CYCLING AND ME
Sid Standard
My father, Sid Standard (Pictured Left in August 2003, shortly before his death), spent over 40 years getting young people on bikes. He ran the CTC junior section every Sunday, leading rides through Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire, teaching kids that the hills and the 'rough stuff', the off road sections, were all rideable if you just kept pedalling.
Before that, he was a shop steward at Raleigh. A draughtsman who put himself through night school, representing the workers despite being a suit. In 1975 he bought a bike shop in Beeston, Nottingham, and spent the next 27 years doing what he loved: selling bikes and showing young people what two wheels could do for them.
Some of those kids went on to represent Great Britain, win Olympic medals and generally benefit from the lessons he taught them on those long Sunday rides. Hundreds if not thousands of riders simply discovered a lifelong love of cycling throiugh my Dad.
Dad died in September 2003, whilst leading another Sunday ride. He was 72 and still fitter than most people half his age.
Today, there's a blue plaque on the shop wall in Beeston. A Nottingham tram carries his name. A mural celebrates his legacy in Beeston. And every September, local cyclists gather for a memorial ride to Shottle, where he fell.
My own cycling journey
I started cycling at seven. By my teens, I was racing seriously. In 1989, I represented Great Britain at the Junior World Championships in Moscow, lining up against a young Texan called Lance Armstrong.
I was on the development squad for the 1992 Olympics when, in 1991, a bad crash ended my competitive career. Broken jaw, arm and leg. Months in rehab. The racing was over, but cycling never left me.
I went to Reading University to study Psychology. On leaving in 1995, I got a job in legal marketing. I was one of the first people into law firm marketing following a relaxation of the rules governing how lawyers were allowed to publicise their services by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA).
British Cycling
In November 2025, I was elected to the Board of British Cycling at the AGM in Manchester.
British cycling is changing. The new strategy isn't just about medals and elite performance. It's about tackling inequality. Their research shows that 350,000 children from low-income families want to learn to ride but don't have access to a bike. Children from the highest socio-economic backgrounds are significantly more likely to cycle than those from the lowest.
This matters. Cycling changes lives. It changed mine. It changed the lives of hundreds of young people who came through my father's shop and his Sunday rides. British Cycling's ambition is to become the voice of cycling in the UK, not just a governing body for competitive sport.
I'm proud to be part of that work.
If you share these interests, or want to talk about cycling, British Cycling's work, or anything else, get in touch.