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This weekend the CTC and Forestry Commission are holding a Forestry Discovery Day at 28 forestry sites across the UK.
Sunday September 11th will mark the launch of the CTC’s Forestry Cycle Challenge – a free competition to encourage people to rediscover cycling in picturesque woodland over the next three weeks. By visiting local Forestry Commission sites for a bike ride over the period, cyclists can log their trip at www.cyclextra.org.uk to be entered into a prize draw.
Sunday will also see the CTC launch the challenge with cycle instructors offering guided cycle rides, free bike safety checks and cycle training at seven of the forestry sites: Kielder, Dalby, Sherwood, Moors Valley, Haldon, Forest of Dean and Delamere.
The Challenge is one of the first results of the new partnership between the CTC and Forestry Commission designed to increase the role cycling plays in woodlands, with aims to improve health and wellbeing of the nation as well as boost local tourism.
"The Forestry Commission is excited about this new partnership with the CTC and I am looking forward to see more activities like CTC’s Forestry Cycle Challenge over the next months which will get people cycling in some of the most beautiful parts of England,” enthused Paddy Harrop, recreation and public affairs manager of the Forestry Commission England.
“The Forestry Commission’s quiet woodland trails are great places to improve your cycling skills away from busy roads and traffic.” CTC’s business development manager Ian Richardson added: “We know from over 20 cycle challenges we have run over the last couple of years that this tool is effective in getting hundreds more people cycling, and the Forestry Cycle Challenge is only the latest addition to this successful scheme.”
To find out where their nearest forestry location is, members of the public register at www.cyclextra.org.uk. They can then set themselves targets for cycle mileage, carbon saved or calories burned as well as logging the cycle trips they’ve made.
The CTC were part of the campaign to prevent the government’s plan to sell off the national forest.
