Introduction -- Cycling and the rise of respectable recreation -- Cycling as Victorian spectacle -- Cycling, Englishness and the politics of the road, 1918-39 -- Cycling and the masses -- Massed-start racing, modernisation and British cycling -- Women, modernity and cycling -- Cycling in the age of motoring -- Cycling, politics and environmentalism -- Cycling in post-industrial Britain -- Elite cycling in Britain -- Conclusion : cycling nation?