Most ride reports, in all honesty, are pretty dull reading – I got on my bike, I rode for a bit, I ate some food, I rode some more, it started raining. But every now and again, a writer manages to transcend the limitations of the genre and produce something memorable, classic even. In his account of the 2010 Lowlands 1200, Marc Farrelly produced something that I will always treasure. If you’ve never read it, settle down with a cup of tea and cast your eye over something I have retitled “Fear & Loathing in Zwolle”. You won’t regret it.