Welcome to Stretford Wheelers
Formed in 1920, we are a well-established cycling club for enthusiastic cyclists based in South West Manchester and its surrounding areas.
We offer club rides for a range of cycling abilities, focussing predominantly on road rides, from social riders to serious time-triallists and road-racers. We now embrace cyclists using power-assisted pedal cycles as well as the traditional purely pedal-powered machines - solos and tandems.
The central focus of the club is towards our weekend rides: the Saturday Loop and the Sunday Club Run, although we may switch days over to give all members an opportunity to participate in either or both.
Club Runs will normally head out into Cheshire to a café or pub for a lunch stop, then have a different route home. Starting mid-morning (~10:30) the distance and destination will vary to suit the season and weather, being typically 30 to 60 miles total length. Whenever there are sufficient riders attending, we may split into smaller, matched ability level groups but still try to reach the same planned destination.
The Saturday Loop is a non-stop circuit ridden at a quicker tempo, typically 2 hours duration/35-40 miles, with our experienced club members trying to pass-on group riding skills, wind-sheltering techniques and to encourage riders to improve their fitness levels. We have some light-hearted challenge rides - the 50 miles in 4 hours ride, 100 miles in 8 hours, a downhill free-wheeling competition and an uphill hill-climb race, all in keeping with the club's motto "Mens Sana In Corpore Sano" - a healthy mind in a healthy body.
Both these weekend rides normally commence from The Green Dragon, Heatley, on the A6144 near Lymm.
Aside from our weekend events, we usually have a Tuesday lunch ride out towards Goostrey and several club members may organise a spontaneous mid-week ride when weather conditions permit.
One of the club's traditions is to support competitive cycling and to this end, we are affiliated to various cycling organisations: to British Cycling (for those who may wish to race on the road, track, cyclo-cross, MTB) and to the national time-trialling body (Cycling Time Trials and its local district sections - men and ladies). So, by joining an affiliated club, you can easily participate in competitive events.
We encourage people enquiring to join us for a couple of rides before making the decision to become a member of our club. Club members correspond using WhatsApp however if you are interested in joining us on a ride, please contact us via this group or email secretary@stretfordwheelers.org
