Two wheels good, four wheels better?

Accelerating down the pitlane at the Nürburgring is always exciting. Especially at night. The fact I was technically going the wrong way was interesting too. But we’ll come back to that.

I’ve both driven and cycled on lots of amazing pieces of tarmac around the world and the Venn diagram in terms of appeal would show quite a large crossover. I have certainly ridden quite a few roads for articles in Cyclist magazine and thought ‘must come back here with a suitable car at some point’. Vice versa, too. Which is strange, because the things that draw drivers and riders to a road aren’t usually the same.

The obvious area of joint attraction is landscape. Driving or riding is invariably improved by a wonderful vista to gaze over, no matter whether you are behind a wheel or a set of handlebars. But jagged mountains with soaring peaks piercing an azure firmament aren’t an absolute necessity. What surrounds a piece of tarmac isn’t always crucial to entice drivers and riders to a road; sometimes it’s simply the road.