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About Us - History
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In 1990 Chris Ford bought his first mountain bike. That same summer he bought a one way train ticket to Geneva, and a return from Bolzano near the Italian Dolomites. The ride in between was his first mountain bike adventure, and changed the course of his life, or would do in just a few years…
At the time Chris was at University in Southampton and over the following years as a student and then in work he cycled across the Andes, through the Himalayas, through much of East Africa and of course, all over the UK.
By 1996 it was time for a radical change. It was time to head to Africa.
This was the year CycleActive was born, as Chris headed out to Zimbabwe to build new tours and forge partnerships with local operators, guides and accommodation providers. It was an instant success.
The combination of good business skills, great customer service and years of expedition planning experience really paid off. Even Richard Madden, Adventure Travel Editor for The Telegraph and a veteran of literally hundreds of trips worldwide, was thoroughly impressed with the fledgling operation.
By 1999 new staff had been recruited to run things in Africa so it was time to return home and build the UK and European business. In a bid to become the most professional outfit in the country CycleActive adopted the high standards set by Scottish Cycling through their Mountain Bike Leader Award scheme for all new guides. By 2003 Chris was an SMBLA Tutor, able to train and qualify the best leaders.
In January 2005 the company moved to new and impressive offices at Brougham Hall, just outside Penrith. This gave room for expansion and the introduction of youth programmes and more training courses. At the same time we were asked to become the Official Skills Training partner to the Merida Marathon Series, the most prestigious mtb events in Britain.
In late 2006 the CTC contacted CycleActive to develop a new partnership – combining our expertise with theirs to create the new CTC Mountain Bike Instructor Award. After a year of work the first new course was delivered jointly to some of the UK 's top professional riders in the Autumn of 2007.
The start of 08 sees CycleActive moving into new areas as we launch our new Trail Centre Courses across the country. We've also forged a new partnership with a major London chain of cycle stores – CycleSurgery. That's just the beginning, as 2008 promises to be a very busy year…! |
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