A nation of shopkeepers or are we just pedlars?
Well we’re certainly a nation of pedallers these days. Like in much of Britain, any time you drive around the lanes of Warwickshire you will find busy cyclists putting in a few miles, making us feel a tad lazy we’re in the car (or a tad smug).

Cycling has of course been popular for a long time, but it’s now become one of our favourite national past times and the status of our champions has never been higher. A few years ago who would have believed that are our finest cyclist would become Knights of the Realm? Living by Kenilworth Castle which once sported its own tiltyard (now the entrance to the castle), this is more relevant than you might think. The question is would our current champion riders be able to hold their own against the real thing?  How would this work: a lycra-clad Sir Chris galloping his charger around the velodrome? Or an armoured knight resting his lance on the handlebars as he struggles to catch Sir Bradley on the descent?

Too far-fetched? No, in fact this pretty much happened here this summer!

Olympic champion from the English Midlands, Victoria Pendleton, donned shining armour here in Kenilworth and had her own “stab” at medieval jousting.

http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/about-us/search-news/olympian-victoria-pendleton-learns-to-joust