British Cycling have announced the expansion of their Breeze initiative to give ride leaders the skills they need to lead rides off-road in a number of England’s forests. The idea is to allow women to experience different types of riding with the view to potentially progress to mountain biking.
As part of their wider plans for mountain biking, British Cycling want to increase the number of women in the sport. The Breeze initiative was launched in 2011 as part of BC’s plans to get one million more women on bikes by 2020. Breeze rides are led by female leaders and aim to encourage women to get into the sport or back on their bikes. Since its launch, 320,000 women have taken part in the initiative.
We’ve always known how important local and accessible green spaces are to people. That message has never been clearer than during the pandemic. So, when the opportunity came around to add more strings to the bows of our trailblazing Breeze Champions through partnering with Forestry England, we couldn’t think of a better time to get the wheels in motion during our 10th birthday celebrations.
Breeze into the Forest will provide all women the opportunity to connect with nature through group cycling, increasing wellbeing and confidence, leading to a lifelong cycling habit. We’ve had a flurry of interest in Breeze into the Forest since opening it up to applications, and we are proud to be providing even more support to our Champions with this new course
Danielle Every, British Cycling’s Cycling Delivery Director.
Breeze into the Forest
The new project is being delivered by Forestry England and British Cycling. The first course will be held in Wendover Woods in the Chilterns on Saturday 17 July. Followed by two courses in August. The Breeze into the Forest courses are for Breeze leaders or those who want to lead rides as a volunteer.
- Saturday 17 July – Wendover Woods
- Saturday 14 August – Cannock Chase
- Sunday 22 August – Hamsterley Forest
It has been fantastic to partner with British Cycling and develop Breeze into the Forest. With the support of National Lottery funding from Sport England and building on the success of the HSBC UK Breeze programme, we look forward to launching Breeze into the Forest in the nation’s forests later this year. To help improve women’s confidence in cycling and improve their wellbeing through a greater connection with nature.
Forestry England’s Active Forests Project Manager, Jemma Hulbert
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Most of the Breeze leaders I know have been happily leading rides off road for years, subject to their own skill and confidence levels
Yeah, I did ask for clarification on what was different with the training and if there were different requirements for bikes and things, Steve. If I get a response I will update. I suppose their goal is to get people into leading rides (and joining them) in environments where they will get to experience, or at least see different kinds of riding. There are also women’s MTB rides and leaders through BC but I suppose it’s not for everyone, so this may act as a more gentle introduction perhaps?