Corporate couple trading high life to bankroll cycling holidays venture

A high-flying husband and wife from Bolton are trading the corporate world for a life of free-wheeling and leaving it all behind to launch a luxury cycling retreat in Spain.
 
Mark and Zoe Lancaster have quit their high-profile jobs and sold their £400,000 house, to bankroll Cycle Retreats which begins taking its first guests in October 2017.

It will run from a luxury hillside villa near Alicante, and aims to deliver the ultimate getaway for cycling enthusiasts.

It is something Mark – technical director for DXI Regeneration, in Leigh, near Wigan – and Zoe, who is managing director of a private healthcare company, have talked about for years.

Zoe said: “Cycle Retreats has been our dream for a long time. We realised there are very few first-class experiences for keen cyclists. So we created one.

“Our daughter is happily settled into university and neither of us relish staying on the corporate treadmill for ever.

“We are both keen cyclists and we took some time to ask ourselves what it is we really wanted to do. So we just decided to go for it.

“Cycle Retreats will be the cyclist’s equivalent of a luxury ski lodge, combining spectacular rides with first-class food and luxurious accommodation.”

Mark and Zoe, both aged 43, are now putting the final plans in place before flying out to Spain later this year for Cycle Retreats’ official launch.

Bookings are currently being taken for the first retreat, which takes place in October 2017.

Zoe has the small matter of organising Riding for Change, a charity bike ride that will take 50 riders from London to Paris over four days while raising money for local charities.