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Video: Farmers explain how they made Tour of Britain 'sheep bike'

National Farmer’s Union wanted to show support for the race

Stage four of this year’s Tour of Britain saw one of the finer examples of roadside bicycle art. One of the Nottinghamshire farmers responsible for the memorable ‘sheep bike’ has now let us in on his secret: bribery with sheep nuts.

Farming UK reports that Coddington farmer Des Alan created the sheep bike with help from the National Farmer’s Union’s county advisor, Andy Guy, and fellow farmer, Chris Wray.

Guy said: “We wanted farming to be involved in the Tour of Britain and scratched our heads about what would work. September is an incredibly busy time of year for farmers, but we’ve persuaded some of them to join in and show our industry’s support for the cycle race.

“Des came up with the brilliant idea to lay out the shape of a bicycle in sheep feed. He knew he could train the sheep to follow him – they’re notoriously fond of sheep nuts and will do most things for a nibble.”

Guy then fulfilled his brief by getting the obligatory farming-cycling association in quite beautifully.

“Nottinghamshire’s farmers are busy all year round producing great food for the nation, and cyclists know the benefits of a healthy diet.

“They’ll be choosing milk as a re-hydration aid, fruit and vegetables for a healthy digestion and protein-full meat and pulses for muscle growth. So it’s natural and right that our farming industry supports the cyclists racing past Nottinghamshire’s farms and fields.”

Alex has written for more cricket publications than the rest of the road.cc team combined. Despite the apparent evidence of this picture, he doesn't especially like cake.

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8 comments

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don simon fbpe | 7 years ago
1 like

Tour of Britain?

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WDG | 7 years ago
3 likes

A much more impressive statement than the two idiots at the Tour o the Borders

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burtthebike | 7 years ago
1 like

Brilliant! 

Come on arable farmers, where's the crop circle?

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handlebarcam | 7 years ago
1 like

It was pretty obvious that was the method, although no less impressive for it, considering the real difficulty would be in the timing. But an alternative would be to do it with exclusively rams, in which case you threaten them with the removal of "sheep nuts".

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Mungecrundle | 7 years ago
1 like

So if I got some sheep nuts and rubbed them onto my....

 

Just a thought.

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Woldsman | 7 years ago
0 likes

.

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Woldsman | 7 years ago
10 likes

Great to read a good news story on here  1

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Yorkshie Whippet | 7 years ago
8 likes

Highlight of the tour for me.

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