Cycling Without Age Gold Coast Profile

Pedalling towards joy: Cycling Without Age brings the simple pleasure of bike rides to the elderly and less-abled.

In today’s fast-paced world, we often forget to slow down and appreciate the simple joys of life. Cycling Without Age (CWA) is a heartwarming movement that was started in 2012 by a man named Ole Kassow, with the aim to bring joy to the elderly and less-abled individuals through the simple act of taking them out on a bike ride. At the core of Cycling Without Age is generosity and kindness, and it starts with the simple act of taking one or two elderly or less-abled people out on a bike ride.

We spoke to Wayne Sticher the community caption who started the CWA group in Gold Coast. As a keen cyclist himself he can see the benefits being on a bike can do for people and sought out to start at Cycling Without Age chapter in Gold Coast. He became the Gold Coast’s only accredited trainer of Cycling Without Age volunteers and registered Gold Coast as Australia’s 21st Cycling Without Age group.

Volunteering Gold Coast had the pleasure of experiencing a morning out at Paradise Point to talk to Wayna about CWA, as well as enjoy a lively trishaw ride along the coast.

VGC: Tell us a little bit about Cycling Without Age:  

Wayne: Cycling Without Age is a lovely charity that began in Denmark in 2012 with a single act of kindness from a gentleman named Ole Kassow. He rented one of these trishaws and went to a local aged care facility and offered them residential rides, and from that single ride and act of kindness, it has now spread to sixty countries and provided over three million rides.

How do the bikes work?

We have two different types of bikes, we have the trishaw which carries two passengers in the front and they sit out in the front and the driver sits in the back, and passengers get to experience it all from the front there. We also have wheelchair bikes that can load the wheelchair onto the bike and people who use wheelchairs can enjoy the thrill and the exhilaration of a bike ride.

How often is this available for the public?

We operate here at Paradise Point every Tuesday, Thursday and Friday morning and we also operate on the first Saturday and the third Sunday of each month. We probably look after 600 passengers per month, and we’re so lucky to have great support here from the community, we have a lot of people that just walk past and stop and have a chat with our crew. We believe we play a very valuable role in society not only by taking people for rides but as an organisation where you can just stop, have a chat and be on your merry way.

Why should people volunteer with you?

We are 100% volunteer-run, we have no paid staff and we just simply couldn’t survive without our volunteers as the volunteers are the heart and the soul of our operation. As one of our volunteers once said to us, “this makes me feel so good it’s almost selfish”. Here at Cycling Without Age Paradise Point, we are blessed to have about fifty active volunteers. So come on down and volunteer, it is just amazing, there are so many benefits, being outside, feeling connected, doing a bit of good, getting some exercise and here it’s in the fresh air and sunshine, you don’t get a better office than this!

How has Volunteering Gold Coast helped you with volunteers?

We are extremely thankful for our partnership with Volunteering Gold Coast, many of our volunteers here have come through Volunteering Gold Coast and we are so pleased to have them and we are so thankful for our partnership with you.