It is as if British sportsmen have been choreographed to provide the warm-up acts for the country to get behind the London Olympics.
After Andy Murray had the nation on the edge of its seats in an emotional Wimbledon final, Bradley Wiggins's extraordinary achievement in winning the Tour de France saw the Champs Elysees aflutter with Union flags.
This sporting endeavour (and sportsmanship was an especially welcome hallmark of this year's Tour) has rekindled pride in British athletes just in time for the games. But its significance is in the longer-term effect of making cycling cool. Bike shops are already reporting increased sales, particularly from middle-aged men buying road bikes. But when cyclists are sporting heroes children want bikes that means they catch the exercise bug at a young age.
Cycling was given a further fillip yesterday with the announcement that Sir Chris Hoy, winner of four Olympic gold medals and intent on winning two more in London, will carry the British flag and lead out Team GB at the opening ceremony on Friday.
In some ways Chris Oliver can be seen as the opposite of peak athletes such as Wiggins and Hoy. However he flies the flag just as enthusiastically for cycling in Scotland. As an orthopaedic surgeon he has a professional interest in campaigning for safer cycling, particularly the segregation of cyclists from motor vehicles on busy routes. There can be no argument that, with the number of cyclists growing steadily, even before the latest Tour de France-inspired rush to the bike shops, it is time to improve the cycling infrastructure which at present accounts for less than 1% of the Scottish transport budget, despite a target of increasing active travel to 20% of road journeys by 2020.
The obvious savings to life and cost to the NHS by reducing accidents, although important, will be dwarfed by the potential for long-term reductions in the need for treatment of diseases related to inactivity and obesity. Dr Oliver proves an encouraging role model. After gastric band surgery to reduce his weight, he took up cycling to get fit and lost a total of 12 stones.
He is far from alone in realising the benefits of the bike in combining an efficient means of travel with healthy exercise. The National Cycle Network saw a 19% increase in use in 2011 and the organisers of the Glasgow to Edinburgh pedal for Scotland charity cycle report unprecedented interest in the September event.
While Parisians and Londoners have embraced city bike share schemes and London has been allotted £15 million to improve 50 of the most dangerous junctions for cyclists, it appears Edinburgh is back-pedalling on a promised bike share initiative. Scotland should appreciate that the current sporting success is an opportunity to make this the age of the bicycle. A few more medals for Team GB would help put the message across.
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