Meet Jon

I'm one of the Instructors at Pedal Power Training

I come from a cycling family on my mother’s side - my grandfather was a partner in Runwell Cycles and both my uncles raced tricycles.

I learned to ride a bike in 1977 in Barbados, where we lived for 3 years wile my dad taught English at a 6th form college.

On returning to the UK I was given my aunt’s hand-me-down mk1 chopper. All the other kids had racers so I had to ride everywhere flat out to have a chance of keeping up.

As an adult I served on the committee of a local cycling club for a few years, planned routes and led club rides, ridden in a few time trials, and two races (the Sandie Radford in the New Forest and a cyclocross race.)

I’ve also spent countless Sunday mornings riding round the local countryside with friends on and off-road and been on several bikepacking expeditions. I also build and maintain bikes.

What I love most about teaching cycling

Simply the knowledge that every child that gets a solid start cycling will have the skills and confidence to ride safely on the road and may go on to choose active travel as an adult and maybe join a cycling club, get out in the countryside with friends or pass on a love of cycling to their children.

Favourite cycling routes

These days I mostly ride gravel with friends on Sundays and we take turns to plan routes based on who’s riding and weather and surface conditions. Between the Test Valley, New Forest and South Downs, there are countless route options. I’ve also been bikepacking in the Purbecks, Exmoor, and the Welsh borders and done some touring in France.