One of Britain’s oldest competitive cyclists has been killed in a time trial while trying to set a new national record for his age group.
Ray Dare, 91, died when a van collided with his bicycle on a dual carriageway near Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire.
Mr Dare had been a member of the Kingston Phoenix Road Club for more than 65 years. Thames Valley police are appealing for witnesses to the collision on the A41 Ashton Clinton bypass on Wednesday afternoon.
He was riding with John Beer, a club member, who posted a tribute on the club’s website. Mr Beer wrote: “Ray died doing what he loved. I’m sure he was well on his way to the record. He was hit on a straight flat open piece of road, he had two miles to go. We should all remember him for the truly amazing cyclist and husband and father he was.”
Last month Mr Dare, a retired telecoms engineer, rode a sub-30 minute time trial at the Alton 10.
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Sergeant Mark Ashby, the investigating officer from Thames Valley police’s Joint Operations Roads Policing Unit, said: “Our thoughts are with the family and friends of all those involved in the incident and I would like to appeal to anyone who witnessed or may have dash cam footage of the incident to please contact us.”
A post on the Timetrialling Forum said: “Other riders have spoken of him riding well and steadily before. I am sure all riders will be as shocked as the officials were at this news.”
Mr Dare was born in Caerphilly, south Wales, and moved to Surrey, where he lived for much of the rest of his life, at the age of three. He got his first bicycle at eight and when he was 13 rode 165 miles from Morden to Caerphilly with his elder brother to visit his aunt.
He entered his first time trial with the KPRC in 1951. He had held the 12-hour distance record for 70 to 75-year-olds. He was also a successful marathon runner, managing sub-four-hour runs well into his seventies. At 70 he came fourth in the 70-75 age group in the London Marathon, with a time of 3:49:55.
A spokesman for the cycle club said: “The fact that Ray was still chasing records at 91 shows the quiet and steely determination of the man and the Phoenix will always be extremely proud of him and his exploits.
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“A genuine legend of our club and the sport. He’s going to be greatly missed.”
His grandson, James Trinder, wrote in 2014: “He was the inspiration that started me cycling as soon as I could push a pedal. Just the other day I was discussing cycling with somebody and they were in awe of the fact that Ray is my grandad.”