Striking German cycle on grassy area (10)
I believe the answer is:
leathering
'striking german cycle' is the definition.
The definition suggests a present participle verb which matches the answer.
'on grassy area' is the wordplay.
'on' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'grassy' becomes 'thering' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should believe this answer much more).
'area' becomes 'lea' (lea is a kind of area).
'thering' after 'lea' is 'LEATHERING'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for leathering that I've seen before include "Thrashing" , "punishment" .)