cycling community - Cycle Colchester

Daniel Colaianni

This month we talk to an ‘old’ friend of Cycle Colchester, Daniel Colaianni who when he was just 12, was chosen along with his mum to be a Colchester Cycle Star as part of the former Colchester Cycle Town project.

Stuart Bailey

This month we talk to Stuart Bailey of Cycling for Pleasure, one of Colchester’s popular volunteer-led cycling groups for beginners, returners and improvers about how cycling has benefited his mental health.

Vince Langdon-Morris

This month, our interviewee is Vince Langdon-Morris who grew up in South Africa and is now Managing Director of Re-Cycle, the international charity based in Wormingford which ships bikes to trusted partners – in Africa.

Ashley Parmenter

Self-confessed petrolhead Ashley Parmenter learned to drive a car before he tried riding a bike at the age of 19. He likes having a car for long journeys but thinks the bike is best for short trips. And learning to cycle has also provided him with some interesting jobs.

Sarah Holt

Sarah Holt was a keen cyclist as a youngster, but only recently returned to cycling, riding 300 miles from London to Paris in aid of St Helena Hospice. This experience, coupled with moving house nearer to the town centre, has made cycling part of her life again.

Kelli Schmalenbach

Kelli Schmalenbach is a first year student at the University of Essex, and one of the first things she did on arriving on campus was buy a bike from Re-Cycle.

Darius Laws

This month we interview Darius Laws, a photographer and video producer who’s also a Colchester Borough Councillor and a keen cyclist.

Jacqui Stone

This month we talk to Jacqui Stone, manager of Essex Rural Training, who represented Britain in the 2017 UCI Gran Fondo World Championships in France this August, just three years after getting her first proper road bike.

Wolf Simpson

Read Wolf’s insirational story about how cycling has transformed his mobility. Find out about the e-bikes he has built, his campaigning for better cycle links particularly between towns and his lobbying for ebikes to be recognised as a mobility aid. ‘Getting the bus is causing me big problems, but cycling is good. Going to work by bus I’m sitting down for an hour and a half and I’d have to take painkillers before going to work, but not when I’m cycling.’