UK camping and cycling tour for charity in April/May

[andrew.sharp3]

Hi,

I am starting a UK cycling and camping tour for the British Heart Foundation, starting on April 16th from Reading - Hastings then to Inverness and back, 1800 miles in 6 weeks. The full details are on [url]andybiker.webfreehosting.net[/url].

There is a camping page of all the potential campsites I plan to visit and when. There is also a tour page with a google map link and a zip file of individual cycling stages showing the main route I expect to take.

Camping alone, without power, wifi or washing/shower fees will cost me over £400, so I shall be asking the sites to waive their fees and even make a reverse donation, effectively paying me to stay there for the one or two nights (in a few cases) planned. Alternatively, a donation can also be accepted. These will be shown on the spreadsheet as I get confirmation from them.

Any comments and recommendations on the campsites and on the cycle routes are strongly encouraged. If people wish to join me on the tour either on road or at sites, please contact me before 15 April or by phone text during the tour.

The cycle speed will be an everyday roll of 10-15mph, capable by most riders easily, but I will be on a 30kg lump of loaded mountain bike, so no Tour de France speeds for me!!

I look to have a sponsorship webpage up very soon, courtesy of VirginMoneyGiving. The plan is to take a minimum of £10 for the tour per person or 30p per stage on my way to a £3000 initial target.

Organisations and people contributing £100 or more will be given a text link to the site address they specify. More money will add larger text, bold and underlining. Those giving £500 or more can have their company icon displayed (max 2500 pixels area [e.g. 50x50 pix]) throughout the site and hyperlinked on the sponsorship page at 10,000 -40,000 pixels area (100x100 - 200x200 pix).

Thank you for reading this post, which will appear on my website (above) my blog (andybiker.blogspot.com), my facebook page for andybiker.ntlworld.com and hopefully on [url]UKCampsite.org.uk[/url] forum (UK Caravan Sites and Camp Sites) and [url]CTC.org.uk[/url] forum (Touring & Expedition).

Thanks for reading this and contact me at andybiker@ntlworld.com or andybiker2011@gmail.com with any thoughts, advice or support, financial or in person.

Regards all!

Andrew Sharp

[andrew.sharp3]

Hi, I have a problem.

A key one is the state of the A6 between Penrith and Kendal. Is it safely cyclable? Is there an alternative flat route?

Also anybody who wishes to donate to my cause can visit [url]uk.virginmoneygiving.com/andybiker[/url] and make a donation there. They also collect extra Gift Aid if you are a taxpayer!

Thanks!

Andrew

[stephenjubb]

I think you need a theme to link your with the British Heart Foundation to make it appeal to people.

Off the top of my head, how exercise benefits the heart, you could take your heart rate before/during and after the tour to demonstrate how your tour has increased your fitness and benefited your heart.

you could also pull a trailer with a big heart on it at the back to grab attention.

sounds silly but I once heard from someone I met on tour about a guy who was bet he would not hitch hike round ireland pulling a fridge, he took the bet, did the tour and was all over Irish radio with people offering him accomadation, publicity etc.

Effectively if you do something different and get lots of publicity not only will you raise more, businesses (including campsites) will be more likely to offer things for free, for the possible publicity.

Some may due it to kindness, others may see the advertising side.

You could also try wild camping as well in scotland to save money.

[julk]

The A6 is cycleable between Penrith and Kendal, it is an A road but the really heavy traffic will be on the M6 which it mostly follows up to Shap. Between Shap and Kendal the A6 follows it own route away from the M6.

There is no equivalent flat route, you are in the hills for this stretch and will climb to around 1350ft at Shap Fell summit. From the summit you will have an exciting descent for the first mile or two, after that it is a mostly gentler gradient. If the weather is bad over Shap you may feel the cold, take/wear adequate clothing.

Have a great ride.

[amaferanga]

Can you clarify something - will all the money you raise be going to charity? And when you get free accommodation will you be personally donating that money to the charity - is that what you mean by reverse donation?

