AND THE TOUR BEGINS.....
By James Startt, European Associate to Bicycling
London, July 3, 2007

With the prologue of the 2007 Tour de France making a historic start in London, James Startt takes a look at the history of the sport, racing, and cycling's oldest club in the U.K. in the Roots of British Cycling. With the Tour de France's historic start in London, James Startt looks at the longstanding tradition of bike racing in England, and the anticipation for the sport's homecoming on July 7.

A young and brash looking Mick Jagger helped refuel the popularity of the sport of cycling in the 1960s.
For some, a select few, this year's Tour de France, with its historic start in London, is a sort of coming home. The argument can be made that the origins of cycling, after all, are as much British as they are French. The first bicycle, as well as the first clubs and races developed and evolved in the late 19th century in England as they did in France.

But then a strange ruling at the turn of the century forbid mass-start races in England, forever changing the face of British cycling. Cycling didn't die, but it was forced underground, at the same time that the sport flourished in the mainstream on the continent.

This underground movement did foster two long-standing traditions in Britain, however, traditions that in no small way made their way to the continent as well.

With mass-start racing forbidden, clubs organized time trials, since it was impossible for authorities to accuse individual riders from racing. And since the majority of these races were held in the early morning or evening hours, in an effort to avoid any legal hassles, riders wore black attempting to further camouflage their efforts in the low light, hence the sports long-standing tradition with black shorts.
Stan Rose, aka "Joe The Fat Boy" is pictured on the left with some of his associates from the Pickwick Bicycle Club, the oldest in existence.
"Traditionally it's been very hard to organize bike races, so to see the magnitude of the Tour de France is going to be huge," says Stan Rose, one of the upstanding members of the Pickwick Bicycle Club, that pride's itself on being the world's oldest bicycle club.

Officially formed in 1870, the club also prides itself on being the oldest club or society devoted to writer Charles Dickens.

What? Dickens was a cycling fan? "No," explains Rose, "but the six founders were looking for a name and that year Charles Dickens died, so they named the club after one of his books, 'The Pickwick Papers.'"

Okay simple enough. But the cycling-literary plot thickens. To this day the club is limited to roughly 200 members, and each one is awarded a name from the book.

Rose is actually known as "Joe the Fat Boy," a nickname he admits is "very appropriate." And today, the organization is actually much more society than cycling club, a very British twist to sport indeed. Regardless, they have no racing team and members are not obliged to be cyclists.

Instead they have two social outings per year where they wear straw hats, sing songs and in general have a jolly good time. They remember fondly when former Tour de France director and Dixieland Jazz fan Jean-Marie Leblanc visited one outing and led them all in a very merry rendition of "When the Saints Go Marching In," on the clarinet.

They also use these events to raise money for various and sundry cycling-related causes.

With membership limited to the names of characters in the Pickwick Papers, there is a long waiting list to join. "I thought I was going to be dead by the time I got in," Dave "Welps" Taylor says of his 10-year wait to join. Taylor, a life-long racer, also stands out one of the club's active cyclists.

But while British cycling maintained a certain underground aspect, in the 1960's it also fostered a certain rock-star profile, as at least two of the country's most prominent musicians, Mick Jagger and Eric Clapton have both been active cyclists.

Condor Bikes have sponsored local teams and racers for more than 60 years.
"Eric just ordered two new bikes last week," said Grant Young, "he's always followed the sport." Young took over Condor Bikes from his father Monty. For 60 year's now they have built bikes, sponsored teams and run one of the most prestigious shops in London, not to mention being the unofficial cycling sponsor to stars and royalty.

But the real boom in British racing had to wait until the 1990's, when the British cycling federation was awarded large grants from the British lottery system allowing them to build one of the top track programs in the world today.

"Back in my day we were all just a bunch of scruffs," Taylor recounts. "But after Chris Boardman won the Olympic Gold (in the pursuit race) in the 1992 Olympics, the British Lottery really got behind cycling, investing up to three million pounds per year."

With England's longstanding tradition in time trialing it is understandable that the federation opted to invest primarily in track racing, but a grass roots road program is also already underway.

Modern England is nothing if it is not a county mired in traffic jams. Too many cars in too small of a country, has a way of fostering this contemporary quandary.

Bicycle road racing, never a priority here, hence was forced to look for other options. Their answer-closed circuit racing-bike racing on an actual road, with hills and turns, reserved exclusively for cyclists.

The oldest of such circuits was the Eastway Park circuit on eastern side of London, although today it has been closed to make way for London's Olympic village. But in the western suburbs, the Hillingdon circuit actively runs races at least six nights a week.

Closed circuit races provide a safe and competitive format for children to learn the ropes of bike racing. Young racers line up for the start of the legendary Hillingdon race in Reading.
Starting with six-year olds and including veterans, the different race series allow children to learn the ropes of competitive cycling in a safe environment, or for aging riders to stay in shape. And now several other cycling circuits are sprouting up around the country.

"They're the nursery, almost literally," says Stuart Benstead, chairman of the Archer Road Club and organizer of the Tuesday night race serious. "It's the answer to how we can have racing in this country with all the traffic problems. They're safe, they're practical and they're economical. This is where kids learn drafting, pace lining, sprinting. This is wear the federation does its scouting."

The most prominent product of this system is Cofidis rider Bradley Wiggins, a Londoner that grew up racing at Hillingdon as well as the nearby track in Reading. This Saturday he is one of the heavy favorites in the Tour's opening prologue.

"It's an exciting time to be involved in British cycling," say Benstead and who's convinced that the Tour, as well as the London Olympics in 2012, will encourage British success in the sport even more. "We'd actually have to do something to get it wrong for the progress not to continue. But most importantly the British have finally started to believe that they can actually win something."