GOING FULL BEANS

Most cyclists enjoy a decent coffee, but some take it a step further. CW meets five self-declared obsessives who have pushed their twin passions, bikes and beans, to the nth degree

- AARON HUDSON

I was a super-keen cyclist at school in the late-1970s and wanted to become a pro rider. After school, I went to live in Belgium for 18 months, where I effectively got my head kicked in every single day on my bicycle. Although I was a decent national-level junior, the standard in Belgium was on a different level. It was there that I was introduced to espresso coffee. We'd have three coffee stops on a long ride, and I developed a taste for it.

Back then, the Italian coffee brand Faema sponsored Belgium's biggest team, so coffee had really started to enter mainstream Continental cycling culture - while England was stuck with cups of tea. All we had at home were tea shops and fish and chips; we were so far behind. In the early-1990s, I joined the military, rode for the Army cycling team, and got into roasting my own coffee. I started understanding and enjoying the process of coffee production.

After serving in the parachute regiment and special forces, I left the military in 2001 and began studying to become a barrister. It was then I began to daydream about building my own coffee house. I wanted to create just one roast, one profile. Just like in cycling, I wanted to break down the mechanics of creating the perfect coffee. We ended up using a triple-A-grade Brazilian bean roasted in a £250,000 computer-driven air roaster.

Having obtained three master's degrees and a PhD, I'd run out of ways to push myself intellectually, so the new challenge was building a coffee shop. We opened our first shop, The Independent Pedaler, in 2017 in Bridge [near Canterbury, Kent]. Then came the idea to get involved in racing. I didn't want to go racing myself, but to help younger people to get really good - and I loved time trialling. For me, the kick you get from time trialling is like a single shot of max-strength espresso!