The Fundación Contador and the city of Pinto celebrate the Bicycle Day in favour of the Red Cross and Bicis para la Vida by Škoda

The Plaza Éboli Shopping Centre and its surroundings will be the best enclaves that next June 1st, Saturday, will host the commemorative events on the occasion of the International Bicycle Day promoted by the Alberto Contador Foundation in close collaboration with the mall, Red Cross, Pinto City Council through the Pinto en Verde project that holds with SeoBirdlife, the AMP Association and the Nine Fitness Sport Club.

A festive day that will take place between 10.00 and 14.00 hours (CET) and will serve to raise funds for both the Red Cross Spain delegation in Pinto and Valdemoro, especially for their projects related to stroke, as well as for the Bicis para la Vida by Škoda project of the Foundation. Registrations, already available, cost 6 euros for adults and 3 euros for children (up to and including the age of 14) and allow participation in all activities.

‘This is not going to be a typical bicycle festival, a family ride with pedals’, says Francisco Javier Contador from the institution that bears his brother’s name; ‘at the Foundation we always seek to go one step further and what we want is to highlight the enormous educational possibilities of the bicycle, its interdisciplinary nature beyond being a beautiful tool for leisure and competition’.

There will be routes, with small guided itineraries in the nearby municipal park and its surroundings, but also many more activities, as well as various raffles among all attendees. On Pinto Bike Day, for example, it will be possible to take part in open-air spinning classes or participate in basic mechanics workshops to learn or improve personal skills for the maintenance of domestic bikes.

Likewise, road safety classes will be developed from a cycling perspective, with a view to stimulating the use of the bicycle as a means of transport in an urban environment as orographically privileged as that of Pinto. Thanks to the Idemticos project of the Contador Foundation, all interested attendees will be able to learn first-hand what the bicycles used in adapted cycling are like and how they work, from tricycles to tandems, including handbikes.

‘For the youngest members of the family, the bicycle is much more than a toy’, reflects Henar García, head of the Foundation’s social area; ‘it is the first tool in their lives that begins to give them greater freedom and autonomy, it is an open door to exploration beyond their usual world. Who doesn’t remember those childhood bike rides during the summer holidays? And it is something that is done as a game, with no real awareness that it is also a very low-impact and healthy physical activity.

Officially, the International Bicycle Day designated by the United Nations General Assembly in April 2018 corresponds to 3 June. As this 2024 falls on a Monday, and therefore a working day, the organisers decided to bring it forward to the nearest Saturday in order to encourage a greater participation in all activities and also to facilitate all organisational matters.

The Pinto Bike Day 2024 is sponsored by the Obra Social de Caixabank, the innovative lighting company Cinelux and the equipment and material firm for gyms and sports spaces Fitness Deluxe.