met him several more times – most recently interviewing him before the Paris Olympics – and he has always made time to have a gas. This relationship is one I file as genuinely unbelievable, and is something I will cherish for a very long time.
Revealed: why inner tubes smell of fish
I’ve written about many fringe concerns, but nearly 10 years after it was originally published, my ridiculous ‘investigation’ into why inner tubes smell of fish, and whether the tall tale that they contain crushed-up fish bones is true, remains a highlight.
Looking back, I can’t believe my emails were answered by rubber boffins with better things to do than answer my stupid questions.
Regardless, it stands as one of my favourite pieces I ever wrote.
- Read more: Revealed: why inner tubes smell of fish
A mortifying video debut
I made my video debut with a review of the then brand-new Fairlight Strael in March 2017, which I’d ridden throughout the preceding winter.
It is toe-curlingly embarrassing listening to my shy presentation and pained delivery, but it kick-started a long and immensely fulfilling time on BikeRadar's YouTube channel.
I was immediately welcomed into the video fold by the wonderful duo of Reuben Bakker-Dyos and Joe Norledge, and learned a great deal from the fearsomely direct and helpful producer Ben Healy.
Healy – not the pro rider, I’ll add – really sharpened my presenting skills with firm, fair and always demeaning-to-my-Scottish-accent feedback.
- Read more: 2017 Fairlight Strael review
A love letter to the Shimano SPD sandal
At the top of the pile of stupid articles I have written is surely my love letter to the Shimano SPD sandal.
The SPD sandal is an under-appreciated cycling style icon. I feel I did it a service through a now – dare I say? – iconic photoshoot with some choice socks outside our old office in the centre of Bristol.
I was once told a picture from this shoot was hung in a Shimano office in Japan. I fear this was someone merely stroking my ego, but I like to believe it’s true.
- Read more: A love letter to the Shimano SPD sandal
Hill Climb Diaries
Hill Climb Diaries remains the best-known work I’ve been involved in – although I can take absolutely no credit for the hard graft of making it.
The aforementioned Joe and Reuben were instrumental in creating what was then a fairly revolutionary format for BikeRadar, standing apart from content we had created to date.
Through two seasons of videos, we became C-list cycling celebrities in the south west. My proudest moment is probably still being recognised while buying a cauliflower in Lidl with Joe, who I lived with at the time.
To this day, people reference Hill Climb Diaries, and while we’ve never made a return to a fully fledged season, attending the National Championships and creating tech videos around the event remains a personal highlight each year.
The golden era of stupid rides
There was definitely a golden era for my personal contributions to BikeRadar on YouTube, where we extended the Diaries franchise into other stupid rides.
My two favourites were part of a conceptually joined series where I rode coast-to-coast along the Reivers Way with Joe, followed by a winter attempt at the fearsome Lord of the Loops.
Both landed at a time when I was in relatively good bike fitness and, although the challenges of filming while riding made them exceptionally long days out, they remain some of my favourite experiences on a bike.
The wholesome bothy trip
I could list many more highlights, but my final video entry has to be a wonderful bothy trip I took with Matthew Loveridge and the then-fairly-new Felix Smith to Grwyne Fawr Bothy in the Brecon Beacons.
Matthew prefers Egyptian cotton to clammy down, so convincing him to do this trip was something of a miracle. But the UK’s smallest bothy played host to three firm friends in the most wholesome video I’ve ever worked on – and probably the only one I rewatch at least once a year.
Shimano Dura-Ace R9200 leaked
My archive of content at BikeRadar is littered with reporting on Shimano patents, product leaks, launches and other content around the brand I’m most interested in.
But my crowning achievement as a news hound was being the first site to break the news that Shimano Dura-Ace R9200 was being raced at the Baloise Belgium Tour in 2021.
Matthew and I had largely led the chase on the story throughout early 2021, reporting on even the most minor leaks before the big day.
This put us in a good place when a credible tip-off that the groupset would be raced in Belgium came in.
We then managed, somewhat miraculously, to organise for a photographer to swing by the team bus. They delivered the goods at the end of an absolutely monstrous ride I had done with – coincidentally – Matthew and another friend that day.
Straight off the train after 176km of riding, I had a quick shower and drank beers while eating pizza, publishing what became the highest-performing story of that year later that evening.
Proud content dad
In more recent years, I’ve moved into assistant, deputy then digital editor roles on the site.
While I produce less visible content day-to-day, I’m still heavily involved in commissioning, editing and contributing to the site.
In many ways, this has been among the most gratifying parts of my career – rallying a team of motivated, fun and passionate people around the at-times challenging world of online publishing is a great challenge, and I’m continually proud of the work we publish.
Outside of the core BikeRadar gang, I’m lucky to be supported by fabulous people working in other editorial- and central teams at Our Media (BikeRadar’s publisher). Without them, my work would grind to a halt, and it is very difficult to leave a business staffed by so many wonderful people.
The BikeRadar Podcast
The BikeRadar Podcast has been my most consistent contribution to the brand in recent years, for the most part co-hosted by my immensely talented colleague, doggedly passionate tech dork, and kind friend, Simon von Bromley.
We never take for granted the fact we’re paid to talk about bikes for an hour every Thursday morning – it still feels like something of a minor miracle that this counts as work.
Through what must be almost 500 episodes now, we’ve discussed all manner of topics, settling most recently into a weekly news show format that I absolutely love and will be very sad to leave behind.
Tandem touring in Scotland
My love for tandem riding with Laura is well publicised, and my diarised summary of a 2024 tour on the west coast of Scotland remains one of the best pieces I’ve ever written for the site.
The piece was largely formed out of Strava diary entries, which I had got into the habit of writing after most of my big rides. These consciously aped the style of my cycling and writing hero, George ‘McNasty’ Berwick.
I don’t wish to give the impression I think the writing is extraordinary prose, but I feel the piece best encompasses everything I love about cycling and travelling by bike – particularly in my beloved homeland.
And if those who read The Comic throughout the 70s and 80s can detect even a slight hint of McNasty-ism in it, then it truly stands out as the best thing I’ve published.
A final thought
As a final point to all of this, I am often struck by how many people I meet who are similarly afflicted with a love for cycling tech, racing and riding that shapes the entire narrative of their lives. There are few passions which are so all-encompassing.
The often faceless world of online publishing – not to mention the rise of AI and the many challenges it presents for websites such as BikeRadar – can make our work feel impersonal, or give rise to the notion that we have ulterior motives. But that’s simply not the case.
Like my colleagues, I live and breathe cycling – it consumes my waking thoughts, free time, and, of course, my work life.
That I’ve managed to make a successful career out of sharing that earnest love for cycling with you has been the greatest gift I could ever wish for. While I may jest about daft comments, I’ve never taken the support of our audience for granted. BikeRadar wouldn’t exist without you, and your support for the real people behind the site will only become more important in the years to come.
I wish everyone here the best for what I’m sure will be long and happy careers, and will see you all very soon.
