THIEVES stole former cycling champion Tommy Skinner's #800 purpose
built racing bike in an early-morning raid on his cottage.
But 80-year-old Mr Skinner, of Telford Road, Inverness, was determined
not to be off the road for long.
The former trade union official and senior-citizen's advocate resorted
to a 60-year-old bicycle which had belonged to his mother.
Mr Skinner, a former vice-president of Inverness Trades Council,
cycles 50 miles or more a day to go fishing around lochs and rivers in
the Highlands.
He said yesterday: ''To think that I get my bike stolen from the front
lobby, when I've cycled tens of thousands of miles in my time and never
had any bother.''
A fortnight ago he could be heard on BBC Radio Scotland with Jimmy
MacGregor reminiscing about his outdoor pursuits.
His wife, Mabel, said: ''It was such a cruel thing to do. The
mentality of criminals like that hardly bears thinking about. I just
hope the police catch them.''
Tommy, who has been on numerous cycling holidays in Europe, was
30-mile road-racing champion of the Highlands in the 1930s and still has
a cabinet full of cups and medals from the days he raced on tracks and
roads all over Scotland and England.
His stolen racer had a special frame and was built in Glasgow by
manufacturer Andrew MacNeill.
Back on the open road . . . pensioner Mr Tommy Skinner makes do with a
rusty pushbike after his #800 racer was stolen.
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