Bike Week is a national annual event which is an opportunity to promote cycling and show how cycling can easily be part of everyday life by encouraging ‘everyday cycling for everyone’.

Access Sport took the opportunity to run and support numerous events in Greenwich aimed at showing families how easy it is to incorporate cycling in to their everyday life, giving young people enthusiasm for cycling and to introducing young people in Greenwich to the exciting cycling opportunities in their area.

We held a number of exciting events at schools and at the local BMX track including the following highlights;

 

Bike Bus

Working together with the Royal Borough of Greenwich, Access Sport ran a successful ‘Bike Bus’ to school on three days of cycle week with Charlton Manor Primary School. Around 10 children each day rode to school, many for the first time ever, with ride leaders from Access Sport and Greenwich Council leading the way. It proved hugely successful in getting new people to cycle to school and having lots of fun at the same time.

“It was a very good experience to let some people cycle to school who had not done it before and it was loads of fun”

Year 5 participant

Wow Bike Stormz

Wow Cycling is a community cycling group for women who are not able to cycle or would like to improve their confidence on a bike. The group builds participants skills in a safe off road environment before gradually introducing them to on-road cycling. A group of women who had only recently learnt to cycle in the park progressed to their longest led ride to date riding from Hornfair Park to the Woolwich Thames led by our WoW Cycling instructors.

 

“The road was busy but I was trying to ride, trying to get my confidence and I had a really big boost because I had a group around me so I felt protected and safe.”

May – participant and new rider

 

Greenwich School Games

Access Sport runs BMX outreach sessions with 3 primary schools in Greenwich and Bike week was the perfect opportunity to bring the schools together for the inaugural ‘Greenwich mini school games’ where pupils could show off all their new BMX skills. Over 30 children competed in the inaugural games and the Access Sport team were assisted by helpful volunteers from Morgan Stanley.

 

Medal Ceremony at the Mini School Games

Results

The week was successful in getting more young people interested in cycling. The caretaker of Charlton Manor remarked that he didn’t have space for all the bikes of those who had traveled to school that week and the ‘rock up and ride’ BMX session had quadruple the number of participants had previously and this popularity has been sustained in previous weeks.