Explore returns with Lionel Birnie travelling to the south coast of England to meet photographer and journalist Roff Smith, whose lockdown project was published in the
bicycle-portraits.html">New York Times as
A Cyclist on the English Landscape.
The series of self-portraits feature Roff cycling in and around his adopted home town, St Leonards-on-Sea in Sussex. Roff is not used to staying in one place for long. Born in the US and having spent time working in Australia, his career as a photographer and writer for National Geographic has kept him almost permanently on the move – until the coronavirus crisis hit in spring 2020.
While tethered to home, Roff started getting up before dawn to capture photographs of himself riding through the early morning light and found that each day gave him a different perspective on the familiar.
To see more of Roff's work follow him on Instagram
@roffsmith where he has published more of his self-portraits and his website
The Art of the Ride.
The Tour d'Écosse
On Thursday (June 3), Lionel and Simon Gill are setting off on the Tour d'Écosse, a 13-day, 1,300-kilometre ride from Gretna to Dingwall in Scotland, visiting each of the 42 Scottish football grounds on the way. Follow their adventures with nightly episodes of Explore and by following the (slow-moving) dot at
thecyclingpodcast.com
Explore by The Cycling Podcast is supported by Supersapiens and Science in Sport.