CycleAbility Project

what we want to achieve as a club
Opening up cycling to anyone who wants to have a go! It really doesn't matter if you are deaf, blind, have cerebral palsy, ADHD, learning difficulties or anything else, there will be something that will suit you so you can join in too .. 'CycleAbility' does exactly what it says on the tin with no exceptions!

Specific information about the project as it moves forward and what people are doing for themselves ..

"It was a huge eye opener for me into the vast range of equipment that is available to enable all
to enjoy the sport which we love so much."

In an ideal world our plan is to open up cycling predominately to children however one needs to take into consideration that people with mental health issues or learning difficulties, even if they are in the bodies of adults think more like children therefore adults will also be able to use the facilities. Below are pictures taken at the events we held in 2011, you only have to look at everyone's faces to know what kind of 'feel good' factor they give the participants.

Currently we are engaging with the special needs schools in Cornwall, to work out a pilot programme for their students over a few weeks. We have had so many requests for this kind of cycling programme from those involved with the schools and now we are working towards developing such a programme based on the Go Ride ethos. We are also working on applying for various funding grants as these bikes being specially adapted, cost between £1700 to £9200 for multi use tandems .. EACH!

Go-Ride is British Cycling’s Club Development Programme aimed at improving both young riders and clubs. It focuses on volunteers and young members – improving coaching standards and increasing the number of young riders with access to coaching activities. Our objective is to also help everyone work towards our shared vision of more young people, more active, more often in cycling including those who would qualify as potential Paralympians. The success of Go-Ride is dependent upon partnerships between British Cycling, clubs, schools, local authorities such as the Cornwall Sports Partnership and voluntary organisations such as CycleAbility.

What we would like to do is to have regular bi-weekly sessions at weekends and in the morning have a general try out session with a more structured coaching programme in the afternoon for those who wish to progress their new found freedom. In addition we hope to take the programme to the schools like Doubletrees, Curnow and Nancealverne with the help of our contacts there, all of whom were at the taster day in May 2011 and like what we are trying to achieve.

The club has had 4 very successful taster days during the better weather of 2011, the launch in March fittingly on St Piran's Day, in May when the NHS and local Special Needs Schools were invited and had a great time, July was a family day out at Sibleyback Lake just to show what can be achieved and the final taster of 2011 was the Holiday Club taster in Newquay when again, a good time was had by all.

Another thing that we are looking to become involved with are the Youth Achievement Awards which were first set up for Bike Club which the CTC are responsible for, to encourage teenagers to continue cycling into their teens and beyond. The Youth Achievement Awards (YAA) encourage young people to take responsibility in selecting, planning and leading group activities. They were established in 1997 and are an activity based approach to peer education. The awards support the development of a wide range of life skills by enabling young people to take a progressive level of responsibility in order to move up the awards scales and could be thought of as the DoE awards of cycling.

For more information about CycleAbility, bike try outs or anything else, please contact disabledcycling@cycleability.org.uk or download the Promotional Presentation in pdf format and Shopping list with prices, please click on the respective links. Planning also continues for the first All Ability Cycling Network Conference in April 2012, with interest growing in leaps and bounds. We are also going to be holding a raffle which will include prizes such as an overnight stay at the Priory Hotel in Wareham, to be drawn at the conference.