Saddle up for Bike Week

This year’s national Bike Week starts on Saturday 16th June and Leeds City Council will be supporting a number of events across the district, both during the week itself and throughout the rest of the summer.

On Tuesday 19th June pupils from Wigton Moor Primary School will cycle to Harewood House to watch the arrival of the Olympic Torch as part of their Walk the History of the Games school challenge and Bike Week.

The children will leave Wigton Moor at 09:45hrs, arriving at Harewood by 11:30 in time to watch the celebrations. They will then have a picnic before cycling back to school.

On Wednesday 20th June there will be a cycling breakfast event in the city centre. A free breakfast will be available for all those who arrive by cycle. The breakfast will be hosted at the White Rose Bar at Leeds City Train Station from 7:30 -10:00 am.

Also, on the day will be a series of ‘guided rides’ along the Core Cycle Network Routes into the city centre, ending at the station where participants can claim their free breakfast.

On Thursday 21st June pupils from Whingate primary school and Five Lanes primary school will cycle along the canal towpath to the to Skelton Grange Environmental Centre, where they will have a guided tour of the centre, eat a picnic lunch before cycling back to school.

In addition to the planned events, all schools in Leeds have been contacted and encouraged to promote and run cycling events as part of Bike Week. Schools will be supported with information, incentives, ideas and prizes! So far 66 schools across the district have signed up to take part.

During Bike week and throughout the rest of the year the council will also continue to support the delivery of Bikeability Cycle training. Recent funding from the DfT mean that 4,000 free cycle training places for pupils in Year 5,6 & 7 will be available before March 2013 and demonstrates the council’s ongoing commitment to promoting and encouraging cycling as an enjoyable and healthy form of exercise.

Free adult cycle training places will also be available as part of a 3 year West Yorkshire project funded through the Local Sustainable Travel Fund.

Cllr Richard Lewis, Leeds City Council’s executive member for development and economy said:
“Bike week is an important event for us in Leeds. We’ re very keen to promote safe cycling across the city. It’s a sustainable form of transport which has the added benefit that it keeps you fit.

“We understand that some people can find cycling on busy roads intimidating so we are developing a network of 17 quiet cycling routes in the city that will make up the Leeds Core cycle network. Five of the routes have already been delivered and three more will be completed this year.

“So if you haven’t cycled in a while, Bike Week is a great opportunity to get back in the saddle on one of these quieter routes or to join one of our guided rides and find out what you have been missing.”

For more information about the guided rides or other events in Leeds for Bike week or for cycle training please contact: travelwise@leeds.gov.uk, road.safety@leeds.gov.uk or telephone 0113 2475198

Note to editors

Additional Info about Walk the History of the Games:
Walk the History of the Games aims to promote walking and cycling to school by accumulating the mileage pupils walk or cycle each day, to travel to all the past Olympic host cities since Athens in 1896 . The aim is to reach London 2012. the competition is open to all schools until the start of the Olympics in July of this year.

For more information about the Walk the History of the Games Initiaive, visit www.generationm.co.uk

ENDS
For media enquiries, please contact:
Emma Whittell, Leeds City Council press office, on (0113) 2474713
Email: emma.whittell@leeds.gov.uk