Nick Butler
Nick Butler Olympic Stadium 2 July 24 2013After being dispatched to the Olympic Stadium last weekend and finding myself halfway down The Mall this time around, I have been pretty lucky in my first two weekends at insidethegames - with two opportunities to see London in party mood and wallowing in post-Olympic nostalgia.

Yet while the Sainsbury's Anniversary Games was in many ways a carbon copy of 2012, with the likes of Bolt, Farah and Weir enabling fans to dust off their British memorabilia and refamiliarise themselves with Olympic mania, the Prudential RideLondon Cycling Grand Prix signified even more than that.

By blending top-class elite races with recreational rides for all levels of ability, it showed off both sides of the all-important Olympic legacy question and further boosted a sport which is pedalling ever closer to the mainstream of Britain's sporting consciousness.

As well as elite male, female, hand-cycling and youth races which all finished in exciting sprint finishes on The Mall, London also played host to a 100 mile race for amateur riders beginning at ridiculous a-clock on Sunday morning, as well as a world record attempt - narrowly missed - for the longest single parade of bikes. Riders of all ages and backgrounds took part, eager for the rarest of opportunities to ride on closed roads in the nation's capital.

The atmosphere was a blend of Union Jack wearing patriots eager to get a single glimpse of an Olympic hero, alongside hardcore cycling enthusiasts clad in lycra and club jerseys. In a further sign of how major cycling is becoming it was interesting to note how large that latter group has become, with groups of youngsters having in depth conversations about equipment and riders which left an ignorant insidethegames reporter for one desperately out of his depth.

fansThe streets were lined with fans eager to glimpse both elite and recreational riders




A second successive British Tour de France victory in 2013 was one cycling event I did not miss out on but, after Chris Froome's triumph on the Champs Elysee, it seemed wonderfully ironic that a Frenchman should win on the Mall. The absence of Britain's top stars was perhaps the biggest disappointment of the day, yet with both Mark Cavendish, in Denmark, and Sir Bradley Wiggins, in Poland, enjoying wins over the weekend, and with Froome in the midst of a well-earned break, they all had good excuses and Sir Bradley will certainly compete on these shores in the Tour of Britain next month.

London-Surrey Classic race director Mick Bennett admitted that it is hard to attract the biggest names first time around although he remained very hopeful of an even brighter future. "It's always difficult in year one as lot of teams are committed to other races - the tours of Poland and Denmark for example," he explained before adding: "we've got the BBC on board, an iconic course going past Buckingham Palace and some of the best riders here, so we're very positive. We have a five-year commitment to this event and want it to become a race where all the top teams have to compete."

Yet the men's elite race was only one of the weekend's many highlights. A thrilling hand-cycling competition demonstrated once again that, as with the Anniversary Games, Paralympic sport is jumping on the legacy bandwagon as much as if not more than able-bodied versions. The raised profile of disability sport has indeed been the most obvious post-Olympic development in Britain.

After a week which has seen the launch of a campaign to host a women's Tour de France alongside the men's race, it was pleasing to hear the women's race achieve the loudest roar of the weekend as Laura Trott showed once again that beneath her bubbly exterior lies one of the toughest characters in British sport.
 
Laura Trott RideLondon Grand PrixBritain's double Olympic champion Laura Trott (centre) reasserting her star status by winning on The Mall to the delight of the home fans in a event which further boosted women's cycling
 
On a multi-lap route seemingly custom made for the spectators straddling both side of The Mall, Trott took advantage of a superb lead-out by fellow Olympic champion Dani King before propelling herself clear of the field. She subsequently posed for a seemingly endless stream of photos and autographs with all the grace that is missing from some of our other sportspeople. Both she and King then returned to the road the following day to join in the 100 mile mass-ride around London and Surrey.

Bennett was keen to highlight the steps being taken to further promote the female side of the sport. "We are always keen to host women's events but after the Olympic road race which was fantastic in London, we were more determined to organise a women's Tour of Britain," he said. "The support has been phenomenal and we have an amber going on green light that the event will run in May, with equal prize money and the best hotels for the athletes."

There are elements of cycling which are clearly less bright. The doping question made so high-profile by Lance Armstrong has not completely gone away while the mudslinging between Ireland's Pat McQuaid and Britain's Brian Cookson which has embroiled the ongoing International Cycling Union (UCI) election campaign hardly helps the sports image.

Beyond the competitive side, the two-wheeled world continues to clash with the four-wheeled one and the tension between both reckless motorists and carefree cyclists creates bubbling resentment about which more attention does need to be paid too.

Another possible criticism levelled at Bennett was that too much is being done to prioritise elite sport at the expense of lower level schemes, although he strongly disputed this when asserting how top-level success will form a "trickle-down effect" encouraging greater participation

"I have always found that elite sport inspires people," he said. "I started cycling because I watched an elite bike race and was inspired by it. We are finding that there is indeed a 'Wimbledon-effect' like with tennis where people watch races and then want to do it themselves, but it is a longer-lasting trend as well.

"We are also working hard to promote cycling as a lifestyle choice and are finding that local authorities want to embrace the sport. The [London] Mayor Boris Johnson wanted to choose one sport as a legacy event and in many ways we have just been in the right place at the right time – everybody wants cycling now.

"We were there in the difficult times where we were pushing at a closed door and now we are lucky that the door has opened. We've ridden the tidal wave of the success that our athletes have had."

Bennett's point is underlined by the weekend's clever blending of elite and grassroots projects and the spectators seemed as eager to discover how the likes of Boris Johnson were getting on as they were to follow the elite races. After he finished in a more-than-respectable eight hours, the Mayor hailed, with trademark understatement, how "travelling on two wheels has never been bigger after one of the greatest events in the world".

Boris Johnson in RideLondon August 4 2013London Mayor Boris Johnson was an enthusiastic participant in the Prudential RideLondon, finishing in eight hours, one of nearly 16,000 recreational riders to complete the course




Yet, as well as the accuracy of these words, another remarkable thing was how warmly Boris was applauded, not just by the public, but by organisers such as Bennett for giving the event its inspiration and displaying loyalty to a sport throughout years of Boris Bikes and Olympic success, before this weekend.

When cycling proves as popular as it has in recent times however, it is hardly surprising that a politician should attach himself so closely and both the sport and the mayor seem as at home as ever on the streets of London.

Riding on two wheels is by no means in a perfect state in Britain but for competitive cycling the door remains fully open and, if it produces more weekends like this one, long may it continue.

Nick Butler is a reporter for insidethegames