A country policeman ambling his watchful way through a thatched village, the district nurse pedalling to deliver another baby; they were the images of cycling in Britain.
And they lasted in some quarters, even in our media, until about a month ago.
Now Britain has gone bike bonkers.
Cycling is our number one sport-of-the-moment; yeah, football will take over in winter, but let’s bask in it for now. Bike books occupy 12 slots of the top-20 British sports best sellers.
Every newspaper front page had Bradley Wiggins wining the Tour de France last Monday morning.
Anybody who is in cycling is in demand.
I was interviewed live on TV from my back yard by Sky News during the final stage of the Tour de France, and even plumb-their-mouth BBC have invited me past their hallowed portals.
Cycling is big here, and it looks like staying that way, at least for a while. But our Tour de France stars have hardly had time to bask in the glory, because we’ve got another big hit of sport coming up; the Olympic Games.
The Great Britain versus Australia contest didn’t turn out the way I thought it would in the Tour, and I apologise for all those ‘Ashes Tour’ headings. However, Olympic cycling looks like being a much closer contest, and it all kicks off on Saturday with the men’s road race.
One-off races like the Worlds and Olympics are fascinating.
National teams and unpredictable courses take pro racers out of their comfort zone, but how would you play it if you were deciding the Australian team’s tactics on Saturday?
You could play for a sprint, and Team GB and Germany will be comfortable with that, they have Mark Cavendish and Andre Greipel to play.
A sprint would be a good banker for a medal, but it won’t win Australia the gold.
Last year’s Worlds ended with a Cavendish, Goss and Greipel podium, and I think Cav has got better.
Matt Goss was nowhere near him in the drag race going up the Champs Elysees last Sunday. In fact he blew up trying to get past and lost second place to Peter Sagan. Silver is the best Goss can expect in a gallop along the Mall.
Better to play the strong-man card and get in a break. There are plenty of strong teams in the Olympics who don’t want the race to end with a sprint.
The Belgians are up for it with Boonen and Gilbert, although neither of them are in sparkling form at the moment. The Italians want to win gold, so do the Spanish, and the French have players to play. None of these teams want a sprint.
And there is some scope to do it this course, although in my opinion it’s a compromise created to showcase London more than a test of cycling ability that the Olympic road race should be.
Simon Gerrans would be a good man to get in a break, although I feel he’ll be a bigger threat on the world championship course in Holland later on.
But what about Cadel?
The Tour de France must have hurt his pride. Stomach problems cost him any chance of making a fight of his defence.
The race involves a leg out of London, some hills in Surrey and eight laps of a small circuit based on Box Hill, which is just over one kilometre long and steep at the start. That bit suits Evans, but the final 30 kilometres become progressively flatter as the race heads back into central London to finish right outside Buckingham Palace.
However, I see the race being very aggressive, just like the 2009 Worlds were. It will be action throughout with Belgium, Italy and France trying to shed Cavendish, and Team GB doing everything they can to counter.
The battle will go on and on, right to the death, creating lots of tired legs.
Could Cadel Evans fire up his turbo-diesel body, clip off the front in the last few miles and hold everybody off to win?
Yeah, it’s a bit left-field but it’s surprising what pride can do.
So that’s what I’d go for. Try to get Evans in a break and save the rest to lead out Goss as plan B.
Roger the Alien
Guest
The Tour De France is way more important than cricket on an international scale, so their accolades were justified.
wallythefly
Guest
I was at the Oval last Sunday for the England v South Africa Test match, when the announcer said that Wiggins had won the entire crowd stood up and roared. For cycling! It was incredible, though the Poms didn't have much to cheer for that day...
Roger the Alien
Guest
I know what you mean Betty and agree with you. Don't listen to the peanut gallery.
Chris Sidwells
Guest
Yes, Tommy I think there is an argument for that. There used to be a team medal awarded in the Olympic road race, but it was for the best placed team. I think the way cycling has become more relient on team work you could argue that the best team is the one that get's its leader into the gold medal. Good point.
Tom Callaghan
Guest
Ah Betty love! Do I hear pots calling kettles black? In fact there was quite a lot of attention paid to Evans failure to keep pace with Wiggind and credit was given to the Australians in Team Sky. Radio Five Live had interviews with Australian cycling journalists too. Not much else was said about Australian participation in the tour because that did not amount to much. Not even one stage win for Green Edge or indeed any Australian.....
LettheGamesbegin
Guest
Mark Renshaw is the man missing for the road race course. He would make a dramatic difference to the lead out train for Matt Goss, as a setup rider he is world, world class. Porte would've been a fantastic addition for the TT, or otherwise Durbridge. As much as I respect him I concur that O'Grady is a bit old now, he won't be there to make a difference at the end. Having him in the team is a bit like having a "specialist captain" ala Gidley.
Roger the Alien
Guest
Richie Porte will be missed. O'Grady is probably too old now.
tommy
Guest
Chris, do you think there is an argument for the whole team of the winner to receive a Medal? For example, we all know that 4 members of the Brittish team are there to drag Cav to a sprint finish & they will get sweet FA in return. It's the same problem that the World's have every year & I think it is pretty unfair. At least in the Olymic race, there is an opportunity to reward the team riders with an Olympic Medal.
Bill
Guest
Betty, at least the Brits aren't as bad as us Australians. Good luck to them supporting a great champion like Wiggins. We do exactly the same here is Australia can we jump on sporting success as quick as anyone. The difference between us and the Brits is they keep supporting their teams even when they lose (i.e football and cricket - The bl..oody barmy army was still supporting the cricket team even though we would smash them 5-0. (Apparently thats where the name came from)). We should take a leaf out of thier book and be more supportive of teams that win or lose.
NickF
Guest
Evans will never be allow to be in a break. He would be hunted down. the only way is for Cadel Evans to be the decoy and send Gerrans or Rogers off in the break.
Stanley Seathwaite
Guest
It's unbelievable, Betty B. Sometimes, the British press cover British politics more than Austrian politics. Sometimes, British news events are more important than Swiss events. Bizarre, no ?
Roger Rational
Guest
British newspapers focussing on British athletes? Fancy that!
MV Dave
Guest
"The Brits will support any success" Why do they keep supporting the Football team then? :)
Betty B
Guest
The Brits will support any success. I monitired the UK press coverage of the tour last year and this. Amazingly, coverage last year was all about Cavendish. Cadel's win was mentioned as a byline. This year for sure you'd swear there were no other countries represented than GB. I'm finding their coverage pre-games like that too, barely a mention of anyone other than Team GB.
Stanley Seathwaite
Guest
Correct, MV Dave. As a British fan of British cycling, I find some of the stuff currently being said a bit weird. Cycling remains on the margins, whatever anyone says. Dave is right to quote the final TdF figures: two thirds of the ITV audience were watching on the main commercial channel, ITV 1. The audience was only slightly higher than what they get for repeats of 'Inspector Morse' or 'Poirot'.
MV Dave
Guest
Cycling may have received a boost from the wonderful victory by Wiggins but let's not go over the top. If the tv ratings are anything to go by even in Summer football is king (no doubt the Olympics will do brilliantly as well). Wiggins TdF victory ride into Paris was watched by a peak viewing audience of 3.6m on ITV last Sunday. Murray's loss in the Wimbledon final was watched by a peak of 17m and England's defeat in Euro QF was watched by a peak figure of 23m in late June.