After the incredible success of the Mountains: Epic Cycling Climbs book, I have an exciting announcement. Contracts have been signed, and work has now started on a new World Mountains book. It’s a 3-year project which will touch all corners of the globe and showcase the greatest and most beautiful cycling climbs in the world.

Back in 2014, I was commissioned to do a photoshoot for Shimano on the island of Majorca. Part of the brief was to capture a few landscape shots of the mountains and roads for the campaign they were creating. Unbeknownst to me then, this was the impetus for a personal project and body of work which has helped define my career.

I believe many of the defining things we end up doing in life are influenced and shaped by experiences we have at an early age. My reference points are vivid memories I have of watching the early broadcasts in the mid 80’s of the Tour de France on C4. Back then, cycling was very much a marginal sport, so any televised coverage was limited to ½ hr at the late hour of 11pm. The picture quality was often poor, but Phil Liggett and Paul Sherwen bought the show alive with their enthusiastic commentary. Their voices and the heavy synth opening soundtrack of Pete Shelley (of Buzzcocks fame) has framed a golden era of cycling and the epic battles in the mountains between Hinault, Lemond, Roche, Kelly, Delgado, Millar and many more…

At that time, I was in my early teens and getting into cycling and racing. I hadn’t travelled far at that point other than on my bike around the South Downs in East Sussex and a few family holidays to the south of France or Spain. The names of all those climbs in the Alps and Pyrenees seemed exotic and very distant. I had no reference point to where they were or how they linked to each other, but the Tour de France gave them a name and an identity which set me on a path of discovery.

It was that link back to the past that made me start thinking about making a record of these climbs, which became almost a mapping process linking the names from the Tour de France to a physical place. This was to be the start of the Mountains project which soon evolved into a book which was eventually published by Thames & Hudson in the autumn of 2016 titled, Mountains: Epic Cycling climbs.

I can distinctly remember sitting in a meeting with the publishers and being told if we could sell 5000 copies we would break even and everyone would be happy. Producing a book on cycling was a risk for a publisher who traditionally printed books on art. The book launched in the autumn in time for the Christmas market and was co-editioned into several languages. By January, it had exceeded expectations, and the sales figures confirmed it was T&H third best-selling book for the year despite being only on sale for a few months.

Over the following years the book continued to sell well and was revamped and expanded to include new climbs and essays. Now nearly a decade on, the book has sold over 75,000 copies which is quite staggering for a coffee table book on cycling.

Annual excursions to the mountains and the Grand Tours have become the norm for me, revisiting many of the climbs from the first book in search of new angles and viewpoints and exploring new climbs such as the Col de la Loze, Passo Spluga, or Jebel Hafeet in the UAE (to name a few) which have quickly become relevant and worthy of documentation.

Over time, my library of mountain images has grown quietly and steadily, out of view of the general public, except for a smattering of social media posts and the limited edition prints which have been made available through the website shop. Inevitably it was only a matter of time before the conversation around a second book was floated by the publisher and the idea of a World Cycling Climbs book was conceived.

So, this is the official announcement that I have agreed to embark on a 3-year project to photograph the greatest climbs in the World, stretching to all corners of the globe from the cycling heartlands of Europe, South & North America, Australasia and the emerging countries in Asia and deep into Silk route of Central Asia and the arid lands of the Middle East.

In fairness, work on this project started years ago with various trips to California and Europe, but things really ramp up now with the summer months crammed with travel plans to capture those new, undocumented climbs. It’s going to be relentless for the next few years, but I’m sure I will get to experience and photograph some truly amazing places (and hopefully ride a few too). You can follow me on social media as I post about my travels and the climbs I am photographing.

I’d also love to hear your recommendations for climbs you think should be featured in the next book. Cycling is an evolving sport with new destinations coming into focus all the time so let me know about your most inspiring climbs which you feel should be included. Give me a follow on Instagram and drop me a direct message with your suggestions.