Fort bike festival goes down a storm in Caol
Cyclists of all ages and abilities got together at Caol Community Centre on the weekend of March 24-26 for the Fort William Community Bike Festival.
Hundreds of local residents got involved, from committed cyclists, those new to the sport and everything in between, to take advantage of the free events on offer from Friday night through to Sunday.
High Life Highland started the ball rolling last summer, first suggesting the idea and subsequently helping to write a funding application to Event Scotland’s Community Cycling Fund. Local bike clubs the West Highland Wheelers and Fort William Foxes came on board to lead and organise the festival.
This aimed to raise the profile of cycling in advance of the Mountain Bike World Championships, which will take place in Scotland in
August this year.
The downhill event will be held in Fort William, with competitions in six other cycling disciplines to be held throughout Scotland.
Events kicked off on Friday with a film night at the local cinema which included a film competition for all ages.
First place was taken by fouryear-old Bo Barnes, strutting his biking skills, filmed by his dad.
The main community event on Saturday involved a huge inflatable air bag and ramp, all abilities cycling equipment for anyone to try, bike maintenance lessons, face painting, a bucking bronco, bouncy castle, social rides and much more.
The High Life Highland skills equipment saw good use over the course of the day, with bikes available to borrow and youngsters supervised by qualified leaders from the West Highland Wheelers and Active Schools team. An evening ceilidh was followed on the Sunday by social bike rides and a trail building “dig day”.