Page 14 - PBCMarch2016

Pickwick Bicycle Club Magazine Volume 13 No.1 March 2016
14

I am grateful to Alfred Jingle & Mr Smithie for their combined contribution of the
following article about an almost forgotten cycling giant:

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Best of British - Ian Steel
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born December 1928 - died October 2015
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Known as the Iron Man, Ian Steel was the first Scot to take
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part in the Tour de France - in 1955. However his greatest
achievement was winning the 1952 Peace Race from Warsaw
to Prague. He was the first Brit’ to win a major international
stage race. Ian loved riding a bike and at 10years old was a
butcher’s errand boy -on his bike of course! In 1946 he
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joined a club and took part in his first competitive ride -
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a 25mile time trial, but soon switched to another club because
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he wanted to take part in “massed start” road racing, and had
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a special interest in the glamour of iconic continental riders,
dreaming of being the new Fausto Coppi.
He became Scottish time trial & road race champion but went off to race in France and
earned himself a place in the Viking team for the Tour of Britain in 1951. And he won it!

His exploits in the ’55 Tour were not as memorable - having been
part of the Viking Pro’ team he was riding with other Brits, Brian
Robinson & Tony Hoar. Ian became a victim of the ever present team
politics and pulled out of the Tour after he was ordered to drop back
and wait for a team mate. He quit competitive cycling later that year
and pursued a different lifestyle in tandem with wife Peggy, travelling
far and wide living on boats and in motorhomes as they traversed
France, Spain, Majorca, USA and Canada, before returning to
Scotland. Ian still enjoyed watching cycle events and was a popular
raconteur until his death.

I am given to understand that some current Pickwickians may have competed against Ian,
although they look much to young to make such a claim. Thanks to our contributors for this
info about a celebrated British cyclist.

Editor