12 October 2012
Whether you’re talking about Bradley Wiggins’s tour de force at the Tour de France, Laura Trott’s powering onto elite cycling’s world stage or the continuing success of Sarah Storey it’s been a golden year for British cycling.
Now, Sky Ride has added even more lustre to 2012’s cycling shine. With the help of a legion of enthusiastic Sky Ride participants across the country, as well as the tireless work of British Cycling and the support of local councils, we’ve just hit our target of getting one million more Britons cycling regularly.
Back in 2008, we set a five year deadline to achieve our goal. So it’s safe to say we got there early.
Over the past four years, we’ve worked in partnership with British Cycling to set up 49 fun, traffic-free, city-centre Sky Ride events, as well as 3,000 free community rides. We’ve also trained a network of 1,500 Ride Leaders to organise events around their neighbourhoods, and worked with 45 local authorities, encouraging them to promote cycling and deliver better facilities within their districts.
The result, according to annual surveys from independent research firm GFK NOP, is that a million more members of the public are now regular cyclists, reporting that they cycled at least 12 times in the past year.
"It has been an incredible summer for cycling and it's fantastic to see so many people enjoying riding their bikes and loving the sport,” commented Olympic champion Sir Chris Hoy. “There are so many opportunities to cycle wherever you live and it's clear that Britain is now a true cycling nation.”
And the great news is that there’s still plenty of two-wheel action to be had despite the summer’s end. Just head over to the Sky Ride website to find out what’s happening near you.
