Adrian Hills article on Peter Holland, published in the Tricycle Association Gazette, Winter 2025 issue.

I am sitting here in Morocco on a cycling holiday, and mindful of people that initiated me into the joys of cycling, and Peter Holland was one of them. I first met Peter in the South Eastern Road Club in 1980 and when I started time-trialling he would always bellow shouts of encouragement. This took me back a bit but I was soon informed that Peter – “The Wild Man of the Woods”, was just like that. He lived in a wonderful Kent Ragstone house in a wood, hence the affectionate nickname. Being an enthusiastic tricyclist, he took me on his Rogers longbarrow to a TA South Eastern dinner. Here much drink was had and on the way back he said I should take the helm. Being in a similar state, we blasted along the narrow Kent lanes with me trying to get used to handling this beast and only a silly little front light. Fortunately, another trikie in the club, Richard Hallet, drove his Citroen Diane behind us and lit our way.
As I was reasonably quick at time-trialling, Peter and Richard conspired to persuade me to buy a tricycle from Dave Hardy, so we could go for team prizes in time-trials. So forming the SERC tricycle racing team. Peter drove us to events in his works van with the tricycles stowed in the back. We would turn up at events to confront the might of the Houghton CC of Noel Knox, Tommy Thompson and others. They had immaculate black tricycles on top of Noel’s shiny black Granada estate. Our machines in the back of Pete’s van got covered in sand and Richard and I would be smelling of wet dogs as Biancha and Sweep, Pete’s labradors would be sitting on our laps. We took similar journeys to East Anglia to take on the CC Breckland of Don Saunders, Richard Bradley and others.
Pete always had a great enthusiasm for racing at distances from 5 miles to 24 hours. For fitness he would ride enormous distances on a tricycle, such as Tunbridge Wells, where he moved from Sevenoaks, to the Ecclefechan Weekend, which by that time had migrated to Carlisle.
Peter had met Gwyneth in 1983, about the time that I met a Canadian girlfriend and Richard met Jan, now his wife. Peter and Gwyneth decided to move to North to Lincolnshire where the roads were a bit clearer for riding and Gwyneth could pursue her career. She had been, and was, for many years a very capable editor of the Gazette. Joining the Lincoln Wheelers, Peter and Gwyneth hosted many tricycle weekend, and made memorable, not only my the good racing and good company, but also by Gwyneth’s excellent cooking.
This is just a short appreciation of a man who became a firm friend and had a very positive influence in my life and the lives of many others. Farewell, dear friend.