Biola & Kunle Babawale Interview

With the fifth round of Share the Joy funding still open, Editor of London Cyclist magazine, John Kitchiner, spoke with founders of round three funding recipients, Cycle Together, Biola Babawale & Kunle Babawale.

For those unfamiliar with Cycle Together and its work, can you describe the types of services and activities that you offer?

Biola: Cycle Together is all about making cycling accessible and inclusive for everyone. We run a range of programmes and services aimed at breaking down barriers to cycling.

For example, we offer free or low-cost cycling courses, both online and in person, for beginners and intermediate riders. These include guided group rides, hands-on bike maintenance workshops, and confidence-building training sessions.

We’ve also built an online resource hub and support community, a kind of one-stop shop with articles, video tutorials and forums where people can ask questions and get encouragement.

Plus we have initiatives like our women’s prison programme.

When and how was the organisation founded? Where did the idea come from?

Biola: We officially launched in 2021/22, but the idea had been brewing for a while before that. It actually came from my experiences in my cycling club post-lockdown; I noticed a lot of new people (many of them women and people of colour like me) were getting into cycling, but were nervous about joining traditional clubs. They’d say things like, “I’m not sure I’m fit enough”, or “I don’t know if I’ll fit in.”

And I realised, if you don’t have a friend to bring you into a cycling group, it’s really hard to take that first step. I remember thinking it was such a shame that there wasn’t a way to bridge that gap.

Kunle: I vividly recall Biola talking about this idea a few years ago, and I was completely on board. We never imagined as kids that we’d start a business together, but when she told me her vision I thought I definitely want to be part of it. So we took the plunge and co-founded Cycle Together.

In the cycling world, it’s quite uncommon to find initiatives set up by siblings, so what was each of your backgrounds in cycling or other work that influenced your thoughts on starting Cycle Together?

Biola: I’m a born-and-bred south Londoner, but funnily enough I only got serious about cycling in my adult life.

By profession I’m an economist, so I brought a bit of a business and analytical mindset to this. My cycling journey started when I joined Velociposse, an all-women’s cycling club in London.

I eventually became chair of that club for three years, and under my and the committee’s tenure the membership literally quadrupled.

That experience was huge for me. It gave me first-hand insight into the challenges people (especially women) face when trying to get into cycling.

I also got involved with the Women of Colour Cycling Collective and became a qualified British Cycling coach during that time.

Through those efforts, I learned how much representation and supportive coaching matter; marginalised groups can thrive in sport when given the right environment.

Biola Babawale, Co-Founder of Cycle Together, after finishing last years London T100

Kunle: My path is a bit different. I’ve been working as a surgeon in the NHS for several years, and also serve as a clinical safety officer focusing on digital health tech. So from the career side, I’m coming at this from a health and research angle.

I’ve always loved staying active (I do a bit of cycling, and a lot of hiking and running), but what really influenced me was seeing the health disparities in my medical practice.

We know that only about one-fifth of adults in the UK cycle regularly, which means a huge portion of the population is missing out on the health benefits of cycling.

As a doctor, that stuck with me. There’s so much evidence that regular exercise can prevent chronic diseases — for instance, if people over 55 exercise more, it can reduce their risk of developing type 2 diabetes by around 40%, not to mention lowering risks of heart disease and some cancers.

And it’s not just physical health; I’ve delved into research on mental health and found that cycling and other physical activity significantly reduce anxiety and improve mood by cutting down stress hormones in the body.

Also, I’m leading our partnership with Loughborough University where we research sport-based interventions, basically studying how programmes like ours can improve health and how to get more people active.

So my background in medicine and research directly shapes how we design Cycle Together’s courses (grounded in health evidence) and how we measure success.

How do you manage the day-to-day operations and divide up the workload between you?

Biola: Ha, with great difficulty and a lot of sibling honesty! We’re very close as brother and sister, which helps, there’s what I call ‘radical candour’ between us.

I handle a lot of the operational side: coordinating our programmes, dealing with partnerships and sponsors, managing budgets, and generally keeping the wheels turning.

Kunle: And I’m essentially wearing two hats, my NHS work and then Cycle Together on evenings and weekends.

We divide and conquer based on our strengths; Biola is definitely the powerhouse on daily logistics, and I’m more in a support role focusing on research and big-picture strategy.

The great thing about working with your sibling is you can be brutally efficient; if I think something isn’t working, I tell Biola straight away and vice versa, and we fix it.

Biola, you’ve mentioned being involved with the Women of Colour Cycling Collective — presumably that gave you further insight into the role cycling can play in under-represented groups?

Biola: Absolutely. It was eye-opening and inspiring.

When you ride with a group of women of colour, you immediately feel the difference in energy and understanding, there’s this shared experience of being a minority in a very traditionally white, male cycling world.

Through the collective, I heard so many stories of women who, before finding that group, felt cycling wasn’t for people like them.

But once we were together, cycling became a source of joy, empowerment and sisterhood. It really drove home for me how important it is to see people who look like you in a space.

I often say cycling is for everyone, but my time with WCCC made me live that truth and want to bring it to life on a larger scale.

Kunle Babawale, co founder of Cycle Together, speaks on his love of keeping active

Kunle, can you explain more about the Loughborough University partnership and what you hope to demonstrate?

Kunle: Our partnership is all about adding a robust research element to what we’re doing on the ground. We want to not only run programmes, but also study them and learn from them.

