For the love of the Bicycle

Nick B Winner

Nick B Have you ever had a splinter ?

Nick B The rough and the smooth

Nick B Tour de France. 18th Stage Le Plagne 1987

I was holidaying in northern Spain and was watching regular stages of the ’87 tour in Spanish bars and cafe. As the Tour got to the Pyrenees it was an opportunity too good to miss so I drove across the border to catch the Pau - Luz Ardiden stage. However the ’87 Tour will always be etched in my memory because of the finish of the Le Plagne Stage as Stephen Roche hunted down Pedro Delgado almost catching him on the line to stay within reach and effectively guarantee victory in the tour, being a much better time trialist. It was remarkable because somehow TV coverage had missed Roche giving a chasing group the slip and it was assumed Delgado was at least 1’30’’ clear on the stage plus the 25’’ lead he held starting the stage. As Roche crossed the line he needed immediate medical attention. It was an awesome effort

Nick B ''Remain the fastest - become the greatest'' Mark Cavendish

Madiantin . My favourite quote: How can you beat Jens Voigt's "Shut Up Legs"? Absolute classic.

Madiantin . I wanted to ride the Murfreesboro hot 100 with the DH, but I knew there were a couple of nasty hills in it. To train me for it the DH took me up Pulltight hill - a hill I have heard about for a year or two - a hill I have dreaded for that entire time - a hill that I knew I'd never be able to get up.
But hey, what do you know....I conquered it! And I finished the Hot 100 too! Holy cow the hills were hard on that thing. But I did it. Hooray! =)

Madiantin . added some photos to the For the love of the Bicycle Challenge

David L I added a picture of my Trek, you can see in on my page or in my Jersey Tribe! My favorite story, well, the one I tell the most is the worst crash I had. And, of course, my idiotic attempts to self treat, including draining the enormous seroma myself with cobbled together IV equipment. Only a nurse.

Claire L added some photos to the For the love of the Bicycle Challenge

Nadine B added some photos to the For the love of the Bicycle Challenge

Cags R So the story behind this pic: we were on Box Hill watching the Olympic road race, there was a festival of cycling with a Rollapaluza set up - static sprint to 500m. Now since going to Herne Hill Velodrome my brother has been rather smug that he beat me on a 2 lap dash (having hidden behind the whole race and beasted it on the last 50m grrrrr) so this was a grudge match! I won with a time of 26.24 to his 28.38 and this was the moment of glory!

Favourite quote (stolen from @georgaa): 'Shut up legs, do as I tell you!'

Sam S My favourite cycling photo was taken just moments ago of Bradley Wiggins cruising to an Olympic Gold medal win....FANTASTIC!!

My favourite cycling moment is completing the London to Brighton cycle ride for the first time this year with great friends - I had doubts I had the stamina to cycle that distance and was overwhelmed with it all completely!!!!

Kirstie M And my quote is 'The bicycle has done more for the emancipation of women than anything else in the world.' ~ Susan B. Anthony 1896

Kirstie M So far, my createst cycling moment was the Hearts First ride this year, providing me with a days pb - despite only getting out for a single training ride before hand. I always aim for one more than last year, but managed 3 extra laps this time. Plus, on previous years I've tired my core and slumped over the handlebars leaving me with real shoulder and neck pain the next day. This year I held my core all the way around so no pain - but more importantly than that, giving me some pretty conclusive evidence that my core IS improving, and that my over all fitness IS improving. It's easy to doubt yourself, so it's really lovely to be shown!

Kirstie M added some photos to the For the love of the Bicycle Challenge

Kirstie M Gotta love Lizzie's grin in this one - for the love of the bicycle indeed!

Tony O Photo's an easy one - allez Wiggo!

My favourite cycling moment is when I arrived at Buckingham Palace having spent the day riding the 160 miles from my home last summer. The ride itself was a big long (and in places quite dull) plod but the destination was a bit special and gave me a great sense of achievement.

Favourite cycling quote: "Ride your bike, ride your bike, ride your bike." - Fausto Coppi, when asked what one should do to become a great champion.

Rose K @neil it runs in the family!! I am a proud sister!

Neil C added some photos to the For the love of the Bicycle Challenge

Rose K added some photos to the For the love of the Bicycle Challenge

Rose K Quote: "Life is like riding a bicycle, in order to keep your balance you must keep moving" Albert Einstein

David G This is my favourite cycling moment. In 2006, GlaxoSmithKline teamed up with British Cycling to put on a series of events called "Routes and Rides". It didn't last more than a summer, but generated a lot of hype - I guess it was the fore-runner to the Sky Rides we have today.

Anyway, one such event was at Twickenham, and Nathan (then aged 4) and I went along because there was a ride for children around Twickenham Rugby Ground. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a ride around the access area of the outside of the stadium - great if you like riding round a car park but not much fun if you like getting out.

So, I asked the organiser if we could do the adult ride, as it was mostly parks and tow paths, but there was some roads to use. He said it was quite a ride, but would be ok to let him ride.

And ride we did. From Twickenham, Bushey Park, Hampton Hill, Hampton Court, Kingston, Richmond and back to Twickenham.

14 miles he covered - his first longish ride, and more importantly, his first medal. On hindsight, if I'd stopped there it would have saved me a fortune, but you can't put a price on his post race smiles!

Vaunette C I don't really have a great cycling moment. A couple childhood memories came to my mind though. My grandfather used to put bikes together in his garage for stores and he also rebuilt bicycles then sold them. He would pick up any old bike at the junkyard or thrift store and give it new life. I remember seeing frames hanging from the ceiling that he had painted and piles of parts everywhere. Best of all I got a couple 'special order' bikes made just for me. One of them was just a regular bike with a red banana seat on it and another was my first 10 speed. Those were the best bikes ever!

Vaunette C added some photos to the For the love of the Bicycle Challenge

Vaunette C There will be a lot complaining that today was too hard, but the winners never complain. ~ Phil Liggett

Neil C I think my greatest cycling moment would be when I got pulled over for speeding after overtaking a police car when I was 16. The officers were all good spirited about it and were more amazed than anything.