Winners Edge have started a new cycling club in an effort to encourage riders of all standards to join “fun rides” and learn more about their bikes.

Greg Hopkins, who co-owns the Front Street shop with Paul Madeiros, said the club was designed for anybody, regardless of whether they wanted to race competitively, and was not just for those with racing bikes.

“We have a cycling team that’s super competitive,” Hopkins said, “but there’s always been this void between that and those who just like to ride bikes.

“There’s a lot of people out there who have a racing bike but don’t want to compete, or are not sure about whether they want to compete. The idea of the club is for it to be open to anybody.”

Hopkins said the club had started a “no-drop” group ride leaving the Winners Edge shop at 6.30pm each Thursday.

The rides are being led by Dominique Mayho, the island’s top rider and Winners Edge staff member.

“Traditionally group rides end up as a bit of a hammerfest; it always does as that’s the nature of competitive cyclists,” Hopkins said.

“This is a no-drop ride, with Dominique directing it and making sure people stay together by keeping the pace manageable for everybody.

Hopkins added: “Obviously we would like a spin-off and for more people to be involved in the competitive side of things, but that’s not its purpose.

“You will have to have a racing bike for the Thursday night ride because of the type of ride it is.”

Hopkins also said the club planned to include demonstrations on bike maintenance.

“We’re talking about even people on recreational bikes, we may say meet down at Clearwater if you’re interested in how to corner, do this, do that, on basic bikes,” he said.

“There aren’t going to be set dates or regular things, but we’re looking to provide as much variety as we can.”

Madeiros added that the club had also set up a social network for their members via a cycling app to enable riders to record their activities..

“It’s a way for people to communicate almost like Facebook or WhatsApp,” Madeiros said. “You can see all of the activities of all of the club riders by downloading your stuff. You can check the leaderboard and it will tell you all of the people that rode that day. It’s another way of encouraging people.”

For more details visit Winners Edge’s Facebook page.