Coventry bike shop owner helps Team Ghana with training

The athletes from Ghana trained with the Coventry club on Wednesday

Elite cyclists from Team Ghana who are competing at the Commonwealth Games have joined a Coventry bike shop owner for training.

Dean Tranter, who runs Bike Wrench, said riders Anthony Boakye and Rahman Samed "popped in" earlier this week.

"I told them about our shop ride on a Wednesday night and they said they wanted to come along and meet everybody," he said.

Boakye said the team had been finding it difficult to train locally.

"When we arrived in Coventry we found it difficult to train," the African nation's top cyclist said.

"We were using the highway, but then we met Dean and he organised a few colleagues. We had a ride and we did enjoy it very well."

The athletes had struggled to find suitable routes to train

Mr Tranter said the athletes had "struggled to find training routes because they haven't really got the maps and the data".

"I know they've ended up on the A45 which was a bit of a hairy thing to do."

Mr Tranter said the athletes helped the cycling club improve their speed

He offered to take them on a 35-mile (56km) bike ride through Warwickshire on Wednesday, where Mr Tranter said the athletes "showed us how to ride properly".

"Our average speed has gone up by about one mile an hour."

The athletes from Ghana were "such great guys, very positive and just so much enthusiasm", he added.

By becoming friends, Mr Tranter said he was inspired to help athletes from poorer countries, noting the difference in equipment they had access to.

Mr Tranter wants to explore donating cycling equipment which he said can be very expensive

"We are what we call Mamils - middle aged men in lycra - and we've probably got better bikes than the athletes," he said.

"The athlete taking part in the road race is doing it on a bike he bought two years ago for $200 when the best bikes in the race - you're looking at £17,000."

"The talent that's over there is unbelievable but they just don't have the access to the equipment, it's not a cheap hobby to get into," he said.

Warwick will host the road race cycling event on Sunday.