Richard Ballantine is a cycling author and advocate. His Richard’s Bicycle Book appeared in 1972, at the time of a boom in bike sales stimulated by a world wide oil crisis, and became an essential handbook for millions of cyclists. Richard’s classic ‘manual of bicycle maintenance and enjoyment’ was (and still is) enthusiastic, friendly, and colourful, and utterly uncompromising in championing cyclists as first-class road users, equally important as motorists. This is now the conventional view.

Richard rode on to found several cycling magazines, and author numerous books on cycling, many translated all over the world. A mountain bike pioneer in the UK, and a participant in the human power vehicle movement since the 1980s, Richard is chair of the British Human Power Club and of the International Human Powered Vehicle Association, and a founder member of the Human Power Institute, publisher of the Human Power eJournal.
 

Born in the USA, Richard is resident in England with his wife Sherry, and the latest family member: Sunshine ‘Sunny’ Ballantine, a large and active Labradoodle. Currently Richard is taking a short leave of absence to deal with some personal matters, in the meantime please contact the club secretary who is standing in for him.