Newcastle’s famous Quayside will be traffic free for the event suitable for families which is a joint venture between Sky and British Cycling, in addition to support from local councils, in a bid to promote a healthy lifestyle. There are different categories to accommodate varying abilities, ranging from riders who are building their confidence to those who are already comfortable on a bike and looking for a bit of a challenge.

Newcastle City Councillor David Stockdale said: “NewcastleGateshead is proud to welcome Sky Ride to our city streets. It’s the largest and most ambitious cycling event we have ever hosted and a real boost after all our efforts in recent years to make this a city fit for cycling.”

All Sky Ride Local rides are led by British Cycling trained Ride Leaders who are real cycling enthusiasts and can encourage and guide riders along the way.

Click here to find out more about the event.

It was great to see so many of you on Friday and Saturday evening, and we hope you enjoyed our Artstrong project that was unveiled as part of the weekends events.

Our “Saint or Sinner” board is filling up nicely and we’d love to here more of your thoughts about the disgraced star if you haven’t already left them on our board.

If you missed it, then click this link to view Sky Tyne and Wear’s report from the Cycle Hub last weekend.

Graeme will be chatting about his amateur and professional cycling career which includes the hour world record, his run-ins with the UCI, his rivalry with Chris Boardman, his thoughts on drugs in cycling and coming right up to date with his world land speed record attempt aboard The Beastie – his most unique bike design yet.

We only have limited number of tickets (priced at £10 per person) for what promises to be a cracking evening with Graeme so don’t hang about!

Sorry for any inconvenience.

This Saturday (18th May) Breeze Bike Rides have organised a lovely leisurely ride along to Wylam and back giving you a chance to cycle on both sides of the Tyne!

The ride will start from the Cycle Hub, cycling into Northumberland along the north river bank though Newburn. They plan to stop for a coffee in Wylam crossing over the bridge and back to the Quayside along the south bank.

Most of this ride is on cycle paths and it is fairly flat so quite easy!

There is a free car park at the Cycle Hub and bike can be hired. For more info visit http://www.thecyclehub.org/

Hopefully the weather will be nice but pack a waterproof jack just in case it rains and it is advisable to wear a helmet.

Jambo Yoga are a Newcastle-based organisation offering great Yoga classes designed for cyclists. On the first Saturday in June at the Newcastle Buddhist Centre, Jambo will be running two different sessions throughout the day.

See below for more information about what each class will focus on. Yoga is a great way to give that extra 10% when cycling – improving your flexibility on the bike to help dodge those unnecessary aches and pains after a ride!

Both classes are priced at £30 each or £50 for both. Click here to book!

12-2.30 - Restorative Backbends for Boundless Energy -£30

Having been diagnosed with scoliosis at a young age, Megan has paid special attention to the health and happiness of her spine. Through her yoga practice and training, Megan has fascinated upon the ways in which freeing up her spine has meant freeing up an immense well of energy. Her sequence for Restorative Backbends will concentrate on firing up your core and and strengthening your legs to support a healthy, playful backbending practice. Come along, be good to your back, and have some fun tapping into the infinite energy of a happy back!

4-6.30 – Remedial Flow for the Hips and Core – £30

Chris has been running marathons, ultra marathons and the odd adventure race
for the past 6 years. Through a careful combination of yoga and functional
anatomy he is able to systematically work to develop, rehabilitate and injury proof
his body. This sequence combines all three elements to get you deep into your
hips, hams and core, working to strengthen and release muscles and fascia for
greater freedom of movement. Whether your goal is performance enhancement,
injury rehabilitation or just a good stretch out this workshop is suitable and
beneficial for all levels, regardless of if you run or not!

Click here to visit the Newcastle Buddhist Centre website for directions

Peculius, a production company set up in 2007 to create live theatre in unusual ways, present the Handlebards. They are a group of 4 actors, each with a bicycle, 40 characters and a 926 mile adventure across the nation.

They will perform Romeo and Juliet at the Cycle Hub at 7.00pm on the Saturday, with doors opening at 6.00pm.

We have limited capacity so we advise you to book well in advance, to do so call us on 0191 276 7250. Tickets are priced at £12 for adults and £10 for concessions.

What could be more fun? 8 women riding the route of Hadrian’s Wall together in the balmy post-Easter sunshine, combining challenge with camaraderie and the freedom of the great outdoors.  That was our plan back in the dark days after Christmas when we’d all eaten too much and had resolved to give up drinking, just for a little while anyway.  We needed something to work towards that would set us up for a healthy year.

Several of us had completed the Way of the Roses in last year’s torrential Jubilee weekend, so we wanted to give the cross-country experience another chance.  Hadrian’s Cycleway presented exactly the opportunity we needed.  Being based in Manchester, we arranged to use BikeRight!’s minibus and trailer to get us to the start at Ravenglass. A kind BikeRight! volunteer who’d drawn the short straw drove the van cross country, so three days later, when we finished, the transport was ready and waiting for us, at Newcastle Cycle Hub.

The easy bit was buying the Sustrans map of National cycle route 72, agreeing who would lead each day and find cafe stops along the way.  Accommodation was booked at Queens Hotel in Silloth (highly recommended) and Once Brewed Youth Hostel. Then it got harder.

Deciding what to carry in our panniers, getting the balance between having everything a girl might need against minimalist packing to keep the weight down.  One pair of shorts or two? None of us took a hairdryer, but we all took enough food and snacks to feed a whole family of starving cyclists and as the snowy weather continued week after week, more and more layers of winter gear were piled up, ready to be packed.

