Last weekend the cyclist who captured my imagination when I first started cycling sadly passed away from cancer. I never met him and he had long since left cycling before I started, but his story made a lasting impression on me. He was a quiet and unassuming man but he was a superb cyclist at all disciplines but particularly against the clock. He won the Commonwealth Games Road race in 1958 after winning the Manx International Road Race in 1954 and he represented the country many times in International competition.

However his greatest claim to fame was being the first person in history to beat 4 hours for 100 miles in the Bath RC 100 in 1956 with a time of 3:58:28. He rode 84" fixed (as did most time triallists in those days) and beat the next rider by 11 minutes. In those days the top road men regularly rode domestic timetrials as well as road races and he beat several seriously good road men, including two TdF riders. This achievement was at the time compared to Roger Bannister breaking the 4 minute mile. One month later he put the straight out 100 record on the shelf for 34 years with a time of 3:28:40 on a Sturmey Archer 3 speed fixed wheel. Remember that this was 56 years ago on an ordinary steel fixedwheel raleigh with no tri-bars, disc wheels, aero helmets or fancy scientific training methods. He held several competition records, national Champs wins and was 3 times British Best All Rounder.

This posting probably means nothing to most people, but the Booty story sparked my slightly unhealthy obsession with fixedwheel bikes and also my love for 100 mile timetrials, so I was sad to hear about his passing.

R.I.P. Ray Booty.