The Pedal Club Lunch Reports- Chris Lovibond
The Pedal Club Lunch November 2025
There were many who doubted the wisdom of holding the World Championships in Rwanda, but Jeremy Ford, the speaker for November, gave the club an account which showed there were many benefits. Jeremy has a long term interest in African cycling and has been involved in the promotion of Team Africa Rising for the past decade. He told the club that the races were well run and that the government had made sure there was adequate financial support.
The road race course was certainly tough, hard enough to make the world’s best struggle, and in fact in the elite men’s race there were only thirty finishers from one hundred and sixty four starters. However, the difficulties made the racing interesting – it was ‘oldfashioned’ in one important respect: most riders turned off their Garmins. This was because the conditions (altitude and heat) made all performance figures abnormal and therefore useless; spectators like riders needing to use their own judgements about how to race.
The main point the speaker made was that these championships should have a significant effect on African cycling generally. The races were covered by the world’s media, which naturally includes Africa and this meant that young people there saw, for the first time, African riders competing at the highest level.
In some parts of the world cycling is just seen as transport for the poor, but Africa is different and bikes are valued. Yes, they are used for work and transport, but there is also a genuine joy about riding, something less and less true in car saturated Europe. Although it must be admitted that football is Africa’s leading sport, cycling is coming up strongly, particularly in the eastern countries and the big world tour teams are now actively looking for African talent (there are already 140 Africans in world tour teams). The sport has come a long way from Tom Richie’s involvement in the 2006 ‘Wooden Bicycle Classic’.
African racing cyclists are now better equipped, although there are still some problems. Naturally, riders want the best modern kit but there can be confusion about what is really best for the conditions. ‘Hi Tech’ can be a bit too advanced for the current situation – for example at this championship some riders wanted to use a 12 speed electric change system but were disappointed to discover that there were only 11 speed chargers (different system) available in the whole continent. It’s necessary to understand that the best kit is what is suitable for local conditions. As a tiny contribution to this problem the Pedal Club is giving £500 to Jeremy’s cycling charity.
It has been suggested, erroneously, in the past that the Pedal Club membership is too old to do anything significant. In fact the club does have a few young members, but some of
the older ones are pretty active. At this meeting member Malcolm Freeman, freshly returned from the UCI world track championships at Roubaix, displayed his two silver medals won at this year’s event. He rode in the 75 plus age group and gained second place in both the points race and the pursuit. Congratulations and thanks to Malcolm for demonstrating that Pedal Club members can compete at world level.
The lunch attracted forty seven members and guests and was held at the Civil Service
Club.
Chris Lovibond,
November 2025.
Pedal Club Lunch, October 2025
The Pedal Club always strives to find interesting and prominent speakers and October’s guest was of the highest quality – Mark Cavendish. His invitation was based on the need for a signature on his Golden Book page, but we hoped we would learn more about the man and his career; we were not disappointed. After an introduction by Phil Liggett, Mark gave a brief acceptance speech: he made it clear thathe was well aware of the significance of the Golden Book, which has been signed by all the greats of British cycling since the nineteen thirties. His understanding of cycling history was also emphasised by his comment – ‘I always loved the club system, which was my start. Now it’s not doing so well, I wish we could do something to help it.’ We learned morefrom the later question and answer session.
On the pro scene, he told us that there is worry in some quarters that team budgets are unsustainably high, risking the possibility of a collapse. Perhaps following on from thispoint, he feels that pro cycling is becoming disconnected from the rest of the cycling world. It was once the pinnacle; now it seems to have become a thing apart. As for signing pro contracts at sixteen, he believes this is too young and that some sort of apprenticeship scheme should be available. He told us that his own son already thinks, incorrectly, that he
is a pro cyclist!
The UCI, he said, is easy to criticise, but he is sympathetic to many of the technical restrictions the organisation imposes, for example handlebar width regulation. There is pressure from those who want to popularise new products, but while technical advancemay have benefits, it should not affect the attractiveness of the sport, particularly in respect of safety.
Of himself he said that originally he wasn’t interested in fame, just wanting to ride and
race. He recognised his good luck in having enjoyed a great career which had allowed him to meet a wide range of interesting people. Asked for his best career moment he replied:
‘Retiring, and taking the computer off my bike.’
It was clear that Mark was aware that his experiences had developed him as a person,and after hearing him it is easy to believe that, while some of his early press coverage was
not always flattering, the mature Mark Cavendish will be an excellent ambassador for cycling.
Unsurprisingly, this meeting attracted more would be attenders than the dining room at the Civil Service Club has room to hold, so the number was the maximum possible: sixty five.
Chris Lovibond,
October 2025.
