29/05/2013 - Permalink

Shrewsbury BikeFest is back for 2013

Related topics: Leisure, culture and heritage

Shrewsbury’s fantastic free day of cycling for all the family is back on Saturday 8 June 2013 with entertainment, advice, guided cycle rides and opportunities to learn new skills.

BikeFest is organised by Shropshire Council’s Travel Shropshire team and will be held on and around the cycle track at Shrewsbury Sports Village, Sundorne Road, from 10am-4pm.

New features this year include a cyclo-cross challenge for ages 16 and under (at 12pm) – no special bike or previous experience is needed.  Also new is a guided ride on National Cycle Route 81 led by local Sustrans volunteer rangers (leaves at 2pm).

There are plenty of popular favourites from previous years, including Solo Circus the cycling clown, the pedal–powered smoothie-maker, and the pedalling picnic to The Weir.  And you can also try unicycling and BMX skills.

The day starts with a learn-to-ride session at 10.15am – take the stabilisers off your bike, bring it along and learn to ride without them so you can practice on the track later.  For more confident young cyclists, the first session on the track (10am-11am) is run by Mid-Shropshire Wheelers cycling club as an introduction to cycle racing.

Quest88 will be there all day with their adapted bicycles for adults and children with disabilities.  Contact them at www.allabilitycycling.com if you want to find out more about what types of cycles they will be bringing along.

Claire Wild, Shropshire Council’s Cabinet member for transport, said:

“We know from previous years that as well as being a great day out, BikeFest is a chance for people to get answers to their cycling questions and get new ideas about where they can ride. They can find out how to start cycling on their regular journeys to school, to the shops or to see friends.  We’re very grateful to our partners Mid-Shropshire Wheelers, Sustrans and Quest88 for all their support of BikeFest since we started in 2007.”

For a full programme and more information click here.

And if you can’t make this or can’t wait until next year, come along to Oswestry BikeFest on Saturday 29 June 2013.