Cycling celebrities — famous folk who love to ride their bikes

You've seen them on your TV screens and newspaper front pages, but which celebrities also love cycling?

From Jeremy Vine to Beyoncé via Hollywood A-listers, world leaders and some of the most well-known pop stars to hold a microphone. In no particular order, these are the famous folk who share our love of life on two wheels...

Jeremy Vine

It was never going to be a road.cc cycling celebrities list without mention of Vine, was it? The broadcaster and presenter has become a one-man genre of news for us, regularly making headlines for his tales of cycling around London, documented on his growing collection of cameras and shared to his 780,000 Twitter followers.

Whether it's addressing the hot cycling topic of the day on Vine on 5, filming dangerous driving or pootling about on his penny farthing, the pedalling presenter lives and breathes all things cycling.

Things you don’t necessarily expect to see on a Sunday morning cycle... @theJeremyVine on a penny farthing. pic.twitter.com/eUpg6YEV7d

— Ryan Wilson (@rhwilson83) January 10, 2021

Come on our podcast, Jeremy, you know you want to...

Beyoncé

Does the B in Queen B stand for bicycle? Sceptics will say it's the first letter of her name, we reckon it's a secret message about cycling...

Beyonce cycling in Phoenix Park in 2009 pic.twitter.com/uC1oBxpy

— Andrew Montague (@MayorMontague) January 3, 2013

A quick search of 'Beyoncé cycling' on Google will get you many a picture of the single chainrings, sorry single ladies singer rolling around town by pedal power. And it seems the cycling love affair dates back to a 2009 trip to Dublin where after 15 years without riding a bike Beyoncé enjoyed the "freedom" of exploring a new city on two wheels.

"I'm not really a good bike rider — I've fallen off too many times — so I hadn't been on a bike in 15 years," she explained. "I was able to get around the city better because by the time anybody noticed me, I was gone. People just said 'hello' and gave me peace and I just felt so free — it was one of the best memories of my life being able to ride around Ireland. It was so beautiful and I did it every day I was there."

Joe Biden

From Queen B to President B...

Yep, to Fox News' disgust the President of the United States of America enjoys a bike ride when back home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, and was reportedly not allowed to bring his Peloton to the White House as it was — with its cameras and microphones — deemed a security risk.

Anyway, props to Biden for proving it doesn't matter whether you're a racer, a commuter cyclist, a toddler learning to ride, or one of the most powerful people in the world; all of us, at some point, will fall off our bikes while coming to a stop...

President Biden falls off his bike. (2022) pic.twitter.com/Pj36k8Yor6

— crazy ass moments in american politics (@ampol_moment) June 18, 2022

While we're talking about politicians we may as well address the elephant in the room...

In the summer of 2021 Biden even gifted Johnson a custom Union Jack roadster and matching helmet made by a renowned Philadelphia bike maker...

Anyway, that's enough politicians for this feature...

Alan Sugar

It seems Union Jack paintjobs are quite popular among the cycling celebrity world...

This, let's call it... eye-catching colour scheme has one major benefit, The Apprentice chief says... as other riders never ask if he's Australian. Presumably just if he's colour blind...

Interestingly, despite his hobby Sugar made headlines in 2015 for claiming 99 per cent of cycling "accidents" in London could be avoided with more "situational awareness" from cyclists. I'm afraid, for that, you're fired... 

Jennifer Aniston

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Jennifer Aniston (@jenniferaniston)

Back before Friends was a thing Jenifer Anniston was a New York bike messenger... for a day.

"In Central Park I can ride a bike with soft areas to land," she told Jimmy Fallon's talk show. "I just boldly said yes, they gave me this bag and they put all these cylinders in. In my brain, I don't know how I survived the day — to be on Fifth Avenue with traffic, and all that I was holding.

"You made sure [the packages] got there, that's all that matters. I don't know what happened to the bike. It's all a blur. I think I might have got into a cab just to finish the day."

It might be a stretch to say Aniston loves cycling but she makes the list...

James May

Someone who definitely does love cycling (and all the mechanical tinkering that goes with owning a bike) is former Top Gear presenter James May. Compared with his fellow former co-host — a certain Mr Clarkson — May's post-BBC life is rather less controversial.

Simply put, May says, "riding a bike feels good" and speaking to road.cc in May, he added: "I can't stand road sectarianism – it's all b*ll*cks."

> "I can't stand road sectarianism – it's all b*ll*cks," says James May in an exclusive video interview with road.cc

No complaint-inducing newspaper columns here, just one "well buff" bike-loving celebrity who enjoys nothing more than a spin on his Orbea Orca. 

Timmy Mallett

Another British favourite is colourful presenter Timmy Mallett who this year completed an epic circumnavigation of the UK coastline by bike, climbing the steepest road in the land, battling the elements and receiving a well-earned hero's welcome on return home...

Son Billy led me home to a little reunion of family and friends.

"we'll have a drink and maybe someone will drop in. Most people are away... Its bi short notice..."

And I believed him

Around the corner I saw a crowd of smiling cheering faces...#dreambig #youme pic.twitter.com/sp0n34INY8

— Timmy Mallett (@TimmyMallett) August 6, 2022

> Utterly brilliant: An interview with Timmy Mallet on all things e-bike

"You know, wherever you get out on your bike, it's not how far you go or how fast, it's how much fun you have along the way."

