On your bike: the success of the recent Spring Cycle Festival is proof that many have heeded this exhortation.

It is also a reminder that over a hundred years ago cycling suddenly became a major form of recreation very much in keeping with the Victorian preoccupation with healthy exercise and fresh air.

Cycling was so popular that the procession for Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee in 1897 included masters and boys from Abingdon School, resplendent in striped blazers and caps, riding their garlanded bicycles. Touring cyclists visiting Abingdon at this time were guaranteed a warm welcome at the Old Air Balloon in Ock Street, now sadly closed.

Abingdon could boast that it was at the forefront of bicycle design. Initially Coxeter and Sons had sold tricycles and penny-farthing bicycles but three years after opening their cycle works and showrooms in Ock Street – a site currently occupied by Merityre – they were advertising a much more modern design appropriately named ‘The Abingdon’, which could be manufactured within fourteen days to the customer’s own specification if desired.

The more discerning customer could choose a 1st Grade machine costing £14 14s (£14.70) or settle for a 2nd Grade at £12. 12s (£12.60). Ladies wishing to order could expect to pay an extra £1 1s (£1.05). With the addition of a small motor to the frame this machine was later transformed into a motor cycle also called ‘The Abingdon'.

The Coxeter family had been associated with cycling since the 1880s when Mr Charles Coxeter presented two prizes at the Abingdon Bicycle Club’s race championships, first prize a cup and second prize any article, presumably from his business, to the value of eleven shillings (55 pence).

Job Coxeter succeeded Charles as the manager of the bicycle and motor cycle business, expanding briefly into motor cars. Around 1901 they introduced a car, also known as ‘The Abingdon’, which was actually manufactured in Birmingham. This side of the family’s business interests was later sold to Vernon Whitehead.

Further down Ock Street, on the north side, was a cycle business run by a family whose surname is perhaps more synonymous with the Abingdon tradition of morris dancing, the Hemmings brothers.

James and Walter Hemmings opened their cycle and repair shop at No. 123 Ock Street in 1909.

On the Market Place, next door to the Punch Bowl, stood H G Rogers & Co, Cycle Agents & Repairers, the shop front festooned with bicycle tyres offered at various prices to tempt potential customers, using a bicycle to advertise the business.

Advertising was becoming more focussed in the face of competition from other local firms and advertisements proliferated in the press and other publications such as Hooke’s Almanac and Directory, the forerunner of the Abingdon Who’s Who. All the shops offered cycles for sale or hire.

If a nationally known brand was more sought after, the cyclist needed to look no further than Abingdon High Street where E L Shepherd & Son advertised their new cycle depot in 1901. Shepherd & Sons were the sole agents for Humber cycles in Abingdon although they were able to offer a range of bicycles by other manufacturers.

Probably the best known cycle and accessories shop in modern times was Braggs in the High Street which, like most family-run businesses, boasted a very knowledgeable staff and a range of bicycles to suit most ages and levels of expertise.

Cyclists in Abingdon today have a choice of two specialist shops, Pedal Power in The Vineyard and Behind Bars Cycles, occupying premises in Coxeter House, Ock Street.