The million plus growth in cycling BC wants will be encouraged by a series of mass participation cycling events in partnership with Sky through the Skyride initiative. The London Skyride last weekend was the most high profile to date, with 65,000 riders, including Kelly Brook.
British Cycling will promote offroad riding through an expansion of the Go-Ride programme, which encourages club membership at grass routes level, with led rides and coaching etc.
Road cycling and racing takes primary importance for BC, supporting Sky, the principal partner of British Cycling, in creating a professional road team built on the same performance values as the GB team. Its aim will be to inspire more people to ride and produce the first British winner of the Tour de France.
Ian Drake, CEO of British Cycling, said: “We have a once in a lifetime opportunity in the run up to London 2012 to really engage Britain with cycling and turn our ‘medal success’ into a ‘people success’ by inspiring mass participation in our sport.”
He added: “With increased funding and fantastic public and commercial partnerships on board, we have the resources in place to drive real progress in all areas of our sport, from our elite team to our volunteers.”
The Whole Sport Plan is now available to view on the BC website.