Summer 2017 Bikeability courses
*Update* The Bikeability sessions will take place at Cpl Budd VC Gymnasium off Berechurch Road. Please email saferessexroads@essexhighways.org to book a place. Please don’t complete the form below! Thanks.
Colchester Travel Plan Club in partnership with Cycle Colchester and Safer Essex Roads Partnership are offering Bikeability sessions again this summer. We are still firming up the venue but are taking expressions of interest for Learn to Ride and Bikeability combined levels 1 & 2. There will be a £10 charge per participant.
Learn to Ride is aimed at anyone from 5 years upwards who isn’t able to cycle. The 45 minute session is a great confidence booster and the instructors usually get the participant cycling on two wheels by the end!
Combined levels 1 & 2 Bikeability is for children from 9 years old to adults, who want to improve their confidence to start cycling on quiet roads. The 8 hour course (over 2 days, 4 hours each day) covers road positioning, communication with other road users, recognising hazards and passing parked vehicles/side roads.
It is highly recommended that parents undertake Bikeability training too, so that you are aware of the good practice your children have been taught and can reinforce it when out cycling with them – you will also be surprised at how much it teaches you and how aware you become of the bad habits you may have got into!!
Either ourselves or Safer Essex Roads Partnership will be in touch soon to confirm the venue and send you the actual booking form.
Signups are now closed
Colchester Cycle Challenge 2017
We move swiftly from walking in May to cycling in June where our Colchester Cycle Challenge launches on the first day of National Bike Week.
Five miles is recommended as a reasonable distance for people to cycle and recent research shows that regular cycling can halve the risk of heart disease and cancer. Cycling doesn’t only benefit your health, if you use it as a means of transport you also get reliable journey times, often a choice of routes not open to car drivers, and the opportunity to introduce activity into your daily routine without the cost and time needed to go to a gym!
Most of urban Colchester is covered within five miles, so the Colchester Cycle Challenge is a good opportunity to promote cycling and its benefits within your workplace.
The Challenge!
Open to all Colchester businesses and organisations, the Colchester Cycle Challenge runs from the 10th – 25th June.
The challenge can be used to encourage and support people new to cycling to either get on a bike or cycle more, as well as to challenge the regular and experienced cyclists to push themselves to cycle further/more regularly.
Can your organisation top the cycling leaderboard? Can you pit one department against another to see who is the cycling champion?
As our overall aim is to encourage more people into the joys of cycling, we are offering everyone the chance to be rewarded for their efforts. Prizes will be awarded in the following categories:
Movers – Beginners
Shakers – Regular cyclists
Groundbreakers – The competitive hard core!
Active Travellers – Cycle to work/to a meeting at least twice during the challenge.
Plus a BIG SHOUT OUT for the organisation that gets the most colleagues cycling and collectively cycles the furthest!
Help, Encouragement and Motivation.
Sometimes people are a bit nervous about cycling and just need a little nudge of encouragement.
To help colleagues new to cycling to get started, share the Cyle Colchester website with them where they can find information about how to get help to fix their bike, route planning and Bikeability confidence training. www.cyclecolchester.org.uk
To encourage colleagues to take part, could you organise a lunch time bike ride to a nearby café? Could you offer staff a free bike check at work? A free bike breakfast as a thank you for cycling always goes down well? Or how about some sort of prize draw or random selection of a daily cyclist for a prize? Could you offer to buddy new cyclists and help identify and then try out their route to work? Contact us if you are interested in offering Bikeability confidence training sessions at your workplace.
Get creative and invite your regular cyclists to contribute ideas on how others who don’t currently cycle could be encouraged to.
Contact us if you want hard copies of the Colchester Cycle Map or Get On Your Bike leaflet, both can be found electronically as well (via the links)
It may be worth sharing the link to the Essex Cake Escape – a fun way to combine cycling to cycle friendly cafes with free cake! There are cafes locally in urban Colchester suitable for family rides with children, plus cafes across Essex for longer distance cyclists.
Then for additional family cycling fun at the weekend there is the Cycling Centurion Treasure Trail in High Woods Country Park.
Taking Part
We are using the Active Essex Workplace Challenge platform for this challenge and all cycle journeys can be logged either directly on the website or via the Active Essex app. Both Leisure and Active Travel cycling can be logged.
To join the challenge simply …
1) LOG IN (if you already have an account) or SIGN UP at Active Essex Workplace Challenge
2) Once you are signed in go to LEADERBOARDS
3) Click on COLCHESTER CYCLE CHALLENGE
4) Click on JOIN CHALLENGE Log your rides either online or download the Active Essex app.
