Meet our groups: All cycles welcome at the British Human Power Club

The British Human Power Club is the most active group for alternative cycle types in the world. We run an annual race series around the UK. All types of human-powered vehicle are welcome, including handcycles, bikes, trikes, recumbent, prone and upright. Points are awarded in classes including junior, informal and friendly.

The BHPC was formed on 29 May 1983 to foster all aspects of human-powered vehicles for competitive, recreational and utility activities, and to stimulate innovation in HPVs.

Founder members included Richard Ballantine of Richard’s Bicycle Book, and bike innovator Mike Burrows who continued to race with us until the season before his death in 2022.

About the BHPC

While many members use their machines on the road, the club’s core activity is organising an inclusive and informal national race series for bikes that aren’t allowed to race elsewhere: recumbents, hand-cycles, upright trikes, other weird stuff – even the occasional conventional bicycle.

When we first started there were no commercial machines to buy and members built their own. These days most people buy something someone else built, but some of us still build and modify.

The club produces a colour magazine four times a year. Most members ride recumbents and velomobiles daily and are a fount of knowledge via our website, the BHPC Forum and Facebook page.

It’s cheap!

BHPC membership is available from only 66p a month*:

• Adult membership £20
• Student membership £13
• Overseas adult membership £30
• *e-membership £8

BHPC membership year runs from 1 January to 31 December. Membership for 2026 has been available to buy via the shop from 1 January 2026.

People with an e-membership receive downloads of the BHPC magazine four times a year and discounted race fees. Other memberships all receive printed copies and downloads of the BHPC magazine four times a year and discounted race fees.

Race fees per event are £9 for members (e or print) and £14 for non-members. There is an option to buy a race season ticket for £80. Juniors race for free.

Races can include sprints, single laps and range up to 2 hours. They are usually split into slower and faster heats. Several of our events span a weekend, for which there is often camping and the chance to socialise.

Racing points are awarded in these classes

Men women and junior (over 10, under 16) for each of:

• Open – Everybody gets points in this class, including two-wheel, fast, full-faired streamliners.
• Faired multi-track – Mostly velomobiles with three and four wheels. Not as fast as the better two-wheel streamliners.
• Part-faired – Any machine with a streamlined nose or tail fairing.
• Unfaired – Any machine with no aerodynamic fairings except wheel disks.
• Unfaired multi-track – Typically trikes, upright and recumbent.
• Arm power – Machines propelled purely by hand or arm. Handcycles.
• Car free – Points are also given to those arriving under their own steam or by public transport.
• Sport/road class – The low unfaired bikes. Many bikes are not really suited for road use. This class was created to add a competition for the higher commercial machines.
• Multi-rider – We have not had many tandems (or longer) racing, but they are very welcome. If more than three compete there will be a class.

We have a timing system that uses RFID tags to register lap times. A sprint timing setup too. The tags are cheap and reliable. Our Race Day pages give real time results.

Members regularly take part in and periodically host the HPV World Championships and races around Europe. Some international competitors come to take part in our races. We have teams taking part in the World Human Powered Speed challenge in Nevada.

If you’re interested in racing with the BHPC, find out how to race with us.

More about membership

We are quite a small group at present. Our membership is currently about 150, over half of whom take part in our events. Some families take part, adults and juniors. Spectators attend free and often get a chance to chat and try machines.

The club is very informal, but we have a chairman, secretary, magazine editor(s), treasurer, membership secretary, technical officer and webmaster. There is a short AGM and trophy presentation, usually at our last race of the season at Hillingdon track. No other bureaucracy. We have club clothing available.

We welcome anyone interested in cycling and cycles. A small but important part of our membership are people for whom an HPV is the only cycle they can ride; for example, those with mobility issues or balance problems.

Three words that describe the BHPC: friendly, enthusiastic, informal.