Have you heard about Cycling Without Age? 

Cycling Without Age (CWA) is a movement started in 2012 by Dane Ole Kassow. Ole wanted to help the elderly to get back on their bicycles, but he had to find a solution to their limited mobility. The answer was a trishaw and he started offering free bike rides to the local nursing home residents.

He then got in touch with a civil society consultant from the City of Copenhagen, Dorthe Pedersen (now Cycling Without Age), who was intrigued by the idea.  Together they bought the first 5 trishaws and launched Cycling Without Age, which has now spread to another 33 countries around the world.

Tasmanians Nicole and Just Berkhout started working to bring CWA to Australia a couple of years ago, and there is now an official branch in Australia.  And now it is happening in Tassie, in an exciting collaboration between Masonic Care Tasmania, Team Strib, Cycling Without Age and Rotary Bellerive.   Bicycle Network Tasmania has been pleased to support this excellent initiative from its early days in Tassie - we are excited to be part of this global movement that brings young and old together through enabling older members of our community to get out and about.

The launch will be this Friday 20^th October 2016, 11am, at the Freemasons Home (Masonic Care Tasmania), 7 Ballawinnie Road, Lindisfarne, Activities Area.  Residents and their families will be introduced to Tasmania's first e-trishaw and we will see people trying out the trishaw on the Clarence Foreshore Trail.  How lucky these residents are to have such an welcoming and safe bikepath nearby!

If you are interested to be involved in Cycling Without Age, for example as a "pilot" of an e-trishaw, or you know of another aged care home that would love to provide a home for a trishaw, please contact Nicole Berkhout, Cycling Without Age Australia, on 0401 998 822.