Pete.

Peter Longbottom, born Huddersfield 13 May 1959; married Lyn Snowdon; died York 10 February 1998.

Peter Longbottom was the heart and soul of his sport. A Commonwealth and Olympic racer whose life was cycling, he died at 38, riding his bike.

Longbottom, a valued and respected teammate to many, notably Chris Boardman, gave unstintingly throughout his career which as an international lasted 17 years until the 1994 Commonwealth Games in British Columbia, where he won a silver medal in the 100km team time trial.

His first Commonwealth medal was a 1990 bronze in the same discipline riding with Boardman, whose career was to take him on to world and Olympic titles, and fame in the Tour de France.

Peter Longbottom was often the unsung worker behind the triumph of others, and that was a role he happily accepted, internationally and at home. Yet ambition was never far away when he raced. If he could not win, then he made sure that it was one of his team.

He was a "must" selection for the international Milk Race for 10 years. Not as a sure-fire success, but as the tactical brain who could organise his men on the road, and lift them with a joke when the day went bad.

Only one thing matched his appetite for the sport. "He was an astonishing eater, but built like a rake," said Jim Hendry, Britain's national team director in the late 1970s, and now chief executive of the British Cycling Federation.

"At one training camp everyone had had double portions. That was enough for them, but Peter finished off a lemon meringue pie intended for six." It all went to fuel his tremendous work-rate for his team.

"He was one of a few who had a lot of success and still held down a full- time job. As a rider you could not buy his experience and knowledge. He was not just a road racer. He tried it all."

The man from Malton twice failed to make the final Olympic selection. When he was picked for the Barcelona Games at 33 he was one of the oldest cyclists to represent his country.

Longbottom retired from racing two years ago, ending a career that was as close to true amateur as anyone could find in these cash-grabbing days. After several years as a surveyor with Ryedale District Council, he had become a director of a building company in York.

Even in repose he was restlessly inspiring others in their racing. "He did not walk away from the sport, but began working with younger riders," said Peter Woodworth, whose club, North Wirral Velo, recruited Longbottom. "That was really impressive," he said.

Jason.

Jason MacIntyre, born Lochgilphead, Argyll 20 September 1973; married (two daughters); died 15 January 2008

Jason MacIntyre's career as one of Britain's leading road cyclists was just taking off at the time of his death in a collision with a vehicle while training near Fort William on Tuesday. MacIntyre had secured three British titles in his speciality – time trialling – as well as 13 Scottish titles. The current holder of the national 25-mile championships for a second time, MacIntyre had been strongly tipped for a possible place in the Beijing Olympics this August.

Not only that, but he had recently received a grant from the Braveheart fund – an independent organisation which backs Scottish racing cyclists of all categories – with a view to concentrating on the Olympics and the Commonwealth Games in 2010. Without such financial backing, this would have been no easy task: MacIntyre's "day job" was as full-time carer for one of his twin daughters, now eight years old, who suffers from a kidney condition.

"We had given Jason the grant because he was essentially a one-man band with very limited funding," the former Scotland rider and Braveheart founder Bryan Smith said. "Working as a carer, you don't get a lot of money. It says a lot about the quality of Jason as a person that he was prepared to put in so much time into looking after his daughter. Time trialling is a very individual sport, but for his family and when riding for Scotland he was always a team player, 100 per cent."

Many have found parallels between MacIntyre's early career and that of another Scottish time-trialling hero, Graeme Obree. Like Obree, MacIntyre started riding relatively late – at 18 – and moved swiftly towards time trialling. This is one of the most mentally and physically exhausting types of racing in which the rider, alone and unsupported, is timed over a set distance, his only rival the stop-watch.

But if Obree preferred time trialling because it was an individual challenge, for MacIntyre – who recently broke Obree's Scottish 10-mile record in the speciality – it was a question of necessity. Looking after his child, coupled with living in the remote north-west of Scotland, made it difficult for MacIntyre to do other kinds of racing – and at the same time, those logistical problems made his achievements all the more impressive.

Fate seemed to conspire, sometimes, to get in the way of greater recognition: in last year's national time trial, MacIntyre was ahead of the Tour de France star and eventual winner David Millar when a puncture scuppered his chances of victory. But not even that stroke of bad luck could prevent MacIntyre from finally coming in for consideration for Olympic selection – a dream he had already helped other riders to achieve.

"Back in 1996 he helped me keep the Tour of the Kingdom, a race which I was winning, under control, despite not being a team-mate – just because he was that sort of unselfish kind of bloke," Smith recalls. "Winning that race gave me the chance to go to the Olympics – it's just awful that now he won't have that chance, and we'll never know what he could have achieved."

A trust is being set up by the Braveheart fund to help MacIntyre's wife and children.

Alasdair Fotheringham

James.

The devastated family of a Skipton cyclist killed in an horrific accident have paid tribute to "a man who would do anything for anybody and who cared about people so much".

James Nelson's body was found among rocks and beside a stream below Dibble's Bridge, on the Hebden to Pateley Bridge road. A post-mortem examination revealed that James, who was 32 and worked at Skipton Building Society, had died of multiple and traumatic injuries to his head and chest.

James's heartbroken father, Skipton-born Dale Nelson, said his son had "a real wanderlust" and was "a traveller of life". He told the Craven Herald: "James had been to Canada and had visited Kenya. He used to have an American girlfriend and had been all over Europe with her. Obviously the whole family is devastated - we will miss him very, very much."

His sister, Sarah Nelson, said James had doted on his niece - her daughter Amelia, aged five. She said: "James loved her so very much and she absolutely worshipped him. Amelia was very ill in hospital a couple of years ago and she never smiled at all - except when James came to visit.