Enjoy the challenge!
Colchester Walking Challenge 5-19th May 2017
In celebration of Living Street’s National Walking Month, the Colchester Travel Plan Club in partnership with Active Essex’s Workplace Challenge are launching a Walking Challenge for Colchester businesses and organisations!
Walking is a great way for your employees to get active and much easier than most activity to build into a daily routine. Introducing some walking during the day boosts productivity as well, so a lunch time walk, walking to a meeting or even holding a walking meeting can all have business benefits.
Our challenge to you is to see how many employees you can encourage to walk the recommended 150 minutes a week during the Walking Challenge?
We will be holding prize draws for those that achieve at least 150 minutes of walking each week, we will also reward the most Active Travellers, and the department that walks the most.
But we also want to pit organisation against organisation and see what Colchester company tops the leader board as walking the most!
Throughout the challenge you will be able to see where your organisation is placed on the leader board and also within your organisation the top departments taking part (if applicable) and most active individuals.
To sign up to the Walking Challenge visit the Active Essex Workplace Challenge website
To encourage your staff to take part, why not offer some lunchtime walks, cancel some booked meeting rooms and hold the meeting while walking, promote Jane’s Walk a whole weekend of walks in Colchester between the 5 – 7th May , (more on the Jane’s Walk facebook page ) and check out Living Streets handy hints and tips.
October 2016 University of Essex bike rides
For 2017 Bike rides click here!
Join us for a bike ride every Wednesday afternoon from the 12 October 2016 from the University. Choose from a variety of rides with different focuses!
We are working with the University to offer bike rides for staff and students throughout October to help highlight useful routes, build confidence and familiarise students new to the UK with the highway code and other useful information to help them cycle safely.
If you would like to go on one of the rides please complete the booking form below. You will need your own bike. If you haven’t got one yet, Re-Cycle sell refurbished second hand bikes at the Freshers fair. Be sure to get there on time as the bikes sell fast!
Bookings for the bike rides will be accepted up to one hour prior to the start of the ride.
October half term Bikeability sessions
We will be running Bikeability sessions on Monday 24 and Tuesday 25 October at Thomas Lord Audley (TLA) school in Monkwick.
If you live in or off Mile End Road or Bergholt Road, Best Foot Forward Bikeablity sessions are on offer on Wednesday 26 and Thursday 27 at The Gilberd. Check the Best Foot Forward website for details.
Sessions for adults and children offered at TLA are:
Bikeability Learn to Ride – 1 to 1, 45 minute session for children or adults who are unable to ride
Bikeability level 1 – From age 8 upwards, 2 hour session in the play ground to improve coordination, stopping, starting , sharing space and using gears in preparation for on road riding.
Bikeablity combined levels 1 and 2 – Suitable for age 9 to adults – 2 x 4 hour sessions mainly on quiet roads focusing on road positioning, communication with other road users, recognising hazards, passing parked vehicles/side roads.
Please complete the booking form to request a place. There is a £5 charge per learner. You will need to have a road worthy bike to take part in a session.
14 September – Win prizes for Cycle to Work day
Cycle to Work Day is a national event, which aims to encourage everyone to take to two wheels and cycle to work for just one day. It’s on 14th September this year, and you can pledge your miles by visiting www.CycleToWorkDay.org.
There’s the chance to win some fantastic prizes too:
- Pledge now to ride on the day at www.CycletoWorkDay.org and be automatically entered to win one of three Merida bikes and other bike goodies.
- Enter the 12 Day Prize Countdown. It starts on the 2nd of September, just follow Cycle to Work Day on Facebook and Twitter to take part.
- Last but not least, you can enter another exclusive draw to win a bike by sharing a photo you on your bike on 14th September using the #CycleToWorkDay hashtag.
Don’t forget, cycling to work is great for your health, saves you money on travel and is a great way to de-stress at the end of a long day! If you don’t normally cycle, why not hit the streets on September 14th feeling safe in the knowledge that you’ll be one of thousands experimenting with 2 wheels and riding to work that day!
If you haven’t been on your bike for a while, help is at hand!
Free Bike Health Checks are available between 1st – 14th September. Hundreds of local bike shops across the UK are offering the check to celebrate Cycle to Work Day – think of it as a MOT for your bike. A trained professional will assess your trusty steed and give it a simple rating of either Green, Amber or Red. As you might expect, Green indicates your bike is in tip-top condition, Amber or Red means it is advisable to book your bike in for a service before you tackle your commute – safety is paramount!
