With New Year approaching and health and fitness being on everyone's mind, cycling is the perfect sport to improve your fitness and get in shape, whatever your target. Lee Valley VeloPark is the only venue in the world to cater for all four of the Olympic cycling disciplines: track, BMX, road and mountain.

Getting on your bike is perfect for those all-important core-muscles, as well as building your quads, calves and glutes, whether you chose to stamina based cycling activities like road cycling or track, or prefer the short burst of energy used for BMX and mountain biking. As they are lower impact types of exercise, they're also better on your joints than running and other high-impact aerobic activities.

Each discipline helps to improve your fitness level, and improving your cardio vascular system by cycling just 150minutes a week (approximately 20 minutes a day). Push your limits at the indoor velodrome of Lee Valley VeloPark where can train any time of year, whatever the weather, whilst following in the track marks of Olympic heroes like Laura Trott and Sir Chris Hoy or get your heart pumping on the outdoor, one-mile, traffic free road circuit enjoying breeze and burning calories at the same time.

For the more adventurous BMX and mountain biking will give you a great all body workout as you pump through the bend, bumps, jumps and berms of the course, working on those stiff hamstrings and increasing the flexibility and dexterity of your whole body; whether you decide to get out on the off-road tracks up and down the country or chose to try out the five miles of mountain bike trails at Lee Valley VeloPark, which are for everyone from beginners to expert riders.

Aside from the physical benefits, research shows that cycling also helps to eleviate stress and increase brain productivity by releasing endorphins, forcing the body to regulate breathing and increasing the blood flow, and therefore oxygen levels, to the brain.

Lee Valley VeloPark run taster and training sessions for individuals, groups, schools, clubs and corporate events. Training sessions for the velodrome cost £30 and for the BMX, road circuit and mountain bike trails cost £15. Sessions include one hour of coaching with a British Cycling qualified coach, and bike and helmet hire – concessionary prices available.

BMX, road and mountain biking can be done on a 'pay and ride' session for £6 (£4 concession). Bike hire costs £10 per person.

You can also cycle through the 26 miles of beautiful parks and open spaces of Lee Valley Regional Park

For more information please go to www.visitleevalley.org.uk

Paul Bloomfield-Bray - Public Relations Officer

Tel: 01992 709 863 Mob: 07785 303 718

Lee Valley Regional Park Authority
Myddelton House, Bulls Cross, Enfield, Middlesex EN2 9HG
Tel: 01992 717 711 Fax: 01992 719 937 Web: visitleevalley.org.uk