BHIMA BOWDEN

Having developed an affinity for his local hills, Bhima Bowden decided to put them to use.

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Bhima Bowden describes the scene: he's standing at the finish line, his oversized jersey billowing in the wind, its chequered black-and-white design signalling the end of another ride for the Macclesfield Wheelers.

“I can stand at the finish line and be the chequered flag, and it's one less thing we have to carry,” the 37-year-old chuckles down the phone to me. Bowden has carved out a break in his work schedule to talk to Cycling Weekly. He's a busy man. When he's not working as a computer programmer or making elaborate, impeccably edited hill-climb promo videos, he's organising bike races.

The first race our Local Hero organised was held nearly a decade after he moved away from Manchester, swapping the northern metropole for the Macclesfield hills. Bowden had started serious road cycling while still living in Manchester, after his commuter bike was stolen.