"He had a visa to go to Canada but put off the trip until she was better. Then they'd go into the woods together almost every day to look for fairies and search for pixie dust. He was selfless, a man who would do anything for anybody and who cared about people so much. He loved his family and being with his friends. The world is a darker place without him."

Iain Vokes-Tilly, the Skipton Cycling Club secretary, said: "With an obvious passion for cycling and having a really genuine and likeable character, James quickly became popular within the club, and demonstrated a real talent for bike riding. He really did just like riding his bike and chatting to friends, I attempted to coax him into shaving his legs as a cyclist, but quite rightly he replied 'I can't be bothered to shave my face so why start on my legs'."

"This sense of humour endeared him very quickly to the the club and he will be sadly missed. Rest in peace James."

James was educated in Skipton, at Parish Church Primary School and Aireville School, and the sixth form at South Craven School. He later studied applied computing at Leeds Metropolitan University and worked at Skipton Building Society from 2006. James's colleagues said they were “deeply shocked and saddened”.

Duncan Ratcliffe, head of IT shared services centre, said: “Our condolences and sympathies are with his family at this time.”

“James joined the society in 2006 as a trainee technician in our image processing department, and subsequently progressed to being our technical expert on the system in the application support team. James was very highly regarded and his work over the years was really appreciated by his colleagues. He will be very fondly remembered for his quiet, unassuming, helpful manner and also for his wild facial hair, which he was quite proud of.”

A funeral service will be held at Holy Trinity Church, Skipton, on Thursday, August 28, at 1pm, followed by private cremation. Optional "bad shirt or tie" may be worn.

Alan.

Larger than life: the expression might have been invented for Alan Hewitt, who has died aged 54, and yet it does not really do justice to somebody many in Scotland will have first encountered as a strong time-triallist in his youth, who others will remember as a bike shop owner, others still as a team mechanic and manager, or as a respected and much-loved figure in a variety of roles in the cycling industry.

In Alan's case, "larger than life" falls a little short of conveying his sheer largeness, which has less to do with his physical size than you might assume, since he was incontestably a big man. But as all those who knew him will confirm, his personality was even bigger.

It was accentuated by his appearance, the earrings, changing hairstyles and increasingly adventurous facial foliage merely amplifying his already huge presence. A deep, booming voice helped too. As did a sense of humour that made him as sharp and funny as Billy Connolly, though frequently darker - and often funnier.

He was one of those rare people who did not have to say anything to induce convulsions of laughter: a facial contortion would reduce you to tears. Merely an awareness that he was in the same room could be enough to make you laugh. And yet as a cycling team manager he could be serious when he had to be, and in this role always spoke great sense.

"You would meet him and think, 'Who the hell is this guy?'" says Julian Coia. "But he was just a big, gentle, jovial giant." Coia was a talented young rider with Alan Hewitt's club, Regent CC, when he took him under his wing. "When I think of all the help he gave me: advice, a job in his shop, away on so many trips to races, it was massive."

Like many, Coia remembers him most for his mischievous and at times outrageous sense of fun. He recalls Alan attaching him to some railings in Rothesay with a bicycle U-lock. Or eating the chocolates he had bought for Mother's Day, then sending someone out for a replacement box - and eating those, too.

With his own racing career behind him, he became involved with Scottish teams in the early 1990s. He and the late Jimmy McGinty were a great double act, who complemented and balanced each other: Jimmy a gentle and calm presence as soigneur, Alan a huge, charismatic personality and wise mentor who could find humour in the most unlikely situations.

He and Jimmy looked after the Scottish team, which included Julian and me, at the Junior Tour of Ireland in 1991. I recall during one stage, when it was raining and miserable, going back to the car with a mechanical problem. Alan was driving the old SCU Volvo, so Jimmy leant out the window and attended to the derailleur while my hand rested on the windscreen.

I was new to this kind of thing, and did not realise that by continuing to turn the pedals I was putting Jimmy's fingers at risk of amputation. I was also too consumed with self-pity to hear Jimmy's anguished protests. So Alan turned on the windscreen wipers, slicing my finger. As blood spattered the glass the booming laughter from the driver's seat sent me back to the peloton with a smile (at least until the pain of the sliced finger set in).

On another occasion, during a road race at Rosneath, I was suffering on a climb. As I dropped back to the car being driven by Alan he wound down the window so I could hear what he was playing on the stereo - The Smiths' Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now.

The early to mid-90s were lean years for Scottish cycling. There was no abundance of volunteers to manage teams, and Alan did it not to boost his ego or to go on fancy trips but because he wanted to support the riders.

After a few years in charge of the national junior team he took over the senior squad, slightly reluctantly perhaps, but for the right reasons (and without pay).

He took the Scotland team to the 1994 Commonwealth Games in Victoria, Canada. The Riddle brothers, Kenny and Roddy, were part of that squad and became lifelong friends. "He was the biggest, cuddliest, jolliest giant in the world," says Roddy. "Folk won't realise how big a loss he is."

Kenny recalls his fierce intelligence. "He was an intellectual guy. I dragged as much information out of him as I could; he was supremely clever.

"He could walk into a room full of strangers and make friends with everyone. In a group he would raise the spirits of everybody. His one-liners would have people in stitches."

Behind the humour and laughs, his heart was in his sport. He was a great supporter of the Braveheart Fund for young Scottish cyclists, attending the first 12 annual dinners, often acting as an inspired and inspiring auctioneer. This year's event, held the week before his death, was the first he missed. He had, as usual, bought a table but was a late and reluctant withdrawal as his health deteriorated.

Anybody who met him will remember Alan Hewitt for his wit and warmth. A giant of the sport in Scotland, in more ways than one.