Love To Ride and Sunderland council join forces to get more people cycling

The council is teaming up with cycling platform Love to Ride to encourage more of the city’s residents to take to two wheels.

Love to Ride is an online platform for both experienced riders and those new to cycling, which allows users to share their experiences, challenge others and log how far they have cycled by syncing with Strava or MapMyRide.

Encouraging cycling instead of driving is another step towards cutting Sunderland’s carbon emissions.

Love to Ride’s Cycle September promotes cycling as a healthy and sustainable way to travel as well as an enjoyable hobby and is a fun and friendly competition where individuals, businesses, and communities compete against each other to see who can get the most friends, family and co-workers to ride a bike during the month.

Workplaces and individuals across Sunderland have already signed up to the challenge and are sharing their reasons for taking part on the platform.

Cllr Linda Williams, portfolio holder for vibrant city, said: "Cycling is a fantastic, sustainable and healthy way to get around. As we continue to invest in the city we want to promote cycling for both transport and leisure.

"Partnering with Love to Ride offers residents access to support and encouragement, making cycling enjoyable and adding a fun sense of competition for friends, families and colleagues who want to challenge each other."

So far more than 557,000 people have signed up to the platform in total, over 129,000 of them who were not already cyclists.