Us British love our sport; like other nations we are very competitive about cricket, rugby and football but despite our skill at these sports, why do we make so little fuss about our cyclists?

Whenever we win an event, the kids in the street go out to practise being the next Freddie Flintoff or Jonny Wilkinson. But you don’t see kids leaving school on their tagalongs shouting “I’ll be Chris Hoy, you be Lance Armstrong”.

With the Olympics coming up in 2012 in London, I’d like to see not only the kids in the street doing a bit more cycling, but also everyone else – and in this I include myself.

So, if we should be making a fuss about our cyclists, then who are they and why are they so hot?

Britain’s done well in cycling in the last three Olympics. At the Beijing Olympic and Paralympic games British cyclists won 34 medals (yes, that’s right, 34!) Scotland’s Chris Hoy is probably the best known of the British cyclists. He’s World Champion, Olympic champion and Commonwealth champion as well as winning BBC’s Sports Personality of The Year in 2008.

Victoria Pendleton was also a gold medallist in the Beijing Olympics, and looks set to retain her halo for the next Olympics.

Retired from being a pro now but still one of my personal favourites is Scot Graeme Obree, who twice beat the world hour record, invented a new cycling position and famously used washing machine parts in adapting his bicycles.

Tragically, another Scottish professional, Jason MacIntyre, was killed last year, cycling near his home in Fort William. He was at the time, one of Scotland’s finest cyclists with 13 Scottish titles under his belt as well as three British titles and with a lot of potential for more.

Since the Olympics, a new record has been made by Englishman James Bowthorpe who cycled around the world in the fastest ever time – completing it about a week ago.

He rode a mere 18,000 miles in 150 days – with an average of around 103 miles per day. All this despite escaping a car that tried to run him off the road in Iran (and then attack him) and, bizarrely, having kebabs thrown at him from a car in Sydney, Australia.

These people are amazing, it’s true, and I’m obviously really jealous, but what about Oxford? Aren’t we one of the main centres of cycling in the UK?

Unexpectedly, I found out that one of our own coffee shop owner’s – 48-year-old Flavio Zappi has made a comeback in cycle races, after winning a race in East London; his second since coming back to cycling after a 20-year break.

His trigger? He rescued an old bike from a skip and started to use it to cycle around town. Now he’s coaching the Oxford University Cycle Club!

So, if you fancy your kids getting some sporting glory, it seems that cycling is a good way to achieve it.