Who We Are

Solent Pirates is a youth cycling racing club based along the South coast between Chichester and Portsmouth. 

As a club, we are solely focused on aspiring racing cyclists aged 6 - 16 years and all sessions are run by unpaid qualified coaches and other volunteer helpers. 

We were founded in August 2012 and are the only cycling club along the South coast dedicated entirely to promoting youth cycle racing.   We are a British Cycling Go-Ride club with Club Mark accreditation.  We are also affiliated to the British Schools Cycling Association.

We have 15 qualified coaches in road, track, cyclocross and mountain bike, a qualified bike mechanic, a child protection officer and numerous volunteer helpers.  

We strongly encourage our cyclists to become all round bike racers by:
- having fun on their bikes with friends
- discovering sport for life 
- developing skills and fitness
- competing in cycling competitions across different disciplines

What We Do

Training, Skills & Racing
All sessions are noted on the club calendar and can change from week to week. Always check the calendar and newsletter for up to date information.

​Road and Circuit Racing (Road)
For all ages and skills we run regular weekly from our base on the Baker Barracks, Thorney Island.  We generally run three or four groups focusing variously on the skills and fitness required to safely compete in road and circuit racing.  These can sessions can be ridden on any bike.
Velodrome Sessions (Track)
We are a keen supporter of youth track racing and run regular winter sessions at the Calshot Velodrome while in the summer we run session at the outdoor Bournemouth Velodrome.  We pop along to the Olympic Velodrome for one or two session a year.  We have a large fleet of club track bikes which we hire to riders for these sessions.
Cyclocross (CX)
The winter means CX for many of our riders.  We run regularly sessions during the week, often several, and we participate in the Wessex League locally.  Many youth 'road' bikes are suitable for fitting nobbly tyres (Isla bikes being a good example), but any nobbly tyre bike will do to get started.  The club has a limited number of CX bikes for hire.
Mountain Bike (MTB)
We have several MTB coaches and run occasional MTB sessions at Queen Elizabeth Country Park.  We also run occasional MTB sessions with British Cycling.  We also have riders who compete in the Southern XC Series.
Road Rides
When daylight allows we run a mid week road ride as well as organised Sunday rides outside the CX season (Sept - Jan).  These are for older riders.
Indoor Training
We run a weekly roller session during the winter.

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X: @solentpirates

Instagram: @solentpiratesycc