Sunderland residents encouraged to use their bikes to mark National Bike Month

Sunderland City Council has teamed up with cycling platform Love to Ride to encourage residents to cycle for health, wellness and sustainability. The challenge is not about riding long distances but having fun riding a bike.

The Bike Month Challenge aims to get Sunderland's communities and businesses to compete against each other in a friendly and social competition. A total of 11 Workplaces and 144 people across Sunderland have already signed up to the challenge.

Sunderland City Council's Executive Director of City Development, Peter McIntyre, said: "There's never been a better time to enjoy riding a bike, especially at this time of year when we are starting to see some nicer weather.

"This year we are running our swim, bike, run programme to create more opportunities for people to take up swimming, cycling and running on the back of some of the exciting sporting activities we've got lined up this summer.

"Events like the Tour of Britain, British Triathlon and the Tour Series are all coming to Sunderland in 2022 and we hope they will inspire residents to get on their bikes and take part in the challenge."

The Bike Month Challenge will run from 1 - 31st May. You can register for the challenge at lovetoride.net. You only have to ride for 10 minutes to start working towards your pledge and be in with a chance of winning prizes.