LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT KEITH LAMBERT

Having spent a lifetime in cycling, will the legendary Lambert ever really ‘retire’?

- James Shrubsall

Keith Lambert pauses at the piano in his living room and tickles a note-perfect étude from its keys. For the genial Yorkshireman this instrument is where a lifetime in cycling, from pro rider to manager to mentor, all began.

Having found an old bike on a tip, the young Lambert continued to press his parents for a proper bike. They eventually capitulated – on the condition he passed his piano exams, which he duly did.

“That was it really, I was smitten,” he says. “Unfortunately, the piano took a bit of a backseat after that, but yeah, that’s really how it started.”

In little more than 10 years Lambert had turned professional, winning dozens of races as a rider before taking up a management career and shepherding his charges to many more.

He is also a trustee and founder member of the Rayner Foundation, helping young riders as they forge a career on the Continent.

For the young Lambert and his friends, a competitive edge soon crept into the initial simple thrill of riding a bike and led almost inevitably to him joining a club and racing time trials.

Lambert’s apprenticeship against the clock was the full Sixties experience – getting up at 3am to ride 25 miles to the local open course with your best wheels mounted on sprint carriers, and continuing on a long ride once the race was over.