A York cycling promotion company is at the forefront of a scheme to set up a £33 million cycling "theme park".

The Company of Cyclists, at Acaster Malbis, has teamed up with a consortium of architects and consultants to draw up a draught plan for a world-first cycle heaven, dubbed the Try-Cycle project, in Derby.

A vision of a cycling adventure park is taking shape with an area with 50 different cycling attractions, from pedal-powered dodgems and monorails to special tracks on which visitors can try out different bikes from a stock of about 1,000 on supply - everything from mountain bikes to the strangely configured recumbents.

There will also be a Discovery Centre with "foot on" rather than hands on exhibits, such as a pedal-powered device to lift a one tonne weight, a museum, routes that take riders through tunnels and over roofscapes and winter cycling courses.

The £60,000 development study to investigate the final form of a centre which would attract funding from the Government and the National Lottery has been commissioned by the Derby and Derbyshire Economic Partnership, Derby City Council and Derby County Council.

The study is due to be completed in April and if it goes ahead the first of what is hoped will be up to 4,000 visitors per day will enter in 2008. It would be run by a not-for-profit fund or charity.

The Company of Cyclists is headed up by Jim McGurn and is owned by 200 cyclist shareholders from all around the UK. Its prime aim is to promote cycling, offering consultancy to local authorities and organising bike try-out road shows all around the country.

It also promotes its Green-Link pedal-powered distribution service to local authorities and stages cycling holidays based at public schools. Last year cyclists converged on Pocklington School to take advantage of the Dales.

Mr McGurn said: "We expect the Derby venture will be a powerhouse for new ideas in cycling worldwide.

"We planned this for ten years and felt it was the right time to make it happen."

He sent the idea to a number of local authorities, and Derby expressed the greatest interest.

Updated: 10:45 Wednesday, January 19, 2005