A cyclist from Shropshire was received a rather unusual award after his 'Outstanding Services to Bacon' were recognised by pork marketing body Love Pork.
As you might guess, Steve Grice's award comes as a result of his work off the bike, with the Newport Shropshire CC member building up a small but dedicated following through his reviews of bacon sandwiches at various cafe stops.
"We’d like to share our heartfelt thanks to Steve who really is putting pork on the map in Shropshire and the wider West Midlands area," Kirsty Walker, head of pork marketing at Love Pork, told Pig World. "
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"His outstanding standards and discerning taste buds have inspired many of his fellow cyclists to fuel their trips with a tasty meal, to give them energy for the rest of their journey."
Grice has so far managed to review 31 bacon sandwiches in 2017 - creating a special album on Facebook - including ones that he's sampled himself, as well as accepting reviews from other contributors.
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So far the highest rated bacon sarnie has been from Lychgate Coffee in Pattingham, which Grice gave 9.5 out of 10 and praised for as having "loads of bacon, really well cooked with crispy fat, and good bread", while the lowest mark has been a damning 3 out of 10 for the sandwich from a cafe in Sambrook, which he slammed for its "criminal" use of brown bread.
Grice received his award at the Newport Shropshire CC club dinner, with club chair Nick Jeggo on hand to hand out the prize, which consisted of a squeezy pig and some limited edition boxer shorts.
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"Over the past two years Steve Grice has built up a network of faithful followers who pedal to test his top-rated bacon sandwiches at cafes across Shropshire and the West Midlands area," Jeggo said.
"Now I know that most people love bacon and cyclists are some of its biggest advocates, but Steve really has gone above and beyond. His attention to detail is spot on, sandwiches can be marked down for not being crispy enough, adding butter without asking first, sauce being added first and any form of greenery on the plate earns a whole two point deduction.
"We were delighted to present him with the award from Love Pork, which is both in good humour and in even better taste."
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