Frosty the bike man pic.twitter.com/3iLl15fj0e

— Timmy Mallett (@TimmyMallett) December 18, 2022

Leonardo DiCaprio

Thank you @LeoDiCaprio for your great speech at the #Oscars2016 & for being a worldwide model for #cycling Congrats! pic.twitter.com/EGeaIP4q3X

— Fahrrad Wien (@fahrradwien) February 29, 2016

Not much info out there on Leo's cycling, but he's occasionally been spotted nipping about town on our favourite mode of transport. Oh, and in 2015 it was announced he'd be producing a film about the Rwandan cycling team...

Katy Perry

Katy Perry rode a bike to her concert tonight. She's the best! pic.twitter.com/BzNKzkTAtd

— Kate Pattison (@katepatto) November 15, 2014

Another big name now.

Katy Perry has been spotted riding her bike to concerts in the past and in 2014 was given a very colourful Avanti bicycle courtesy of Paint My Bike...

Why does nobody ever buy us normal people custom bikes?

Simon Cowell

When the teeth aren't being whitened and the face painted, talent show celebrity and music mogul Simon Cowell 'enjoys' riding near his Malibu home. We say 'enjoys' as he's not had great luck on the crash front, breaking his back in a fall in 2020 before suffering a broken arm in London in February 2022.

> "I'm a bit of a nutter": Simon Cowell speaks out about latest crash

EXCLUSIVE Simon Cowell kick-starts new get-fit lifestyle by cycling to work after ‘terrifying’ fall down stairs https://t.co/pCSom7VBOd pic.twitter.com/t7Yfp6ydHx

— Dan Wootton (@danwootton) November 2, 2017

I'm sure some would say Cowell's bike choices are closer to motorbikes than the pedal-powered pain we put ourselves through, but he did have some sage advice following his first crash injury...

"Some good advice... If you buy an electric trail bike, read the manual before you ride it for the first time."

Matt Damon

What to do while taking a break from filming Invictus? Ride the Cape Argus sportive for charity, of course...

The multiple award-winning actor and Hollywood star seems to have caught the cycling bug in the years since and was pictured in 2020 taking an outdoor escape from lockdown life by hitting the dirt trails near his house in Malibu. 

Dan Walker

Former BBC Breakfast host Dan Walker — who now enjoys a more leisurely alarm call for 5 News, the benefits of which we're guessing were offset by the dubious honour of being on Strictly Come Dancing — is our next cycling celeb.

"It's an eco thing," he told the Mirror. "I've worked in London and taxis are a nightmare and I started to get around on the bike. I can go from Downing Street to St Pancras in about 15 minutes, and it's about 30 minutes in a taxi so although I feel like a bit of a geek sometimes, I'm very much enjoying it."

And he still enjoys it, even after a horrific incident involving a driver and a busy roundabout in Sheffield that left Walker feeling “glad to be alive”...

This story ran and ran, and there was also a great deal of comment and controversy surrounding Walker's praise of his bike helmet, which he claims prevented his injuries from being worse. The main thing is though Mr Walker made a full recovery and is back loving life on two wheels at the time of writing. 

> Why is Dan Walker’s claim that a bike helmet saved his life so controversial?

Arnold Schwarzenegger

Going for a spin with Greta Thunberg here Arnold Schwarzenegger bucks the trend of thin, spindly bike riders. Admittedly the seven-time Mr Olympia bodybuilding champion is 40 years removed from his weightlifting career and well into his 70s now, but surely Arnold can claim the biggest biceps to ever steer a bike?

> Peter Sagan joins Arnold Schwarzenegger in urging commuters to swap cars for bikes

Just don't ask him which side of the road we ride on here in the UK. Arnie's done a bit of everything in his life — athletic competition, acting, politics — but perhaps not had time to pick up a copy of the Highway Code...

> Arnie spotted cycling on wrong side of road in Edinburgh

Casey Neistat

One of the original YouTube stars, with more than 12 million subscribers to his channel, Neistat still reps the New York City cycling culture, racking up nearly two million views on videos such as this gem from October this year...

David Byrne

Talking Heads' David Byrne is the only celeb on our list to have a cycling-related book reviewed by road.cc...

> David Byrne Bicycle Diaries

And the famous frontman's cycling love affair spreads well beyond the pages of that one — it's been his primary form of transport since the 80s as a quick and easy way to negotiate New York City.

Another unique to this list cycling-related fun fact about Byrne is that he's designed a series of bike racks in the Big Apple and in 2009 he even put his bike up for auction with all proceeds going to the London Cycling Campaign. 

Bono

Like Cowell, Bono's biking fortunes have been mixed, shattering his arm in a cycling crash in Central Park back in 2015. At the time Carlos Santana said the U2 frontman's injuries had put him off cycling, but it seems the Irishman was unperturbed, offering a spin with him as one of the prizes for a charity raffle later that year.

We made the call to omit athletes from other sports so there's probably another one of these to be made down the line, but the best things about doing these features is finding out who slipped through the net — so get in the comments and add your cycling celebrities to our list...