UK National Cycle Challenge
2016
Introduction
The National Cycle Challenge
Since 2007, we’ve been creating and delivering Cycle Challenges that
get more people enjoying the benefits of riding a bike. Our Workplace
Cycle Challenges have achieved some great results, including:
We’ve achieved amazing
results, but we’re not putting
the brakes on now!
40% of new-riders take up cycling weekly
35% of non-commuting cyclists start riding to work
28% of driving commuters now drive to work at least two days fewer per week.
We have run 150 Cycle Challenges involving more than 7,500+ Businesses. We have engaged
165,000 people in our programmes and encouraged more than 43,000 new riders to push the
pedals of change and give riding a bike a go.
Following from the success of the first National Cycle Challenge in 2015, we’re rolling out the
2016 National Cycle Challenge to even more towns, cities and counties, regardless of their
budget. At the same time, we’re also rolling out Love to Ride in the US, Europe and Australia.
What’s new for 2016?
Click the image to see exciting
new developments for the
National Cycle Challenge.
It’s time to take this successful cycling programme
to every corner of the UK and around the world.
Behaviour change theory
Using behaviour change to
achieve incredible results:
5
Giving people a fun ten-minute cycling experience can quickly
break down negative perceptions about riding a bike, and replace
them with new, positive attitudes. When people experience
what riding is really like (opposed to what they assume it to be
like) they often find themselves saying: “Hey, this isn’t so bad
after all. Riding a bike isn’t as scary or as hard as I thought. It’s
actually quite easy and it’s fun too!” This is an ideal first step to
encouraging more people to start riding.
We then provide tailored support and guidance to help people
overcome their individual barriers to cycling and we encourage
them effectively by focusing on the benefits they want to
achieve and receive.
Watch this 2 minute video
Click the image above to check out our short
animation explaining how we’re using behaviour
change theory to encourage cycling.
(or visit www.lovetoride.org)
A Big Vision
Our Goal
1 Million More People Riding
To achieve this goal we will work in
thousands of towns and cities around the
world. Partnering with councils, local
cycling groups, businesses and millions
of existing riders.
We’ve recently set ourselves a target to get 1 million new people to take up riding. If we
spread Love to Ride to 26 countries and achieve similar results to those in England, Wales,
Ireland, Scotland and Australia, then we will see 2 million new people riding over 10 years.
This analysis has given us the confidence to commit to this ambitious yet achievable target.
How many people do you think we can get cycling in your city?
Typically a Workplace Cycle Challenge involves between 600 and 3,000 people (largely
dependent on population size and project budget). On average, 30% of participation is
from new-riders and 82% of new-riders continue riding after the Challenge (54% take
up riding weekly). So, every year, around 25% of participants in your Cycle Challenge will
become new riders!
Our Partners
Local Partners
Key to the success of any Cycle Challenge is the involvement of our local partners. So far,
we’ve worked with more than 80 local authorities, public health teams, grant schemes,
national charities, Government departments and other funding partners in the UK. We’ve
spoken to many more, and we know that finding the budget is often the biggest challenge
to running a Cycle Challenge in a local area.
Therefore, we have come up with a flexible approach that allows partners to benefit from
having the National Challenge in their area with whatever budget they have available,
from £0 to £50,000+.
We have worked with more than 80
local partners in the UK so far.
The Challenge
How does a Cycle
Challenge work?
A Workplace Cycle Challenge is a competition between organisations to see which can get
the most employees to ride a bike. The organisations that get the highest percentage of
their employees to ride a bike win a team prize. There are 6 size categories to level the
playing field.
Staff only have to ride a bike for ten minutes or more for their participation to count. They
can ride wherever they feel comfortable and whenever they like over the Challenge period.
Ride a bike for
10 minutes or more
to take part.
Why is the Challenge based on participation, not distance covered?
A distance/mile focused Cycle Challenge appeals strongly to existing regular riders and
motivates them to clock up more miles themselves and win prizes. A Challenge based
on the % of people taking part motivates regular riders to encourage their non-cycling
colleagues to have some fun by giving riding a bike a go. It shows that riding is a fun,
enjoyable activity for everyone, not just a few people.
Example of a Challenge league table:
Position
Logo
Company
Participation
1st
Australian Red Cross
59%
2nd
GPA Engineering
49%
3rd
Adelaide Festival
30%
4th
Colliers International
24%
5th
ASC
23%
How can your city/town/county get involved?