On the technical side, two of us had new bikes to try out.  Others bought pedals, cleats, overshoes, merino wool base layer and skullcaps. The days leading up to the ride were taken up with test rides, clicking in and out of newly-adjusted pedals, saving the route onto Garmin’s, checking of lists: first aid kit, phone charger, chamois cream, lip balm, water bottles, pump, tools, and last-minute additions – chain cleaner, rags, extra gloves, waterproofs.

Several of us had undertaken a 3-day tour of Cheshire only a few weeks previously, and the others had done a few thirty-milers in preparation, but the weather had made it hard to get out much, and for a couple of the riders, their cycling legs relied purely on the commute to work. They were about to get a rude awakening.

The first awakening was a heavy frost on day 1. Arriving in Cumbria amidst banked-up snowdrifts; just weeks ago this road was impassable. The mood in the group was quiet as we took our first photo at the Roman baths, the sense of trepidation about what lay ahead dominated the atmosphere.

Once we got going, cycling up the West Cumbrian coast with the glittering sea on our left and snow-spotted Lake District hills and mountains on our right, our energy started pumping.  We dipped our bikes in the sea at the Coast-to-Coast monument at Whitehaven and skirted Sellafield on a long stretch of well-maintained off-road cycle path.  “Hello, Isle of Man,” said one of us as Scotland hove into view across the Solway Firth. She wasn’t born in the UK, that’s her excuse.

Our landlady at the excellent Queen’s Hotel in Silloth exclaimed as we pulled up in full sunshine “It always rains here; it’s the exception if it’s fine.” We weren’t arguing, as we indulged in a hearty meal at the equally excellent Golf Hotel down the road.

Next morning, it’s 9am and we’re raring to go.  The sun is blazing again, so we ignore the white frost sparkling in every shadow and start off for 30 miles of flat riding to Carlisle. With the sun warm on our backs and the icy wind slicing through our helmets, we warm up quickly.  As our route hugs the coast, we get to see the wonderful wildlife the British coastline has to offer; egrets, a heron, and further inland buzzards, curlews and skylarks.

This is a long day. We get lost in Carlisle (low point) but then discover the Cathedral cafe with superb soup and cake (high point).  Then it’s the serious business – another 40 miles to go.  Being a group of women riding together, there’s a strong sense of support for each other, waiting at junctions, encouraging the woman who’s never done a cycle tour before, taking turns leading against the wind. Our speeds vary wildly from 8 mph to 15mph.

We’re sustained by home-made flapjack and almond cake (lightening the load in the panniers) and conversations, getting to know each other.  We know we’re trying to do too many miles, and facing the constant ‘Beast from the East’ headwind means we’re losing more and more time.  Then there are the frequent stops for photos – it’s not our fault that the landscape is so beautiful, or that we keep passing historic monuments or just awe-inspiring sights.

At 5pm we’re drinking coffee in Brampton, with 22 miles to go and the biggest hill yet to climb.  One of the group has cracked under the time pressure, and ridden on ahead.  Another had knee problems and took the train, promising to meet us this evening. So now we are six, halfway through day 2. We stuff down jelly babies, big gulps of water, and press on: two and a half hours of sheer determination, working together, whingeing and laughing, pushing through that wind.

When we reach the ridge and stand on the actual Hadrian’s Wall – Banks East Turret –nobody’s thinking of hardy Roman centurions. Instead it’s just, how far is it now, and are we going to make it to the pub for our 7.30pm evening meal? The route has been very well signposted, but we opt for a short cut that shaves off 3 miles but adds three hills. We stumble into the pub – unwashed – at 8pm, three minutes before the kitchen closes, and devour our dinner. Unwisely, four of us finish off with a celebratory whisky, forgetting we have another day to go.

After the epic 70-mile effort, the final day’s 50 miles is tame by comparison.  The headwind continues, but the terrain flattens off and before long we’re trawling alongside the Tyne, sharing tips on riding technique and trying to forget about aching backsides and twinges in various joints. True to form, we stop at a fab cafe in Corbridge and stay far too long consuming scones and enjoying each other’s company.  Everywhere we go we’re a spectacle: eight women in full cycling kit, red-faced, triumphant voices proclaiming the latest achievement – a hill climbed, fear overcome, bruises from a fall.

Unbelievably, as we roll into Newcastle, we realise we’ve had three days with no rain and no punctures.  Fingers crossed, difficult with two pairs of gloves on, we progress to the Cycle Hub on Newcastle Quayside, where the hardy types amongst us carry on to the bitter end: nine more miles along a glass-strewn cycle path and a ferry ride to South Shields – the boat has a Route 72 sign on it – to the final stop at Arbeia Roman fort in the middle of a housing estate.

We’ve done it.  Together we’ve pulled ourselves through icy wind, long hours in the saddle, hills that seemed impossible, and pedalled 170 miles in 3 days, from one side of the country to the other.

Driving home in the dark, our last stop is Westmorland Farm Shop at Tebay Services.  Eating lamb hotpot in the minibus, Yasmin reflects on her first cycle trip:  “I made it. I can’t believe I did it, I did those miles.”

The ride is due to start at 10.00am and the Cycle Hub will feature somewhere along the way so keep an eye out for a press release nearer the time by visiting the SkyRide website for more information about the event.

There’s a course on 1st June in Newcastle where potential champions will learn how to plan, deliver and promote rides to groups. If you’re interested follow the link to the British Cycling website for more details.

http://www.britishcycling.org.uk/recreation/article/20130131-recreation-Could-you-inspire-more-women-to-get-cycling–0