Great British Cycling: The History of British Bike Racing

 In 1868, on the gravel of the Parc de Saint-Cloud in Paris, the world witnessed the inaugural contests between new-fangled ‘velocipedes’. To the local’s chagrin, an Englishman, James Moore, was victorious, and when he went on to beat 118 other competitors in the first ever road race, between the French capital and Rouen, his place in cycling history was assured. It would be a long journey, however, to British triumphs in the Tour de France.
In Great British Cycling, Ellis Bacon charts that century and a half of evolution that has led to the modern boom in bike riding and racing. As cycling clubs continued to spread across the country, there were nevertheless constant battles to get the sport authorized and accepted, while a lack of finance and equipment often hindered British cyclists’ attempts to be the best. Yet in every generation, men and women from these shores have found ways to ride their hearts out, and we have lined the roads in our millions to cheer them on.
This is the fascinating and entertaining story of one of our nation’s favourite sports, told through a winning blend of reportage and personal anecdotes, with the glorious successes and sometimes tragic failures of the sport’s icons – Tommy Simpson, Beryl Burton, Bradley Wiggins – weaved in with first-hand tales from some of the lesser-known names that equally deserve their place in the great pantheon of British cycling history.