CYCLING has never been so popular for young and old after the recent success of our Great British heroes returning from Rio.

Hundreds of people lined the streets of Colne at the weekend to see hometown hero Steven Burke made a freeman of the town after he managed to add to his medal tally with another gold to join the one he took in London and also the bronze from Beijing.

Burke, who is known as the Colne Cyclone, even has a cycling hub on the border of Nelson and Barrowford named in his honour.

Meanwhile, Chorley’s Tour de France winner Bradley Wiggins also took gold as part of the same team pursuit line-up as Team GB struck the silverware in Rio.

And Wiggins can often be seen riding around the Ribble Valley countryside on training runs.

In fact, so popular is the sport in East Lancashire that last year’s Tour of Britain saw one stage based completely in the area on a day that the beautiful Pendle countryside was screened live to the nation.

So in tribute to our champion cyclists - and the many thousands who prefer to pedal along at a more leisurely pace, we decided to take a step back in time delving through our archives to find moments of our readers getting on their bikes in photos that appeared in the pages of the Lancashire Telegraph down the years.

Among the main shots featured includes taking a step back in time with penny farthing racing, also Andrew Teal and Daniel King picking up bikes for a safer cycling competition back in 1993.

The East Lancashire area boasted many famous cycling clubs down the years with Pendle Wheelers and the Star Cycling Club two of the more famous ones along with the North Lancs Road Racing Club,while each year riders tackle the famous Ramsbottom Rake, one of the toughest climbs around.