Happy birthday to Simon Richardson, the Welsh paralympic professional cyclist who is 45 today. Richardson returned to cycling in 2005 after a serious car accident in 2001, going on to set a new world record at the 2008 Paralympics in Beijing. Sadly, in August this year, he was hit by a car while cycling and sustained a broken pelvis fractures to the spine, a detached lung, a broken breast bone and cuts to his legs, leaving him very unlikely to be able to compete in the 2012 Games in London.
On this day in 1905, Emile Bouhours covered the 100km between Orleans and Vierzon at an average speed of 61.291kph - considerably faster than the current UCI Hour Record for a standard upright bike, which stands at 49.7kph.
Happy birthday also to Amets Txurruka, the Euskaltel-Euskadi rider who is 29 today and began his career with the British-based Barloworld team. Txurruka has been awarded the Combativity jersey in both the Tour de France (2007) and the Vuelta a Espana (2011).
On this day last year it was announced that the Barclays Bike Hire Scheme - also known as the Boris Bikes after London Mayor Boris Johnson despite the fact that the scheme was invented by his predecessor Ken Livingstone - would be extended to cover East London with an extra 2000 bikes and 4200 "docking stations."
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