We run some. We support lots. We like events that make people want to ride.
We run our own cycling events, provide mechanics and event support for other organisers, and regularly turn up at community events with bikes, adapted cycles and pedal-powered contraptions.
We like events that are welcoming, inclusive and genuinely fun.
And we’re not afraid to say no to events that aren’t.
Upcoming
Events We’ve Been Part Of
We’ve done quite a lot over the years.
Some we’ve organised ourselves. Some we’ve supported. Some we’ve volunteered at. Some have involved fixing bikes. Others have involved adapted cycles, pedal-powered Scalextric, smoothies, international racing or standing in a field wondering where the nearest toilet is.
Here are a few of the things we’ve been up to:
🚲 Youth Bike Box Project
We love this one.
We’ve been working with youth clubs and young people, teaching practical bike skills and helping children get bikes back on the road.
So far we’ve:
Fixed at least 50 bikes.
Taught more than 100 children.
We’ve worked with boys and girls and with young refugees, giving people the chance to learn how their bikes work, get their hands dirty and develop skills they can actually use.
The current project is coming to an end, but we’d love to do something similar again.
🎪 Get Active in West Yorkshire
We freelance for Everybody’s Cycling, supporting their community and inclusive cycling activity.
At Get Active events we’ve run cycling tryouts and brought along some of our favourite pedal-powered attractions, including:
- Pedal-powered Scalextric
- Pedal-powered music makers
- Smoothie makers
- Cycling activities for people who’ve never tried them before
These are exactly the sort of events we love.
They’re active without being intimidating, a bit ridiculous without losing the point, and give people a reason to get on a bike and have a go.
♿ Inclusive Cycling Sessions
We’ve delivered inclusive cycling sessions using adapted bikes, helping people discover which types of cycles and riding experiences work for them.
We’ve also delivered train-the-trainer sessions, helping other people develop the confidence and skills to support adapted cycling.
Our experience includes working in schools, universities, community settings and events.ve people a reason to get on a bike and have a go.
🏆 Supporting Paralympians & Racing
One of our most recent adventures was supporting Paralympian Mel Nicholls during the her race around Wales and Ireland.
We were there as support crew, helping keep things moving during an extraordinary endurance challenge.
It was physically demanding, occasionally chaotic and completely brilliant.
We’re very proud to have been part of it.
We’ve also previously volunteered on the Transcontinental Race, giving us a rather good education in what happens when cyclists decide that crossing Europe by bike is a sensible thing to do.
We Like Good Events
We’re not interested in simply turning up to events because there happens to be a bike somewhere in the marketing material.
We care about what the event is actually trying to achieve.
For us, good events are:
- Gender inclusive
- Disability inclusive
- Welcoming to different abilities and experience levels
- Properly thought through
- Safe without removing all the fun
- Celebrating cycling rather than making people feel they aren’t “cyclists enough”
- Consistent with the values of the organisation running them
We’ve been to events that looked fantastic on paper but didn’t feel right once we were there.
We’ve seen poor infrastructure create unnecessary problems too. At one cycle-path opening we attended, three people fell off within the first ten minutes because of the combination of a steep incline and badly positioned anti-motorbike barriers. That matters. If we’re going to put our name, time and energy behind an event, we want it to be something we’re proud to be associated with.
We Notice Things
We’re experienced event people, which means we’re constantly looking around.
In Kosovo, we spotted road-closure signs written in Serbian and thought we’d better translate them.
Good job we did.
They said the road was closed.
That’s the sort of thing we mean.
We’re looking at the route, the signage, the participants, the environment and the things that might go wrong before they become problems.
And yes, Monty the Spokey Dokey mascot tends to come along too.
Our BAAA! hoodies are also frequently spotted in the wild.
Need Event Support?
We usually provide two mechanics, but we can work with additional freelance staff where an event needs a larger team or specialist skills.
We have access to our own vehicles and are licensed to drive a range of hire vehicles, including those suitable for event support and broom-wagon duties.
We can help with:
- Event mechanics
- Broom wagon support
- Route reconnaissance
- Signage
- Mechanical planning
- Risk assessments
- Volunteer and contractor management
- Event delivery
- Cycling attractions
- Inclusive cycling activities
- Adapted bike support
We can travel a long way for the right event.
If you’re more than around 2.5 hours from Yorkshire, we’ll probably need to factor overnight accommodation into the quote. We’re perfectly happy camping when appropriate.
Our diary fills up quickly, and we also disappear on our own adventures from time to time, so we recommend getting in touch at least two months before your event.
Charity & Community Rates
We offer charity rates for appropriate projects.
If you’re applying for funding, please use our commercial rates in your application. If you’re self-funding a charity or community project, tell us and we’ll let you know whether a charity rate is available.
We also occasionally volunteer for events that really align with what we’re about.
We’re happy to have the conversation.
Got an Event?
Tell us:
– The date
– Where it is
– Event running times
– How many people you’re expecting
– What you’d like us to provide
– What equipment or vehicles you need
– What you expect us to be responsible for
– Anything unusual or specialist about the event
We’ll have a chat, work out what you need and provide a quote.
Got an Event We Should Know About?
We also love supporting other people’s events.
If you’ve got a cycling, community or inclusive event coming up that you think our audience would enjoy, tell us about it.
We’ll take a look and, where it’s a good fit, we’ll happily share it with our audience.