Queen of the road

Peter McDonald

ON A COLD OCTOBER DAY in 1967, a lone rider caught sight of a fellow cyclist ahead. Pedalling perfect circles despite the high gear, they steadily closed the gap, calmly overtook, and offered a liquorice allsort: “I thought a gesture was required.” The overtaken rider would go on to set a new men’s record for the 12-hour endurance time-trial; the confectionery-bearing leader would go one further and set the outright record. She was the only woman on the course, and her name was Beryl Burton. Who? To ask is no rhetorical device; it is a genuine inquiry into how I — an amateur devotee of cycling and endurance challenges — had never before heard the name. It is a question I would revisit on finishing Jeremy Wilson’s comprehensive, engaging and…

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The Critic (Digital) - 1 Issue, July 2023

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