The cycling world is mourning the loss of one of its giants.

Roly Crayford, from Kingswood, near Maidstone, was a well-known member of the San Fairy Ann Cycling Club and one of Kent's best cyclists.

Over his long career, he achieved 30 gold medals in National, European and World Masters competitions.

He began cycling aged 10 and was still cycling up until a few weeks before his death at the age 83.

Born in 1938, he joined San Fairy Ann as a junior member when he was 16 and, with a break for his National Service with the Royal Artillery in Germany in the 1950s, remained an enthusiastic member till the end and served as the club's president.

He was a former Kent Road Race Champion, European Track Champion and World Masters Champion.

He took part in club-runs, time trials, track and road racing events but is best remembered for his willingness to help younger riders to enjoy cycling.

Duncan Edwards, the present chairman of San Fairy Ann, said: "I knew Roly for 30 years, since I first joined the club. He was a very strong cyclist and well known throughout the cycling world, not just locally.

"He was always ready with advice and support. I remember on one occasion when my own son, Jack, took up racing, Roly lent him his own bike for his first race.

"Roly was great club-man and a great ambassador for the sport."

Maidstone-born and a former Westborough School pupil, Mr Crayford died from cancer at Preston Hall Hospice on August 25 after a short illness. The chapel for his cremation at Vinters Park Crematorium in Maidstone was full to over-flowing with some mourners listening from outside.

Although cycling was his sport, he also had a love for all water-based activities, including white-water rafting, diving and kayaking.

Mr Crayford was married three times: to Marion, to Anita and most recently in 1992 to Ann.

There was only one time that he abandoned cycling and that was after the end of his second marriage. He sold his house, bought a boat and sailed it to Spain, where he lived for a while by giving water-skiing lessons and hiring out deckchairs.

In Maidstone, his working career had included an apprenticeship at Balston's paper mill, where he trained as a carpenter, and later he was a business partner in the New View double glazing firm in Stone Street and also worked with his brother Norman in the Crayford Glazing firm.

Mr Crayford leaves his widow Ann, and four children: Debbie, Georgina, Alecia and Alex, and a granddaughter Paris.

Mrs Crayford said: "It certainly was not always easy being either a wife or a child of an obsessive sportsman, but we are all agreed that he achieved a recognisable status in the cycling world, one of which we are all very proud."

His friends have paid many tributes online, describing him as "a true gentleman" and "the Peter Pan of cycling".