Croydon Sports Arena sessions are restarting!
We are thrilled to come to you with good news at last: we are restarting our sessions at Croydon Sports Arena from Tuesday 2nd March 2021.
According to the government guidelines, all outdoor sports for Disabled people can continue, despite the national lockdown restrictions, so the managers at the Croydon Arena gave us the green light to reopen our sessions at their venue.
For now we are only restarting our Tuesday sessions, with two slots available for bookings: 10am and 11am (each slot is 45 minutes long). We hope to be able to reopen on other days of the week in the near future.
Please note that our sessions no longer run as drop-ins, so booking is now essential. If you haven’t got a confirmed booking, you will not be able to cycle. To find out how to book a space at one of our sessions, please visit Cycling Sessions page.
Following guidance from the government, we have put Covid-secure measures in place. We want to make sure that participants, carers and our staff members are safe during the sessions. Please click here to read more about our new safety rules.
At the same time we would like to remind you that we are currently running two open sessions for people of all ages at Herne Hill Velodrome on Mondays and Fridays, plus a children’s session at the Velodrome on Sundays. Unfortunately, all our sessions at Ladywell Day Centre remain suspended for the moment.
If you have any symptoms of Covid-19 – cough, temperature, loss of taste or smell – please do not attend a session but ring our session phone number to cancel your booking and book yourself a Covid-19 test.
If you develop Covid-19 symptoms or are told you have Covid-19 after taking a test within 7 days of attending a session, please tell NHS Test and Trace that you have attended our session and provide: info@wheelsforwellbeing.org.uk as the “contact”. If you are well enough to do so, please also tell us immediately that you have developed symptoms/tested positive for Covid-19.
7 Comments
I contacted Croydon Arena about a month ago to ask when they were thinking of re-opening the Arena. They weren’t particularly helpful – I was just directed to the website, which I had already looked at and which had no information on it. I don’t understand why they can’t re-open now. I’m really missing my cycling sessions – I’d love to go to Herne Hill but apart from the logistical problem of getting there, I can only use one of the adapted bikes at Croydon and I don’t know if Herne Hill has exactly the same bike.
Sorry to hear about that Adella – we’ve liaised with you separately about this at the time of your enquiry, and we’re sorry not to have acknowledged your comment here on our website. We’d like to clarify that Croydon Sports Arena wasn’t able to reopen to the public last year due to financial issues. We hope to be able to restart our sessions there soon.
I’m a disabled stroke survivor and proud owner of an ICE Adventure HD trike. After several years of investigation, I found a cycle shop in Marlow called Saddle Safari which is an ICE dealer and managed by a keen club cyclist who’s also disabled. They are welcoming and empathetic to the needs of the disabled cyclist and can highly recommend them.
I’m a stroke survivor with limited mobility on my right side. I initially tried a conventional trike but felt unstable on it. I then tried a recumbent trike and loved it. You’re vulnerable, so it’s recommended to stick to parks and quiet roads. My trike is a ICE Adventure HD. I feel very stable and I’ve got up to some hair-raising speeds on it. I can thoroughly recommend them.
I can share your experience Richard. I visited Mission Cycles myself (looking for a new trike). I found that it was inaccessible except by car but I called before my visit and they very kindly collected and returned me to the train station.
If it’s any help, they do sell many of their trikes in London shops and they must be able to advise you where. ‘I do appreciate that this may limit the try before you buy’ option.
I have never seen trikes for sale in London, Neil. In the event, a friend suggested getting one online, so as to get exactly what I need (light frame, foldable, baskests, etc.). To our surprise, it turned up in boxes marked ‘For Professional Assembly,’ and with a puncture. Further confusion was caused by the fact that there are at least three different cycle shops along the Brighton Road. When I collected the completed tricycle, I pushed it a long way to a tram stop because I have no recent road cycling experience. The trams refused to allow the trike aboard, even tho there was plenty of space, and I explained that it was foldable, and even when I explained to some passing supervisors that there would be dangers trying to get it home otherwise. This resulted in a hair-raising journey home in the rain. I can see no reason why the trike could not be allowed aboard at the drivers’ discretion, and sympathise with a view I have heard from Wheels for Wellbeing re cycles being recognised as a disabled aid.
I went to Mission Cycles, recently, a disabled trike specialist near Maidstone who let you test ride them. It turned out to be a unit on an industrial estate, and it took us too long finding it and they had gone home.
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