Cycling Heritage

[Winnershsaint]

What's yours? Both parents raced as amateurs. Dad certainly represented the RN as a cyclist in the late 1940's early 1950's. he says he was a hill-climb specialist and rode a Major bike with a 72 inch gear much of the time. My mum who raced in the early 50's was much the more talented rider. Holding county records (Sussex) for TTs and on the road, as well as winning regularly on the track. her highlight was a semi-finalist in the national womens 2000m (I think) pursuit in around 51 or 52. Quite an achievement as she's never topped 5 ft tall and had to have her bikes handmade.

 

[Theseus]

Both parent bought me my first bike.

Never saw either of them on one themselves.

 

[Noodley]

Same as Touche, although I imagine different parents...

 

[fossyant]

No cyclists in my family, other than transport if they even did that. My wife's side has more cyclists.. not active but members.

Me, i'm officially a bike nut, my son is as bad. My younger bro is a good runner, as he is lots lighter than me. My sisters do fitness classes... my parents did not exercise.

Exercise has been us 70's kids....I was born in 1970. Family did not push sport on me, it was my choice. I found I was a fast runner only in my last year at school, set a 1500m record..where that came from.... Anyway, found bikes soon after..

 

[Noodley]

Same as Touche, although I imagine different parents...

Actually, if we are going back further....several members of my family died when they were cyclists in WWII.

 

[Winnershsaint]

As a kid my sporting heroes were not on two wheels. Of course I knew about the likes Tom Simpson and Hugh Porter, but my real heroes were Terry Paine, Mick Channon and Ron Davies. Cycling was such a minority sport as a teenager it was almost embarrassing to have parents who actually competed albeit way before I was born. Both couldn't play football either . Dad always has had two left feet and my mum tried. Any reference to their sporting pasts used to make me cringe and probably put me off cycling in my younger years.

 

[Noodley]

My elder daughter used to pester me to let her ride, I eventually took he to track and she was good. It lasted a year, she no longer cares.

 

[david k]

What's yours? Both parents raced as amateurs. Dad certainly represented the RN as a cyclist in the late 1940's early 1950's. he says he was a hill-climb specialist and rode a Major bike with a 72 inch gear much of the time. My mum who raced in the early 50's was much the more talented rider. Holding county records (Sussex) for TTs and on the road, as well as winning regularly on the track. her highlight was a semi-finalist in the national womens 2000m (I think) pursuit in around 51 or 52. Quite an achievement as she's never topped 5 ft tall and had to have her bikes handmade.

never seen my parents ride as a kid

my dad a top amatuer cricketer, winning many medals

mum a mum all her life

grandad a rugby player

me a pro rugby player

now a cyclist

 

[snorri]

My parents were utility cyclists and my early bike runs were on a child seat behind my mother. It was a sit-up and beg with mudguard holes for a skirt-guard and gas mask tubing on the 'bars for handgrips. Even now I remember the springs on the cycle seat in front of me, I could easily have stuck my fingers into the coil springs and lost a finger if we had gone over a bump. My father was war disabled and could only pedal with one leg and couldn't throw his leg over the bar so rode a Hercules step through ladies model with a fixed wheel, low gearing and and footrest on the left hand side. This bike later became my first bike after fitting another pedal, although I got a bit of ragging for having a ladies model, I was better off than a lot of my friends who, too short in the leg to cycle astride the crossbar, had to cycle with one leg through the triangle below the bar. A style of cycling I have not seen performed for many years.

 

[ThePainInSpain]

My late father was a member of Irchester Harriers in the late 1920's/30's. They used to do a lot of 'funny riding' at the local carnivals. I have seen pictures of riding a penny farthing and also a bike with off set hubs, so as you rode it it went up and down.
He and the other members used to make these bike themselves.

He was never a member when I when I knew him, because of course WW2 had taken place.

From when I was born to his retirement he was an Insurance Agent for the Pru. This entailed him calling on his customers houses every week or month and collecting the premium, often 1d (that's one old penny) per week. Entering it in his ledger, a hard bound book about 15" wide and 9" tall and about 1.5" thick, he used to carry 2 of these in his saddle bag.

He cycled all over the village most evenings doing his 'collections', and often I would go with him. Can't remember the bike I had but do remember it was blue. This was in the second half of the 50's.

When I outgrew that one, my parents bought me a Dawes Dalesman, and everytime I see a Dawes mentioned on here it brings back happy memories.

 

[monnet]

My dad has ridden since he was in his teens. Initially to get to nearby engine sheds for trainspotting trips but he soon got into racing and raced on and off (at a fairly low level) through the 60s and 70s. He stopped racing when I was born but carried on commuting and riding regularly meaning I've always had a love of bikes. As a result I got my first 'racer' when I was 8. Although it took me about 20 years and few more bikes before I got round to actually racing myself. Turns out we operate at about the same, very modest level!

Mum was brought up in rural Lancashire and so rode to and from school on a heavyweight boneshaker and saw the bike as very much a means of transport. Once she didn't have to ride a bike, she didn't. Later attempts by her to get into cycling (much like my sister) were rather thwarted by my dad as he has very fixed ideas on what a bike should be - 'racers', eventually he relented and realised that a hybrid might be a better option, but by then they'd lost interest!

And that is my 1000th post!

 

[funnymummy]

None whatsovere for me, well, none that I know of/been told!

But i've always had a bike, I remember as a child, my dad being very insistant that it was the one thing I should always have, (even as a young teen when it wasn't cool to ride, he refused to let me sell my bike for a Spectrum PC!!)
Thnak you Dad xx

 

[gavroche]

My dad tried biking but wad no good at it so he turned to boxing and became a champion. That was during the last world war. Still have his medals.

 

[screenman]

Both parents non cyclist. As for me I raced as a schoolboy and again in my thirties and forties, after a 10 year break no doubt I will race again next year at 56. My eldest at 37 races frequently, Trans Wales last year and the like, he was also on the record breaking LEJOG relay team in about 1996 getting a Guinness book certificate for their efforts. His wife is ranked number one for over 40 female MTB in the UK or was last time I checked a few weeks ago. My youngest an active rugby player is also a very keen cyclist both on and off road. Now the wife well that one is not fair, she can not ride the bike which is a bit of a BSO for weeks and then pop out and do 20 at 16mph on with with very little effort, now if only I could have got her into racing and training properly.

To surmise, we are a cycling family, having organised and helped out at hundreds of races and reliability trials over the years and will no doubt continue to do so for hopefully many more years to come.

 

[ufkacbln]

Same as Touche, although I imagine different parents...

I can see the Sun headline now....

Internet website reunites long lost twins

Two cyclists who were separated at birth have been reunited by the internet Forum "Cycle Chat". They had been tragically separated at birth...... etc