Tesco Bike Active Bedgebury
18th September 2006
Tesco Bike Active 2006 got underway in fine style at Kent’s Bedgebury
Forest yesterday, with around 350 riders of all ages taking on the challenge.
Riders began rolling in and signing up from around 9 o’clock until well
after 3, cashing in on the remarkable weather, fine trails and arboreal delights
of Kent’s premier woodland venue.
Riders had a specially designed 4.5km
loop taking in gentle climbs and swooping descents on gravel fire roads.
Back at the event village, the RJ Ride Guide’s Rich Johnson wowed the
crowd with some truly jaw-dropping MTB trials manoeuvres. If you think you’ve
seen trials demos, think again. Rich was radio-miked up through the entire show,
talking eager spectators through the intricacies of each trick, while the RJ
Ride Guide crew delivered a pumping soundtrack and showered the crowd with
freebies and giveaways. Check out the galleries below:
Trials
Gallery 1
Trials
Gallery 2

Any of the younger kids in the audience inspired by Rich's riding had
the opportunity to pop next door to the Go-Ride Skills area, where they could
begin to brush up on their on-bike balance, with the help of British Cycling
coaches from the South East region. Thanks guys.
“Just to let you know the boys had a great day and
particularly enjoyed the spectacular exhibition riding and stunts by Rich. It
was a great event at a lovely venue.” Sue, via
email
We’ve got tons of photos in our rider galleries (see below), with riders of
all shapes, sizes, ages and abilities, resplendent in their red Everyday Cycling
T shirts, having a great time on the Bedgebury Trails. To my mind, the abiding
image of the day was seeing families, bedecked in their red t-shirts, scattered
along the Tesco Bike Active trail and crossing the line at the end to collect
their medals.
Rider
Gallery 1
Rider
Gallery 2
Rider
Gallery 3
Rider
Gallery 4
Rider
Gallery 5
Thanks must go to Dave Hiscock and his
Forestry Commission team at Bedgebury, for making our stay so memorable. Thanks
also to our team of volunteer marshals from clubs throughout the South East, who
made sure that everyone was kept on course.
After a weekend’s break,
Tesco Bike Active returns on Sun 8th Oct at Greater Manchester’s Heaton Park,
largest municipal park in Europe. Big and beautiful, and sandwiched between
Manchester, Bolton and Bury, the event is sure to draw-in bikers by the
bucketload to enjoy another slice of Tesco Bike Active fun. If you’re in the
area, get yourself entered today! From there, the programme visits Leeds (8th
Oct), Sherwood (15th Oct) and concludes at Bath's Victoria Park on 22nd Oct.
To find out more, go
here.