Valentine’s Day story: Love at first bike – Cycling UK members caught up in the wheels of love

• Bike-mad Welsh couple met when they both uploaded cycling pictures to dating site
• Had bikes at their wedding, followed by a traumatic cycling honeymoon
• Pictures available

They say the wheels of love never stop turning, and they certainly haven’t for Cycling UK members Sara Hunt and Carl Morecroft, both 50, a pair who first met on a dating site for people into sports in July 2011.

The Welsh cycling singletons both added photographs of themselves with their bikes online. When Carl saw the photo of Sara, he thought, “Here is the mountain bike woman of my dreams.”

He’d got that slightly wrong, however.

Sara says, “Carl looked so delighted to have found someone who was into mountain biking, but after a short conversation, he soon realised that we were into completely different cycling disciplines; I was actually a tourer.

“The photograph I had put up was on a cycling holiday in Mallorca where I had hired a bike, and the handlebars were a little flatter so it looked like a mountain bike.” 

Despite this, Sara had caught Carl’s eye and he continued to pursue her.

Sara jokes, “He even managed to overlook our cycling differences.”

Since then they’ve not looked back, and in appreciation of the passion that brought them together, they even decided to tie the knot abroad in September 2012 and enjoy a cycling honeymoon.

Sara says, “It was a lovely wedding. We took the bikes with us and were both looking forward to heading out cycling and seeing the beautiful Italian views for our honeymoon.

“We headed to Lake Garda with our bikes full of excitement. Carl had built my bike for me, because I’ve got a bad back. He’s specialised it, so it’s more comfortable for me to ride.

“It was a lovely day, the weather was great, and then on route I fell off my bike.”

Things went from bad to worse.

“The hospital was about an hour away from where we were,” says Sara. “I remember being in the back of an ambulance, my husband chasing us in his car through all the windy Italian roads. It was like something from a film.

“It turned out that I had an unusual injury in my arm. I had to have a cast which meant my elbow was bent to 90 degrees! And Carl looked after me the whole time.”

Despite that shaky start, the pair have now been happily married for five years and go out riding together all the time and with friends. The couple live in the Vale of Glamorgan and are both members of Cycling UK.

Sara says, “Cycling together really brings us close together. It gives us a chance to go outdoors and we spend hours talking as we’re riding. Now we’re both 50, we don’t try to aim for big speeds or distances, but just enjoy getting out and spending time on our bikes and with each other.

“It has also taught us to compromise well; sometimes we do touring and sometimes we do a little bit of mountain biking. It’s really great to have our passion for bikes in common.”