Press release -
Bike Valley gears up for biggest ever TweedLove Bike Festival
The Tweed Valley is preparing to host its biggest cycling festival to date, with this year’s TweedLove Bike Festival looking set to feature the most packed programme yet. Cyclists around the UK and beyond now refer to the area as ‘Bike Valley’ due to the area’s reputation for world class mountain bike trails and its beautiful, relatively traffic-free road network.
There are 35 different cycling events spread over three weeks, with two key weekends within that period – 26-28 May, and 9-11 June. The programme includes everything from international mountain bike racing and overnight trips into the backcountry to family rides on closed roads and fun events for tots on balance bikes.
“It’s our biggest festival yet, which reflects the fantastic continued growth in cycling participation,” says TweedLove director Neil Dalgleish. “This is by far the best area in the UK for cycling and mountain biking, and we have an incredible local population of bike fans living here, delighted to welcome others to share the fun and sport the area offers.”
Manuela Calchini, VisitScotland Regional Partnerships Director for the South of Scotland, said: “Tweedlove Bike Festival is now a firm fixture on the UK cycling festival programme and a great day out for families. The stunning scenery and award-winning bike trails within Glentress Forest and the surrounding area provide the perfect backdrop for the festival.
“Events like this provide a boost to the local visitor economy by enhancing our region’s tourism offering and showcasing the very best of what the region has to offer. I hope as many local people and visitors from further afield will be able to come along to enjoy the great entertainment, racing and events planned.”
For the first time TweedLove will also include a ‘mega bike demo’ weekend, where many of the world’s top bike brands provide the public with the opportunity to try out top of the range bikes - some worth up to £10,000 each – on the trails of Glentress and country roads around Peebles. It will be the biggest event of its kind in the UK this year, with hundreds of different bikes available to try.
“This is an amazing chance for people to spend some timing riding the most sought-after bikes in the world, bristling with the latest lightweight technology, all in the UK’s best cycling destination”, says Dalgleish. “It’s fantastic that so many of the world’s best bike brands are coming to Peebles with their latest kit. People can take some time finding out what the bike of their dreams is really like to ride, and enjoy the festival atmosphere and all the events afterwards.”
Other highlights of the event programme include the Shimano TweedLove International Enduro – the UK’s biggest mountain bike enduro race with pro athletes competing for the country’s biggest cash prize fund. For road riders the Cycle Law Scotland Skinny Tweed sportive ride offers a beautiful 45 mile route beside the River Tweed, and a full programme of family and children’s cycle events ensures everyone is catered for.
For the first time this year, there’s a chance for runners to join the cyclists at the party too – as the area’s flagship cross country bike event, the Odlo Glentress Seven, will share its beautiful 11km course with the brand new Glentress 11 Trail Run, kicking of events for the weekend of 26-28 May.
“The big weekend is at the event village in Peebles, on June 9-11,” says Neil Dalgleish. “There will be entertainment, great food and drink, and a very friendly atmosphere – perfect for all cyclists and anyone who just wants to soak up some festival good times. There are races and bike events all weekend, and a huge amount to see and do on Friday and Saturday evenings.”
TweedLove Festival began eight years ago with some cycling friends organising events for friends to take part in, but is now the UK’s biggest cycling festival, but is still powered by community enthusiasm. “There’s no doubt these events are still a labour of love”, says Neil. “Our small team of organising staff try very hard to put on events which do the place justice. None of this would have been possible with out all the community support, and that’s still true today. It’s a unique and special place.”
TweedLove Bike Festival in numbers:
Over 400km of roads and trails will be used.
38km of race tape and over 300 direction signs will be used to mark out the various courses
9000 pieces of cake or energy bars, and over 1000 bananas will be eaten by cyclists
11,000 people are expected to take part or watch including 950 children actively participating
Full programme details available at
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