Cycling tourism is a huge growth area, now thought to be worth a staggering £500 million to the Scottish economy each year.
Perthshire already has a burgeoning reputation as the country’s outdoor adventure capital, thanks to its scenery, innovative businesses, cycle routes and an increasingly vibrant range of cycling events.
And now a new co-operative is seeking to make Central Scotland the UK’s top family-friendly mountain biking destination.
The Scottish Mountain Bike Consortium (SMBC) made up of a group of small businesses from Tayside, Fife and Stirlingshire hopes to capture a greater slice of the £240 million mountain biking market and help develop it further.
It was backed in its efforts by Co-operative Development Scotland (CDS), which unveiled the SMBC as one of the three winners of its £30,000 collaboration prize.
The SMBC hopes the funding will give it a head start as it bids to support businesses and groups keen to get involved in the sector or expand their mountain bike offering.
It also hopes to help develop and run family-friendly events to encourage economic growth, participation and tourism.
The news received a warm welcome from the partners, who gathered at Comrie Croft Bikes one of their number in a chilly Perthshire to highlight their bid.
Tom Durham, chairman of the SMBC, said: “Winning the collaboration prize will be instrumental in our ability to get the wheels in motion for our consortium.
“We want to make mountain biking the ultimate family-friendly adventure activity.
“Since our journey began we have built up a high level of trust between members through the process of working together.”
The collaboration prize was launched by First Minister Alex Salmond at Edinburgh Castle in 2012 to mark the United Nations International Year of Co-operatives and is backed by the Scottish Tourism Alliance, Creative Scotland and Scotland Food and Drink.
It aims to encourage businesses to consider collaborating and pitch their ideas for a new consortium co-operative, with the three winning concepts each receiving a prize of £5,000 and up to £5,000 of support.