Maribyrnong locals now have the opportunity to be part of a ‘Tour De West’ , a “cruisy” bike ride designed to be social and engaging.
Community Bike Hub general manager Silas Bennett said this is something the non-for-profit organisation has wanted to do for some time.
“We thought this would be the best way to bring together a broader community of people into bike riding rather than just avid cyclists,” he said.
Community Bike Hub is located in Footscray,where each tour will begin from.
“The aim is to highlight the area we live and work in as well as to expose people to different local businesses.”
“We will be departing from the shop every fortnight and each time it will be a different business that we will ride to,” he said.
“Each time they might arrange something special for us, so it’s a great way we can do cross promotion and highlight the talent in the area.”
The first tour is being held on Saturday, August 19, which Silas said is expected to host 20-30 riders.
“We are doing a loop along Maribyrnong before heading back to Baby Snakes for a drink.”
This is not the first time the bike hub has been involved with community, its main ethos is about donating used bikes to refugees and asylum seekers.
“We have a Saturday program we run where the bikes are donated to and the bikes can be picked up from, as well as a education program with Year 9 students from Footscray High School.
“There we teach them basic bike maintenance and mechanic skills, the school program helps our team of volunteers to fix the bikes.”
“Community bike hub keeps 1500 bikes on average a year out of landfill, as well as many flow on effects from our initiatives.”
Jennifer Pittorino
