At the start of 2015 local family run bicycle shop Behind The Bikeshed made the decision to develop a support programme for local youngsters who wanted to get involved in cycle sport.
Shop owner Bernard Baker explained “As a business we feel it is important to be part of the local cycling community and we wanted to support some local riders as part of that strategy.”
“On a personal and business level we feel this is best served by helping those in full-time education who may otherwise find that the cost of cycle sport prohibits their ability to get involved. It’s great to see young riders sharing our passion for riding bikes and who knows what they may achieve in the future.”
Behind The Bikeshed has offered sponsorship of a bike together with all the necessary kit to three local youngsters;
Freddie Horner (12) has been known to Behind The Bikeshed for several years, as his father is a long-standing supporter of the shop. They have been helping Freddie in an informal way until now but it was seeing his progress that provided the inspiration for the initiative. Freddie’s chosen discipline is Cross-Country mountain bike racing and he will shortly take part in his first National event.
Livvie Payne (16) responded to the shop’s advertisement for female riders earlier in the year. She already had an active involvement in other sports but was keen to give road cycling a go. As a new rider she knows there is a lot of hard work to be done ahead of her target, which is to take part in women’s road races in 2016.
George Maddison (18) has already ridden with Behind The Bikeshed for a year or so. He has done well at a number of other sports whilst at school but wants to take his cycling more seriously as he heads off to University. His aim is to get the miles in through the rest of this year to be competitive in races for 2016.
Behind The Bikeshed can be found in Marlborough Street, Andover or online at www.behindthebikeshed.co.uk.