Social media brings together Saffron Walden residents to form Tour de France-inspired cycling group

Tour de France-inspired Saffron Walden residents have taken to social media to form a new cycling group.

The group formed through Streetlife, a social network for local communities which describes itself as “the online equivalent of chatting over the garden fence”.

Paul Chinnock, 63, used the social network to reach out to his neighbours, with the idea of forming a cycling group with a social element. Now, the group has organised monthly rides, at a leisurely pace, which include a short break at one of the area’s rural pubs.

A firm believer in the health and environmental benefits of cycling, Mr Chinnock said that after he originally posted on Streetlife he received his first response “within a couple of hours”.

“I wanted to start a cycling group that was different from other cycling groups available locally because it wasn’t a sporting group, it was more social,” he said.

The group’s first ride involved Mr Chinnock and two other Streetlife users but now more than a dozen cyclists meet regularly to socialise and keep fit together.

Joseph Cockerline, part of Streetlife’s communities team, said: “It’s fantastic for us to see members of the Saffron Walden community using Streetlife to achieve things like this.

“Streetlife is all about bringing people together and Saffron Walden’s cyclists are a perfect example of how that’s possible.”

Saffron Walden residents can join the local Streetlife community by visiting streetlife.com.