Posted: 27 October, 2017
Cliff, from Prescot, came to an evening Pedal Away ride last September. Having not ridden a bike for over 50 years he struggled with a relatively short ride of an hour along the Liverpool Loop Line and even fell off a couple of times. His personal challenges were: ‘is there a bike big enough?’, overcoming the ‘self-confidence’ issues and could he remember how to ride a bike?
Wanting to lose weight and increase his fitness levels with cardio-vascular exercise, hitting the gym was not something Cliff wanted to do. He had previously tried football, badminton, swimming, gym workouts.
Cliff went from cycling 8 miles on our Thursday evening ride to changing his busy work schedule (he runs a residential home) so he could also fit in our Tuesday morning Court Hey park rides (12+ miles) and then do our Thursday rides at Kirkby (20 miles), Cliff has come a long way!
This April he did a 170 mile charity ride from the Lake District to Rainhill. Cliff trained hard for it, joining both Pedal Away rides at Court Hey and Kirkby during the winter to help clock up training miles. He raised nearly £2000 for a charity close to his heart; he reckoned he got so much sponsorship because nobody believed he could do it! He was determined not to let them down.
He says
“I owe it all to my very first rides with the Pedal Away Court Hey group, in the September evening sunshine on the Loop Line!
“What has changed on this journey is the desire to do more and more, to take on the challenges, to cycle the extra miles and to take part in organised cycle events like The Great Pedal Away. Now I can’t get enough of it!”
Lou Henderson, Pedal Away Lead said:
“Riding on a Pedal Away ride is a sure fire way to improve your cycling skills and to learn more about the bike. It’s also a great chance to meet new people and turn cycling into a social activity.”
If you fancy getting into cycling in Knowsley but don’t know how. You can start with a 3 mile park ride at Stadt Moers Park, Whiston and then progress to cycling up to 12 miles with a café stop from Court Hey Park, Huyton you can be cycling further still in a matter of weeks from our base at Mill Dam Park, Kirkby. We have bikes and helmets to borrow and our leaders make sure nobody gets left behind.
To get involved in our Knowsley rides:
email. Nancy.waine@wheelsforall.org.uk
tel 01925 234 213
