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Pippa Middleton ditches the tennis skirt and learns to ride a bike

Almost-royal socialite takes to two wheels to see what 'intimidating' urban cyclists get out of it...

The Duchess of Cambridge’s socialite sister Pippa Middleton has taken to road biking - with none other than Jonathan Edwards, the former Olympic triple-jump champion, as her coach.

Writing in the Telegraph, Pippa, better known for her sporting prowess on the tennis court, says she isn’t a complete beginner, having learnt to ride with her parents on “a solid mountain bike with thick tyres designed to blast through mud and puddles.”

She’s also completed a 30-mile cycle race in Scotland, the Highland Cross, a couple of years ago.

But, she says, she’s ‘intimidated’ by urban cyclists.

“I may mock them as geeks in their “bib tights” (essentially Lycra dungarees), streamlined helmets and triple lens, wraparound sunglasses but, in truth, their hard-nosed attitude – some can be incredibly rude – and self-belief that they are the rightful rulers of the road makes me nervous,” she says.

The clue to understanding them better, she says, is learning to ride in clipless pedals.

So off she trots to Battersea park to meet Jonathan Edwards, who’s been cycling to keep fit since his retirement in 2003.

Now she says, he and she are “helping promote the sport as part of the Telegraph’s Get Slim Without The Gym initiative, which starts next week.”

He’s full of handy beginner advice, such as that  “small, fitted saddle bags are better than a rucksack.”

Hopping aboard a Hoy Sa Calobra bike, Pippa practises clipping in, and clipping out of her pedals, then rides across a cricket pitch a few times to provide a softer landing in case she takes a tumble.

An important concern of Pippa’s is “how do you avoid developing massive thighs like many of the Tour de France chaps?”

Apparently the key is low resistance long distance riding - in case any readers are concerned about the circumference of their thighs.

After a couple of laps of the park, Pippa’s sufficiently experienced to venture into “professional territory – heart monitors and bike computers (these track distance and speed and are great for fitness training: the best brand is Garmin, apparently)” - and it’s already time to start dabbling in carbohydrate drinks.

Pippa’s advice finishes off with a short ode to delicious kale and singing the praises of Wiggle and Buffs - so next time you’re riding in West London, perhaps keep an eye out for a very familiar backside atop a saddle in front of you.

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44 comments

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Shades | 10 years ago
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I quite look forward to a good giggle reading Pippa's Telegraph articles and, whilst this one was pretty banal to the average cyclist, if it gets some more 'bums on saddles' then that's fine by me, especially when most newspaper articles are usually discouraging people from cycling.

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OldRidgeback replied to phazon | 10 years ago
0 likes
phazon wrote:

The comments on this site regularly plumb depths only seen elsewhere in the Youtube comments section. It's unbelievable. Here is an article, not perfect by any means, but which takes cycling and helps open it up to a new audience and potentially break down some of the life-endangering barriers that exist today. And some idiots post the ignorant, bitter tripe seen above

Get over it, for all our sakes

+1 - I'm no fan of C-list celebrities but some of the comments on this story show attitudes to women prevalent in the 1950s.

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fancynancy | 10 years ago
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I know I will sound grumpy  45 , but I don't think we need this. Women will hop onto bikes thinking its a ride in the country, not realising the dangers, just because Pippa can do it. On my commute into London I see too many ladies on cumbersome (fashionable) bikes taking silly risks through lack of knowledge. Sorry to be a grump  17

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Kapelmuur | 10 years ago
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If I flash back a couple of years to when I was wondering whether to buy a bike I'd have found the advice in this sort of article useful and encouraging.

My only complaint is that my thighs have not grown bigger but my varicose veins have.

