Individuals

We offer a cycle training service to people of all ages and abilities in Derby and Derbyshire. Our aim is that, after the service, you will have the skills and knowledge to be able to cycle whenever and wherever you want with confidence and in safety.

Basics
Our cycle trainers are all professionally trained to a national accredited scheme called the National Standard and have a first aid qualification.

You will need to bring a bike, which must be in a roadworthy condition. If you don't currently own a bike, please let us know in advance of the session and we will provide one for you.

The exact format of a session is flexible and depends on your current cycling skills and exactly what your cycling aim is, for example, everyday cycling, cycling to work, or occasional leisure cycling. We have found two formats are particularly popular:

1.  Practical Cycle Training

These are usually 1:1 and last about 1.5 hours. Everyone starts off-road, in a traffic free car park or park, so that we can do a brief assessment and tailor the session from there. We then carry out a bike safety check and give you guidance on your bike’s set-up and make any relevant adjustments. Then the cycling starts! We make the session as relevant to you as possible and ideally will cycle one of your regular routes with you – to the shops, a leisure route or to work.

Novice cyclists can expect the first session to cover the essentials off road - balance, steering, starting off and stopping, looking behind and signalling. Intermediates will get on the roads fairly soon and can expect the session to cover road positioning, junctions and road awareness and, for the more advanced, complex junctions, queues and lane discipline.

We finish the session by providing you with free local maps and information on cycling.

Cost
This will depend on number of sessions you would like to book. Please contact us for further details.

2.   Cycling Courses

We have developed some new Cycling Courses in response to a need among some of our clients to find out more about cycling then we could cover in a practical training session. Our new cycling courses are ideal for new or returner cyclists and work equally well for individuals, small groups and families.

The cycling course consists of a series of 3 sessions of up to two hours in length which will include a mixture of practical cycle training and theoretical workshops. You will receive handouts after each session, local maps and information on cycling and a certificate at the end.

A sample course will cover, in Session 1, a basic bike check, a look at the different sorts of bike and an initial practical training session; Session 2 will look at equipment and clothing/ load-carrying and security, route planning, tactics and the second practical training session, and Session 3 will cover basic bike maintenance, tactics 2, cycling with children/ cycling and public transport/ cycling in difficult conditions and a final practical trainng session, ideally on one of your regular routes.

Cost

This will depend on number of sessions and number of people in the group. Please contact us for further details.

Here’s what some of our clients have said:

"I cycled in this morning and it went really well. It took me 25 mins door to door which is the same as the best time I can do it in the car - thanks again for the session - it's enabled me to and do something I just wouldn't have considered before."

"The training was great, the trainer very encouraging and really helped my confidence, I discovered new cycling routes I didn't even know existed."

"Great tips for surviving cold weather and to avoid health problems when cycling and load-carrying. The local information was excellent."

"The trainer was an excellent coach, full of supportive, helpful advice and assistance."

"Local information was very useful, particularly about integrating cycling with trains, for when it rains. The biggest support was actually doing teh route toigether and getting help with taking a bike on the train for the first time."