In practice, this means we’re collaborating with Loughborough’s sports science and behavioral science researchers to evaluate the impact of Cycle Together’s initiatives and to explore how to scale them effectively.

One part of the project is identifying the barriers that keep certain groups from cycling, in a data-driven way. We obviously had our own experiences and intuitions, but it’s important to get rigorous data.

So, for example, we conduct surveys and interviews with participants and even people who didn’t finish our courses, to understand what challenges they faced.

Another aspect is measuring outcomes.

We’ve set up a framework to track things like participants’ physical health metrics (maybe simple ones like self-reported fitness), their mental wellbeing scores, and their social connectivity (like, did they make friends or join a club) over the duration of a programme.

We want to produce evidence of what works.

Typically, community cycling initiatives don’t come paired with academic research, so it’s quite pioneering, a kind of ‘living lab’. Our hope is to publish those findings, or at least share them, so other communities can replicate our success.

Cycle Together was recently awarded a Share the Joy grant — what will the funding be used for?

Biola: The grant has been a fantastic boost for us, and we’ve dedicated it entirely to expanding our women in prisons project.

Women in prison typically have very poor physical and mental health outcomes, and they’re often forgotten about in these kinds of initiatives, and we wanted to change that.

With the Share the Joy funding, we’ve implemented a cycling programme inside HMP Downview (a women’s prison in south London).

The focus is twofold: first, simply giving the women the chance to get on a bike and experience that sense of freedom and fun, even within the confines of prison.

We do basic cycle training starting with balance and pedalling, building up to small group rides around the yard. It’s amazing how even a short spin can light up someone’s day in that environment.

The second part is teaching them basic cycle maintenance skills. This is really important to us.

Many of these women will be looking for employment after release, and we know lack of job skills and opportunities is a big factor in reoffending.

By giving them some hands-on training we’re aiming to improve their employability. Just having that skillset can boost confidence and it’s something constructive they can take pride in.

Are you hoping to expand the prisons project wider?

Biola: HMP Downview has essentially become a model site for us. We’ve built a relationship with the prison staff and understand all the security protocols and logistics.

The partnership there has been really encouraging and the prison’s management and women’s custodial services group have been very supportive. They helped us get the bikes and equipment in, and they’ve been working with us to schedule sessions in a way that fits the prison routine.

But we do have ambitions to take the programme to other facilities and we’re already in conversations with a couple of other prisons.

And we’re also exploring working with probation services as a next step, basically supporting women after they leave prison, to continue cycling on the outside.

But ‘expansion’ isn’t just about new prison sites, it’s also about the continuity of support.

Cycle Togethers brand new women’s prisons project up and running; the first of its kind in London

Is it too early to assess the likely impact of the extra Share the Joy funding, or what goals have you set?

Biola: We are still in the early stages of the prisons project, but we do have some clear goals.

Broadly, we’ve set out several key outcomes we want to achieve: improved physical health and mental wellbeing for the participants; increased confidence and sense of connection; and tangible skills gained (like bike maintenance know-how and teamwork skills).

In terms of participants, we’re running several cohorts of about 8-10 women at a time, over multiple weeks each. We also outlined what success looks like in qualitative terms.

For instance, we’d love to see reductions in reported loneliness and anxiety among the participants. Cycling can be a tool to reduce loneliness and increase confidence, even in prison.

We’re hoping to see improved relationships between inmates and staff as well; when staff get involved cheering someone learning to ride, it humanises both sides and can promote a more positive atmosphere.

And, of course, from a health perspective, we’d like to see the women feeling fitter or more energetic.

We’re measuring impact in a few ways. We have the women fill out short surveys (anonymously) before and after the programme, asking about their mood, confidence, and whether they intend to continue cycling.

We also track fitness in a rudimentary way (some could barely manage a few minutes on the bike at first, and we see them improve over weeks).

Thus far, even though it’s early, the feedback has been wonderful. We’ve set goals like: at least 75% of participants reporting improved wellbeing and 75% demonstrating one new skill (like fixing a flat tyre).

So, while it’s a bit soon for final results, we’re definitely not flying blind.

What have been your personal Cycle Together highlights over the last three years?

Biola: Gosh, there have been so many moments that have made me proud. One big highlight for me was the completion of our very first 12-week beginner programme in 2024.

We had a cohort of participants who were mostly complete novices at the start, and by the end the transformation in them was incredible; every single participant reported improvements in their mental wellbeing and confidence, and all of them wanted to continue cycling after the programme.

We even had a celebration ride at the end where they all wore matching Cycle Together jerseys, and it was just pure joy.

Another highlight was receiving a community grant from the Brockwell Live Fund.

We’re a small organisation, so to have others believe in our mission enough to fund us, that was validation that we’re doing something important.

Kunle: I’d echo a lot of what Biola said. For me, a particularly special highlight has been launching our women’s prisons programme this year.

It’s the kind of project that hadn’t really been tried before, bringing cycling into a prison, and I remember on the first day of the programme not quite knowing what to expect.

But by the end the participants were smiling and saying they couldn’t wait for the next session. During an event at the prison, one of the women told us: “Cycling could help me feel normal again, something I can keep doing even after I leave here.” It hit home that this is more than just riding bikes — it’s giving people hope and a sense of freedom.

Another highlight has been seeing the wider cycling community get behind us. Whether it’s been Specialized sponsoring our beginner programmes, or support from Balfe’s Bikes, each has opened new doors to show what we can offer our participants.