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mrmo replied to fancynancy | 10 years ago
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fancynancy wrote:

I know I will sound grumpy  45 , but I don't think we need this. Women will hop onto bikes thinking its a ride in the country, not realising the dangers, just because Pippa can do it. On my commute into London I see too many ladies on cumbersome (fashionable) bikes taking silly risks through lack of knowledge. Sorry to be a grump  17

I understand where you are coming from, I hope, and it might have been an idea to point out some of the training/highway code stuff in the article. I know some would object, you don't need a licence, training etc etc, but a little bit about red light means stop same as in a car, asl's, about it being safe to hold your position in the traffic, not to undertake lorries, that sort of thing.

Remember it is an article that I guess is aimed at women and it is women who seem to be getting killed by lorries in disproportionate numbers.

It is a hard one, more riders= good, more riders ignoring the rules=bad.

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Andrewwd | 10 years ago
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It's a trite anecdote, packed with all the stuff that puts off newcomers:

Pippa thinks cyclists are "incredibly rude" and that they make her "nervous" because "they think they are the rightful rulers of the road".

She then spends a few paragraphs describing how much expensive, specialist sports equipment is required to ride a bike, and describes the inconvenience of clipless pedals.

This is followed by some absurd concerns around developing massive thighs and horrible talk about bike rollers, Garmins, energy gels and 'training'.

She then signs off by glibly describing a road bike as a "sporting accessory" and says she "shall certainly be less intimidated by urban cyclists (at least those with manners)".

Rubbish.

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oliverjames | 10 years ago
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And there was I just hoping for a glimpse of a backside that, certainly at the time of the Royal Wedding, needed no improvement at all.

Having said that, similarly well toned backsides would be an extraordinarily successful means of persuading more people to ride bikes.  105

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oliverjames replied to ragtimecyclist | 10 years ago
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Of course.

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Actium replied to SideBurn | 10 years ago
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SideBurn wrote:

"Bike for a better bum" I think this means something else in America  39 Their bums need all the help they can get  1

I suppose in the US they would "Bike for a better fanny".

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Shamblesuk replied to Actium | 10 years ago
0 likes

that conjures many images in my head, all of them good....

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Ush replied to OldRidgeback | 10 years ago
0 likes
OldRidgeback wrote:
phazon wrote:

The comments on this site regularly plumb depths only seen elsewhere in the Youtube comments section. It's unbelievable. Here is an article, not perfect by any means, but which takes cycling and helps open it up to a new audience and potentially break down some of the life-endangering barriers that exist today. And some idiots post the ignorant, bitter tripe seen above

Get over it, for all our sakes

+1 - I'm no fan of C-list celebrities but some of the comments on this story show attitudes to women prevalent in the 1950s.

Which ones? Genuinely interested. The ones which suggest that women will only cycle if they see another woman on a bike? Or the ones which criticise the quoted opinions (which paint cycling in a very negative light) in the article?

Avatar
OldRidgeback replied to Ush | 10 years ago
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Ush wrote:
OldRidgeback wrote:
phazon wrote:

The comments on this site regularly plumb depths only seen elsewhere in the Youtube comments section. It's unbelievable. Here is an article, not perfect by any means, but which takes cycling and helps open it up to a new audience and potentially break down some of the life-endangering barriers that exist today. And some idiots post the ignorant, bitter tripe seen above

Get over it, for all our sakes

+1 - I'm no fan of C-list celebrities but some of the comments on this story show attitudes to women prevalent in the 1950s.

Which ones? Genuinely interested. The ones which suggest that women will only cycle if they see another woman on a bike? Or the ones which criticise the quoted opinions (which paint cycling in a very negative light) in the article?

The blatantly sexist ones. I won't repeat them. You'll have to read them all and pick them out.

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davebinks | 10 years ago
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“how do you avoid developing massive thighs like many of the Tour de France chaps?”

What like those massive thighs those well known stick insects Wiggo and Frome have?

My arms are nearly as "massive" as their thighs.

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Bob's Bikes | 10 years ago
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Pippa practises clipping in, and clipping out of her pedals, then rides across a cricket pitch a few times.

I bet the groundsman loved that!  24

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