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Chris Hoy turns author with kids' books series

First two of six books to be available in March 2016

Britain's most successful Olympian, Chris Hoy is to add another activity to his busy post-racing career, as an author of children's book.

Hoy has been a passionate cycling advocate since stepping off his track bike after the 2012 Olympics, has dabbled in racing cars, and started his own lines of bikes and clothing with Evans and Vulpine. Now the speedy Scot is to co-author a series of books about a young cyclist.

The Flying Fergus books will be aimed at 5-8 year-olds and the first two will be available in March 2016, with further titles in July, October and January 2017.

The October book will be accompanied by a non-fiction book to encourage children to have fun cycling, keep safe, and record their cycling adventures

The series will focus on Fergus; an ordinary boy with an extraordinary imagination. All Fergus wants for his ninth birthday is “The Sullivan Swift”, a top of the range bike that will ensure his success in the local time trials.

But ever since his dad disappeared, years before, his mum and granddad have struggled financially to raise him and can’t afford such an expensive present.

Instead he inherits his dad’s old rusty bike, but when he heads out to test it at the park with his best friend Daisy, he discovers there might be more to the bike than meets the eye.

The books will be co-written award-winning children's and teen writer Joanna Nadin, who is best known for the Rachel Riley series of novels, based on her own childhood.

Chris Hoy said: “Working with Jo Nadin has been fantastic and my hope is that Flying Fergus excites and inspires children, opening their eyes to the freedom and adventures two wheels can offer with just a little hard work.”

Since retiring from professional cycling, Sir Chris has been eager to devote his time and experience to working with the next generation of cyclists.

Publisher Hot Key Books says that with this series of books, Hoy hopes to continue to inspire the next generation of cyclists with stories about the taste of freedom that comes with owning your first bike and discovering the adventures that lie ahead.

John has been writing about bikes and cycling for over 30 years since discovering that people were mug enough to pay him for it rather than expecting him to do an honest day's work.

He was heavily involved in the mountain bike boom of the late 1980s as a racer, team manager and race promoter, and that led to writing for Mountain Biking UK magazine shortly after its inception. He got the gig by phoning up the editor and telling him the magazine was rubbish and he could do better. Rather than telling him to get lost, MBUK editor Tym Manley called John’s bluff and the rest is history.

Since then he has worked on MTB Pro magazine and was editor of Maximum Mountain Bike and Australian Mountain Bike magazines, before switching to the web in 2000 to work for CyclingNews.com. Along with road.cc founder Tony Farrelly, John was on the launch team for BikeRadar.com and subsequently became editor in chief of Future Publishing’s group of cycling magazines and websites, including Cycling Plus, MBUK, What Mountain Bike and Procycling.

John has also written for Cyclist magazine, edited the BikeMagic website and was founding editor of TotalWomensCycling.com before handing over to someone far more representative of the site's main audience.

He joined road.cc in 2013. He lives in Cambridge where the lack of hills is more than made up for by the headwinds.

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