Option 1
Freemium
Summary:
Features:
With no budget attached to this
option, it’s up to you and your
colleagues to drive participation in
the Love to Ride Challenge.
Your local businesses compete on the nationwide leaderboards
Potential Result:
National prizes (new bikes, bike gear, Kindles, cases of wine, mini-breaks, spa days etc)
1-5 organisations, 50-400
participants (depending on population
size and local promotion)
Budget:
£0
Challenge Options:
Local Love to Ride website
Local ‘Where to ride’ information
National marketing materials
How can your city/town/county get involved?
Option 2
Local Challenge
Summary:
Features:
A local league table will certainly
help get your local businesses
engaged and competing. You and
your colleagues will still lead the
promotion of the Challenge in
your area, but with our support
and guidance.
- Everything in Option 1 plus Get a local leaderboard, so your local businesses can compete against each other. With
6 size categories and a 1st, 2nd and 3rd place in each category – there will be 18 of
your local organisations on the podium. With a higher chance of winning a place in the
Challenge, your local businesses will be much more incentivised to take part, do well and
encourage their staff to ride.
18 certificates for you to give out
Potential Result:
10-20 organisations, 300-700
participants (depending on population
size and local promotion)
Budget:
£5,850 - £12,450
Challenge Options:
Now we are going somewhere
Expert advice and guidance from the Love to Ride team
A project plan and a marketing plan for you to follow
Official local partner status and associated benefits, e.g. able to
contact the participant database, your logo on the website, able to
add content to your local Love to Ride website, etc.
Promote your other cycling initiatives through the website and
within the emails we send to participants.
Get access to the GPS data of people riding in your area, where new
riders vs existing riders are riding. Also, all the survey data, including
what barriers and benefits people in your area perceive.
How can your city/town/county get involved?
Option 3
Local Challenge + Challenge Manager
Summary:
Features:
Having a Challenge Manager will
significantly boost the results of
your Challenge. This is the highly
recommended option if you are
serious about getting a great result
in the Challenge and seeing more
people on bikes in your area.
- Everything in Options 1 and 2 plus -
Potential Result:
20-70+ organisations, 400 -2,000+
participants (depending on population
size and local promotion)
Budget:
£19,000 - £24,600
Challenge Options:
We are really on a roll now
A local Challenge Manager who’ll work 30-40+ days to engage your local businesses,
co-promoters, existing riders, bike shops, etc. Provide support to each ‘Challenge
Champion’ within each business and to the non-cyclists taking part. This role will
significantly boost the results of your Challenge.
We will project manage the Challenge for you and get your input throughout
planning and delivery
Local or National marketing materials
(you can choose based on your budget)
Two face to face meetings to develop the project
A topline evaluation report or a full report
(you can choose based on your budget)
How can your city/town/county get involved?
Option 4
Fully Customised Challenge
Summary:
Features:
We’ve run more than 100 fully
customised Cycle Challenges. If
the dates of the national challenge
don’t work for you, then this option
will still give you a great local Cycle
Challenge programme and enable full
customisation of the programme.
- Everything in Options 1, 2 and 3 plus -
Potential Result:
Local ‘try-a-bike’ events - where we turn up to workplaces at lunchtime
and make it easy for people to participate in the Challenge and give
riding a bike a go.
30-100+ organisations, 600-3,500+
participants (depending on population
size and local promotion)
Budget: :
£25,000 - £50,000
Challenge Options:
Together we will grow your cycling community
Choose your own Challenge dates
Custom marketing materials
Custom emails
4 x face-to-face meetings
Challenge celebration event
Pedal Power
Bikes for Africa
We know bikes bring so many benefits to
individuals, communities and our planet. That’s
why we’re helping UK charity Re~Cycle
(www.re-cycle.org) to transform lives in Africa through
bicycle re-use. Across the UK, hundreds of thousands of
bikes are thrown away or simply sit unused, while millions of
people in Africa have no choice but walk for hours each day, just
to get to school or work, make medical visits or carry heavy loads.
By working with us, and encouraging participating people and organisations
to donate surplus bikes, you will be helping to make a positive change both in
the UK and in Africa through pedal power.
Re~Cycle - registered charity number 1063570
Engagement
The more you put in…
...the more you get out.
