Fun Facts

• Cycling is one of only five sports that have featured in every modern Olympics.
• Dutchman Fred Rompelberg is not just the oldest professional cyclist in the world but also holds the Absolute Speed World Record Cycling crown after achieving 166.94 miles per hour in the slipstream of a dragster in Salt Lake City in 1995.
• While American Lance Armstrong has won the Tour de France a record seven times, four cyclists have each won it five times. They are Jacques Anquetil (France), Eddy Merckx (Belgium), Bernard Hinault (France) and Miguel Indurain (Spain).
• The furthest anyone has ever cycled in 24 hours is just under 1,217 miles, achieved by American Michael Secrest in 1990.
• A German called Markus Riese once cycled 18km miles in one hour – backwards.
• The tallest rideable bicycle is more than 14 feet tall.
• The first Penny Farthing was invented in 1871 by British engineer James Starley.
• Leonardo DaVinci sketched something resembling a modern bicycle in 1490, but it did not get beyond the drawing board.
• The first pneumatic tyre, invented by RW Thomson in 1845, had a number of separate inflatable tubes inside a leather cover – making a serious puncture much less likely!