COMMENT: Will 2016 be like 2012 all over again?

Remember the London 2012 Olympics? Your accountant probably does. It turns out we’ve got another one this year.

Admittedly, Rio will struggle to have the local impact that London 2012 had upon the UK, but nevertheless it is a high profile chance for Team GB’s cyclists to shine and hopefully lead the nation’s fair weather cyclists to dust off their bikes and find they’re in need of a damn good servicing.

2012 was a golden year, thanks to those Olympic medals and Sir Bradley Wiggins’ historic win at the Tour de France. Now Great Britain is truly used to its cyclists winning on the road, track and trail (although the mainstream press still seems to be wearing MTB blinkers).

We’ve become a bit spoiled, frankly.

Look at the nation’s football fans, poor blighters. They are rightly horrified at the team’s inability to perform in tournaments (ie when it really matters). There will come a time, I’m sorry to say, that we won’t have world-beating cyclists performing like Manon Carpenter, Laura Trott and Chris Froome are.

May that day be a long way off indeed, and for now may the media and us lot continue to shout about those fine riders and their excellent achievements, and ultimately may this momentum for the bike trade continue into 2016 and far beyond.

NOTE: Summer 2012 was actually pretty poor, in terms of weather, so needless to say, that’s one feature of the year we could do without in 2016, thank you very much.