There were nearly 200 riders in the Tour de France peloton that followed champion Bradley Wiggins to the winner’s rostrum in the Champs-Élysées. 
They had been pedaling frantically for about three weeks and covered nearly 3,500km mainly in France, with brief sections in Belgium and Switzerland.
Yet if we had been able to harness all that muscle power it wouldn’t have got anywhere near to solving our energy efficiency requirements!
Do you remember the BBC 1 Home Power Station experiment when 80 cyclists were put to the test to generate enough electricity for the home by riding bikes adapted to make electricity?
The aim was to illustrate how much energy we used in order to create the power we need, as opposed to simply flicking on a switch!
The cyclists were not ‘normal’ people; they were members of some of Britain’s most elite cycling clubs.
They found that powering a hairdryer relied on the efforts of 18 cyclists. It took nine cyclists to power the toaster, and boiling a kettle required the combined effort of 30 cyclists pedaling as fast as possible! 
And so it went on. It took three cyclists to run a television, 11 cyclists for a vacuum cleaner, 15 cyclists for an iron, 14 for a microwave, 17 for a washing machine, 24 for an oven and an amazing 70 cyclists pedaling flat out to work the electric shower!
So, despite Bradley’s great achievement, and the muscle power of his pedaling entourage, they would hardly have kept a home live for even a couple of days!
Photo: (top) Bradley Wiggins taking on water (below) have you got a light boys?
More information: www.nhic.org.uk