{"id":5918,"date":"2017-07-21T16:44:59","date_gmt":"2017-07-21T15:44:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.pedalpowercc.org\/?p=5918"},"modified":"2020-03-15T17:08:27","modified_gmt":"2020-03-15T16:08:27","slug":"pedal-power-makes-a-wheel-of-difference-to-cyclists-with-disabilities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pedalpowercc.org\/?p=5918","title":{"rendered":"Pedal Power makes a wheel of difference to cyclists with disabilities"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Ben Kosky\nPUBLISHED: 11:40 21 July 2016 Islington Gazette\n<\/h3>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Emmanuel Nmecha, 17 (left) riding a two seater bike with support worker Harold Bennett during a disability cycle session run by Pedal Power at Emirates Stadium.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>

Many might think that when you\u2019ve seen one bicycle, you\u2019ve seen them all \u2013 but a Thursday morning visit to Emirates Stadium would certainly change your mind.<\/p>

\u00a0<\/p>

The fleet of machines circling Arsenal\u2019s ground each week can include fixed wheel tricycles, tandems, the Finnish-designed kickbikes and even the cumbersome-looking Dutch velo that can carry a wheelchair.<\/p>

The latter comes in particularly useful at Pedal Power, the north London cycling club set up 12 years ago to cater for adults and youngsters with learning disabilities.<\/p>

As well as holding sessions every Tuesday and every other Saturday at Finsbury Park, the club have expanded to include their Emirates project over the past year.<\/p>

Backed by the borough council\u2019s All In Islington scheme and Arsenal in the Community, Pedal Power are now attracting almost 50 participants to the Emirates \u2013 with more than double that at Finsbury Park, ranging in age from three to 103.<\/p>

Co-ordinator and founder of the club Jo Roach told the\u00a0Gazette<\/em><\/strong>: \u201cMy daughter, who has a learning disability, is very good at cycling. When she went into supported living, I wanted to encourage her to keep it up.<\/p>

\u201cI\u2019d just qualified as a cycle trainer, so I looked around for a club she could join \u2013 but there wasn\u2019t one. I consulted the London Sports Forum and they suggested I start a club, so I did and it\u2019s just grown.<\/p>

\u201cOriginally we were at Eastway Cycle Circuit [which was demolished to make way for the Olympic park] and when we lost that they couldn\u2019t get us another venue around there.<\/p>

\u201cSo I ended up at Finsbury Park and that was so successful that Islington Council got in touch and commissioned me to start a cycling project at the Emirates.<\/p>

\u201cThe range of bikes is enormous, but they\u2019re very expensive. We\u2019re very lucky to have been commissioned by Islington \u2013 through that we were able to buy a fleet of bikes and we\u2019re adding to them all the time.<\/p>

\u201cThere is a bike for every single disability and that\u2019s why cycling is a truly inclusive activity. It\u2019s spreading but not quickly enough, as far as I\u2019m concerned.\u201d<\/p>

In addition to Islington, Pedal Power also receive funding from Hackney and Haringey councils \u2013 and were named club of the year by the latter, with one of their regular helpers, Wayne Godding, named as disabled volunteer of the year.<\/p>

Volunteers are, of course, essential to the ongoing success of the club \u2013 and so, in Jo\u2019s view, are the carers and support workers who help enable people to take part.<\/p>

\u201cThe main thing is that cycling is huge fun,\u201d added Jo, who was awarded a British Empire Medal at Buckingham Palace in recognition of her work earlier this year.<\/p>

\u201cWe all enjoy ourselves enormously and, on that basis, if you\u2019re having fun you\u2019re also learning things \u2013 so for the participants, we work with them to improve their skills.<\/p>

\u201cFor a lot of people it\u2019s the first time they\u2019ve ever cycled, which is such a thrill and it can be a big, big achievement for them to graduate from three wheels to two wheels.<\/p>

\u201cWe also get support workers cycling because I feel if they enjoy the activity they\u2019ll make sure the person they support comes and gets more out of it, so I am really keen on support workers being made to feel welcome.<\/p>

\u201cAt weekends, we get people coming with their families and it can be the first time they\u2019ve been able to do something together. That\u2019s a huge thing in the world of disability.\u201d<\/p>

Pedal Power cycling sessions take place at the Emirates on Thursdays (10am-2pm) and Finsbury Park on Tuesdays (10am-1pm) and alternate Saturdays (12pm-4pm). See www.pedalpowercc.org for further details.\u00a0<\/p>

For more information about the sporting activities on offer to people with disabilities in Islington, go to www.allinislington.org.uk<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Emmanuel Nmecha, 17 (left) riding a two seater bike with support worker Harold Bennett during a disability cycle session run by Pedal Power at Emirates Stadium. Many might think that when you\u2019ve seen one bicycle, you\u2019ve seen them all \u2013 but a Thursday morning visit to Emirates Stadium would certainly change your mind. The fleet […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5920,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"gallery","meta":[],"categories":[102],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pedalpowercc.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5918"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pedalpowercc.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pedalpowercc.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pedalpowercc.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pedalpowercc.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5918"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.pedalpowercc.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5918\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5928,"href":"https:\/\/www.pedalpowercc.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5918\/revisions\/5928"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pedalpowercc.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5920"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pedalpowercc.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5918"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pedalpowercc.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5918"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pedalpowercc.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5918"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}