Find a local participating retailer here: www.cycletoworkday.org/retailer-finder
If you are interested in fixing your own bike, take it to the Colchester Bike Kitchen and use their tools and advice to get any problems sorted.
If you need a bike before you’ll be ready to roll, check out Cyclescheme If your organisation is signed up to the scheme, you’ll be able to save at least 25% on a bike and any gear you need or contact local charity Re-Cycle as they sell a selection of good value, refurbished, pre-loved bikes.
If you are unsure of a route visit Cycle Colchester for route maps.
If you are lacking confidence to cycle and the 14th is too soon. Consider going on a Bikeability course to introduce you to on road riding. The next set of courses will be held in the October half term, find out more on the Colchester Travel Plan Club website.
Happy cycling!
Love to Ride challenge 2016
This year’s Love to Ride Cycle Challenge takes place in September and we want Colchester businesses to take part!
If you want to promote more cycling within your organisation, Love to Ride is a great way to encourage your colleagues to experience first-hand the joys and benefits of riding a bike. This year it will run throughout the month of September and all cycle rides of at least 10 minutes count whether it is to work, meetings, or for leisure.
Why take part?
- It is a fun, free way to encourage cycling
- You only have to cycle for ten minutes to take part
- It appeals to everyone and is a great way for cycling colleagues to encourage non cycling colleagues to take part.
- New riders and those encouraging new riders get more points
- You can use it for an internal competition as well as being part of a national competition
- The website is very attractive and easy to use
- It links with a number of different apps to automatically log rides while on the move
- There are lots of fantastic prizes to be won!
What do you need to do to join in?
Identify a champion. Find out what you have to do as a ‘Champion’
Ask your champion to register your organisation (Whoever registers your organisation is then also the admin with additional access to functions on the website. They will need to know the total number of staff on payroll and if you want an internal competition as well, the names and numbers of staff in each department.)
Start promoting the challenge to your colleagues! (If your company did the challenge last year anyone who is already registered needs to log in and register for the 2016 challenge as this doesn’t happen automatically.)
Love to Ride has lots of ideas and downloads you can use. See the links below
Info and FAQ’s for Challenge champions
Promotional ideas and downloadable posters
Have fun this September and help us put Colchester on the national leaderboard!
Summer holiday Bikeability
The summer holiday offers a chance for great value, fun days out by bike and there is plenty to do locally within cycling distance. If you need to build your confidence and practical skills or haven’t been on your bike because it has a puncture, book onto one of our Bikeablity sessions to get you set for a cycling summer.
The following sessions are available for children and parents and will take place at Thomas Lord Audley school in Monkwick on the 1 and 2 August.
If you live in or off Mile End road or Bergholt Road, separate Bikeability courses are being arranged as part of the Best Foot Forward project, please check the BFF website for details.
If we are over subscribed or you can’t make these dates we may organise further sessions later in the summer holidays depending on demand. If you would be interested please complete this form.
Otherwise if the 1 and 2 August suit you please see below what we will be offering and complete the form below.
Bikeability Learn to Ride – 1 to 1, 45 minute session for children or adults who are unable to ride
Bikeability Fix – A practical hands on 1.5 hour sessions for kids (8+) and adults to learn simple repairs and adjustments.
Bikeability level 1 – for those that can ride without stabilisers to age 8, off road session to improve coordination, stopping, starting , sharing space and using gears
Bikeablity combined levels 1 and 2 – Suitable for age 9 to adults – Preparing for cycling on quiet roads, road positioning, communication with road users, recognising hazards, passing parked vehicles/side roads.
Bikeability Transition – For children moving from primary to secondary school, provides route planning skills to plan and make a safe cycle ride from home to their new school.
For more on Bikeability levels 1 and 2, look at bikeability.org.uk/what
Signups are now closed
June is cycling month
In June there is loads going on in Colchester and not just because National Bike Week falls within this month!
Visit the Cycle Colchester website to discover lots of opportunities to get your bike checked out, workshops to help you make your own repairs and led rides.
Cycle Colchester will also be at several events over the summer, so more opportunities to get some advice first hand to help you get cycling.
Get On Your Bike 2016 has been updated and revamped and is downloadable from the Cycle Colchester website.
We also want to hear from anyone who is interested in an adult cycle session to help you gain the practical skills and confidence for cycling on the road.
