A RIDER owner and rider managed bike shop celebrates five years in business after a challenging couple of years.

Co-owners of Ride Bikes, Ulverston, Dan Stringer and Jenny Nuttall celebrated five years of business this week since they took over the previous shop, DC Cycles.

41 year old, Dan Stringer who moved to South Cumbria 10 years ago from the North East due to his love for mountains and bikes took over the premises five years ago when DC Cycles decided to close.

Dan said: “It’s always been my dream to have a bike shop in the lake district and the opportunity arose so I jumped at it.

“I was working for DC Cycles at the time before they decided to close so it couldn’t have come at a better time for me really.”

Dan has been passionate about bikes for 30 years now as he raced cross country as a kid and raced down hill for 20 years.

He said: “It has been an exciting five years as we have constantly been changing but that also comes with it’s challenges.

“The first three years of business were brilliant, really positive and everything was happening as we wanted to but when Covid hit it was a tough year or so for us, wit staff being furloughed, a huge demand for gear where we couldn’t get parts or bikes, it was difficult.

“What happened knocked us off where we wanted to go but we’re starting to get back on our feet again now with exciting things happening in the future.”

During the Covid Pandemic Ride Bikes saw a huge increase in people purchasing bikes and equipment.

Dan said: “A lot more people were active, it was pretty ridiculous.

“People were asking for any big, no matter what it was they’d buy it. It was a very strange shopping habit but it was good to see people wanting to take up biking.

“It was very much driven by the roads being quiet and people not being scared of cycling on the main busy roads.”

To give back to its customers Ride Bikes are offering free events this Saturday for people to join in with.

Dan said: "We want to give back to the community with these events as we wouldn't be here without them. Whatever we can give is a bonus."

To find out more information visit: https://www.facebook.com/weridebikesltd.