First off this morning was a quick tube journey to the launch of the big new Ride London event – a fantastic weekend of road events due for next August, including something for everyone. I was on the top table at the press conference chaired by Gary Lineker with Mayor of London Boris Johnson, featuring the event organisers and our very own new superstar Laura Trott.
It is strange meeting those people like Gary and Boris whose faces are so familiar from television. You feel that you already know them, but of course you don’t. You chat with them like old friends and then realise they must be thinking “Have I met this person before?”
Anyway Ride London will certainly be something special. First up, there will be an event for families and youngsters on the lines of the SkyRides on the Saturday, when up to 70,000 participants are expected. Then on the Sunday there will be a 100 mile Challenge Ride for 20,000 riders (Boris committed himself to ride!), criterium racing in Central London, and a Classic Road race for the professionals, which has the bold objective of becoming the world’s leading one day race in a few years’ time.
Around 200 journalists and television crews filled the auditorium to hear the plans, with Mayor Boris as usual proving the master at amusing and entertaining repartee with the media. It’s going to be a fantastic event, a worthy legacy from the Olympic road cycling events.
And afterwards the media gathered for one to one interviews. I was quite surprised to be asked to speak to television and radio stations, as well as print journalists, from all around the world. I don’t think I ever expected in my life to be asked by a Chinese television crew how to encourage people in China to ride bikes! Coals to Newcastle indeed.
In the afternoon it was back to the BMX cauldron and the massively enthusiastic crowds were joined by one David Beckham, who I believe used to play for a football team near Manchester. He seemed to be enjoying himself. Things didn’t quite work out for Shanaze or Liam, but if we weren’t to win it was great to see smaller nations like Latvia and Colombia take the gold medals.
In the evening I had two social events. First off the UCI held a reception for LOCOG to say thank you for the wonderful organisation of the cycling events. It’s been almost impossible to find anything to fault, and UCI President Pat McQuaid was fulsome in his praise. There is absolutely no doubt that the cycling events have been one of the highlights of these tremendously successful Games and our sport has been done a power of good in the eyes of the IOC and the rest of the world.
Then it was a quick dash in a taxi with Jonny Clay to the Scotland House on Pall Mall for a celebratory dinner. Again it was rewarding to hear IOC Member Sir Craig Reedie praising the cycling events in general and British Cycling in particular for our efforts. Sir Craig has always been a good friend to our sport, and as BOA Chairman it was he who first put forward the idea of bidding for the 2012 Games for London, a bid which we at British Cycling fully supported at the time and ever since.
So after a small glass of beautiful Scotch whisky, I went to bed a happy man!
Brian
