Shropshire cyclist Sid still going strong after 80 years

There was a time when he would think nothing of cycling to Aberystwyth and back in a day, but nowadays he keeps it to around 35 miles a week.

"It keeps me fit and keeps me occupied. You have to keep the old joints working," said Sid Speke, fresh from yet another 10-mile ride.

"My wife actively encouraged it. My son cycles. My grandson cycles. It's in the family."

It goes without saying that he is one of Shropshire's oldest active cyclists and, come October, it will be 80 years since he started.

"I was at school and one of my colleagues was a butcher's errand boy in Bridgnorth with John Price in Low Town. He was older than me and leaving school. He said I could have his job, as he wouldn't be following it up and he would recommend me to the butcher.

"That's when I started cycling regularly. We were delivering meat as far as Aldenham Hall. I rode the butcher's bike. My first bike was a Singer I got from my father, also called Sidney like myself, when he got another. He had to cycle fairly regularly in his job as a painter and decorator.

"My bike was a roadster with roller lever brakes, 28ins wheels, and a BSA three-speed hub. Was it heavy? It was atrocious, but I was dead keen. In 1936 I cycled from Bridgnorth to Tern Hill to the Empire Air Day. I did that two years running.

"I cycle mostly in the locality now, probably as far as Shifnal and Weston Park. I've been as far as Newport this year. I limit the amount and if I get tired I rest up. I'm averaging this year about 35 miles a week."

There are still spills, getting caught on soft verges and tumbling into the hedge.

"I fell off about four times this winter alone. Country lanes are the worst part because they're so mucky and you get such heavy vehicles down there."

His normal bike nowadays is an Alf Webb, which is only about three years old, and is lightweight with an aluminium frame, narrow wheels and 18 gears.

"I bought all the accessories and built it. I build all my bikes myself. I'm my own cycle mechanic and I have been all my life.

"I had three bikes when my wife was alive, but now there are six, plus hers."

The Alf Webb – and it's purely a coincidence that his late wife Ailsa's maiden name was Webb – is his fair weather bike, but he has an old Raleigh for the "rough stuff".

His little bicycle collection has built up because, as he has got new bikes, he has not got rid of the old ones. In fact, as we speak, there are three bicycles in his living room.

"The oldest is 65 years old in December and has real sentimental value. It's a lightweight which was made by the late Percy Stallard in Wolverhampton. The frame cost £12 7s 6d in 1949."

Sid, who turns 92 in October and lives at Sutton Maddock, cycles on four days a week. Ailsa was also a cyclist, and a member of Dawley Velo Club, but did not race.

For his part Sid raced with the likes of Ernie Clements, who took part in the 1948 Olympics, Ted Jones and Jim Macken.

He began as a teenager with the Bridgnorth cycling club in 1937 or 1938, and then in the post-war period – he served in the Royal Navy during the war – he was with Wrekin Racing Cycling Club.

"I'm the longest serving member of the Wrekin. They had their 90th dinner in 2012 and made me a life member."

However, for a while, from 1947 to 1963, he was in the Dawley Velo Club, which was a breakaway club. In the end, he says, there were so few left in the Dawley club that they decided to amalgamate back into Wrekin.

Is he Shropshire's oldest active cyclist?

"I did read about a fellow from Oswestry who is about four years older than me who is still active, but that must be four years ago, and I can't imagine he is still riding. And Bert Catchpole is cycling down at Wellington. I don't really know his age and haven't seen him for some time."

As he cycles around in his lycra and helmet, adopted following a bit of prodding by Ailsa about 25 years ago, Sid is an inspirational figure for people of a certain age, although in truth he could pass for considerably younger than 91.

"I see veterans often in the lanes and they're ecstatic to think that there's somebody in their age group riding."

While Sid's cycling career is remarkable for its longevity, he doesn't have a trophy cabinet full of accumulated silverware from race victories.

"I didn't win any. I had a second. As they say, it isn't the winning, it's the participating. My best result was winning a handicap. It was a case of if at first you don't succeed, try, try, try again."