With the Cycle Challenge programme, the more you put into the
project in terms of promotion, time engaging local businesses,
time working with non-cyclists, prizes, incentives and the
budget to do all of the above, then the more organisations,
participants and non-cyclists you’ll engage and the better the
behaviour change outcomes you’ll achieve.
5
A year round behaviour change programme
The Calendar
The National Cycle Challenge isn’t just a month-long event in June of every year. It’s a comprehensive programme of behaviour
change that rolls on right throughout the year and is always growing and developing to achieve great results.
Activity
National Cycle Challenge
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sept
Oct
Nov
National Cycle Challenge
Promotion
Dec
Description
5 Months of pre-Challenge promotion engaging local businesses and riders, then the 3
week Workplace Challenge, including Bike Week promotions.
Monthly prize draws accessible to all, prizes to include: bikes; the latest bike gear;
shopping vouchers; etc.
Monthly Prize Draws
People will be able to earn all kinds of badges - from the ‘Ride to work’ badge, to the
‘Fix a flat’ badge. Badges don’t just reward the amount of miles ridden, but other
behaviours we want people to do to address their barriers to cycling and move through
the stages of change to becoming regular riders.
Profile Badges
It’s a new year and time to make the most of people’s good intentions with a mini
challenge to achieve a cycling goal – great prizes up for grabs.
Goal Setting Challenge
Cycle to Work Day
We’ll be encouraging cyclists of all levels to ride to work, and encouraging regular riders
to buddy up with newbies. There’ll be a prize draw for those who ride in on National
Cycle to Work day.
Addressing Barriers
Key to encouraging cycling is assisting individuals to overcome their barriers to riding.
Virtual Ride
We have 3 different Virtual Rides that people can choose to do at any time by themselves, as a team relay, or as a race with up to 10 friends!
Newsletter
A regular newsletter to participants -including targeted articles relevant to the reader.
You can use the Love to Ride participant database to communicate with people of all
cycling levels in your area – providing a real promotional boost.
Promote Local Initiatives
Surveys
Baseline Survey at Registration
3 Week Survey
3 Month Survey
Measuring changes in behaviour change is key. We’ve designed a series of short,
focused surveys that get a high response rate and gather useful data.
Option 1
Choose how
you participate
in the UK’s
National Cycle
Challenge
Freemium
Option 2
Option 3
Local Challenge
Local Challenge +
Challenge Manager
Option 4
Full Customised
Cycle Challenge
Participation Options
Description
Your local businesses compete on the nationwide leaderboards
Local Love to Ride website
Local ‘Where to ride’ information
National Prizes (Bikes, bike gear, Kindles, wine, mini-breaks, spa days, etc)
National marketing materials
Badges - earn fun profile badges as achievement rewards
Get a local leaderboard, so your local businesses can compete against each other
18 framed certificates for you to give out
Expert advice and guidance from the Love to Ride team
A project plan and a marketing plan for you to follow
Official Local Partner benefits, contact the participant database, logo on the website
Promote all cycling initiatives through the website and emails sent to participants
A local Challenge Manager for 30-40+ days to engage your local businesses
Dedicated Project Manager throughout planning & delivery stages
Local or National Marketing materials (you can choose based on your budget)
Two face to face meetings
A topline evaluation report or a full report (you choose based on budget)
Choose your own Challenge dates
Custom marketing materials
Custom emails
Local Try-a-bike events
4 face to face meetings
Understanding behaviour change
Cycling is a unique behaviour.
Why focus on cycling and
not include walking or
public transport?
Riding a bike has very specific barriers and these need to be focused on to be successful.
If you give a new-rider the option of trying cycling or walking to participate in the
Challenge, many people will simply choose the perceived easier option of walking
somewhere, as opposed to cycling, thus resulting in fewer people in your area taking
up cycling.
We can use a health promotion analogy to explain the difference: Quitting smoking and
getting 30 minutes of exercise daily are two very different behaviours, each with specific
barriers that need to be addressed using different approaches. You would be hard pressed
to find a health promotion expert who would design and run one intervention to try and
simultaneously influence both these behaviours.
Cycling is a unique behaviour and we’ve designed an entire approach, a web platform, GPS
smartphone app, communication plan, marketing materials and monitoring system that
focus on - and are proven to be effective at - encouraging more people to take up riding a
bike and/or to bike more often.
Interested in finding
out more?
We can send you more information.
Give Sam a call or send him an email:
Sam Robinson
General Manager
[email protected]
07734 833451