Good luck with it, but I suspect you'll find it hard to convince people you don't know to give you money for what is quite a leisurely bike ride. I met someone doing something similar last year and to be honest I found it quite irritating that after speaking to him for no more than a couple of minutes he was asking for money!

[Dean]

My mate (might be a member here) rode JOGLE, and eventually decided to ride it for charity. He didn't make a big deal of it, but garnered plenty of sponsorship, and he said he was mightily surprised by the generosity of people he met en route, such as a night in Hexham where he was unable to pay for a drink, or accommodation, and received muchos dineros in donations. Naturally, the money he would have otherwise spent on beer, food and accommodation went towards the charity.

All of which is a roundabout way of suggesting that asking for money, free accommodation etc. upfront is a likely way to get people's backs up, and that your ride, though it sounds like a lot of fun, is probably not unique enough to merit special attention. Personally, I would probably tell you to eff off.

The ride over Shap, by the way, is ace. And you're missing the best part of the UK by not going north of Inverness.

[andrew.sharp3]

I am unemployed, but the costs for me could still be considerable. If I was to use all the campsites and pay their going rates, it will cost me £450 in accommodation alone. I expect food and fuel costs, laundry, repairs, etc, but I am looking to minimise the cost of the accommodation by camping for free at the sites, where I can fly the flag and hand out cards, even help people make on-line donations if possible. I have no assurance yet that I will be compensated by the charity for the cost of camping or any other expense for or during the tour, otherwise I wouldn't ask every site for it.

Flipping the fees means that instead of paying e.g.£10 to stay at the site, I can stay for free, or the site makes its own donation of £10 to the charity, flipping my fee into a donation to the charity.

All money donated is done through Virginmoneygiving, so I will not be handling any cash donations at all during the tour. I have had business cards printed that will be souvenirs for people I meet on the road and this gives the website to go to to make the donation. All I will do is make a written record of how much they say they will pledge to keep some idea of the expected total on tour and updating my site accordingly. The virginmoneygiving site keeps its own records as to how much has been donated through them.

If I cannot camp for free at a site, I may camp or stay overnight with CTC members, BHF volunteers, anybody else kind enough to take me in or even camp wild, anything to minimise my expenses and to maximise the benefit to the charity.

See andybiker.webfreehosting.net/news.html to see the business card produced for the tour. I hope this clarifies my position and allays any fears and concerns.

Thanks for the feedback!

Andrew

[horizon]

andrew: I think you have been a little harshly treated here, though I can see where people are coming from, so to speak. On a thread last year, two LEJOG riders reported how they had managed to stay at fairly luxurious hotels by asking for a charity ride discount. I feel the whole cycling-for-charity thing is very strange, though I generally keep my views about it to myself. Cycling is basically an enjoyable activity - anyone who raises money by suggesting otherwise is doing cycling a disservice. Good causes need money but I would suggest that anyone who cycles is already doing a service both to themselves and to humanity. Would you have done the ride without sponsorship? Would you have felt that other people would have felt that it wasn't worthwhile? In fact we have the strange conundrum here that you are cycling to raise money for a cure for heart disease when in fact we cycle as a cure for heart disease. Perhaps it is not you that should be doing this ride but other people for whom the exercise would really benefit their hearts!

[Robert]

Andrew I'm with Dean on this one. I don't understand what the link is between raising money for BHF or whatever charity and a six week holiday. I, like you, would love to take off for six weeks on a tour. I have a job though, I haven't got six weeks. If I didn't have a job I probably wouldn't be able to afford it.

[Dean]

Andrew, I'm afraid that asking the charity to fund your tour, and asking for free accommodation, facilities etc. is unreasonable. It seems to me that you're taking money away from the charity to fund your trip.

It may seem harsh, but that's how it looks to me.

If you want to do this ride, go, have a blast. You'll probably love it.

If you also want to raise money for charity, that's fine too, but I seriously think you're opening yourself to accusations of fraud if you hope to divert people's charitable donations towards funding your cycling holiday.

[andrew.sharp3]

I hear the criticism and find it unfounded. Yes I planned the tour before I decided to do it for charity. I have also planned another 3 week tour of Wales and Cornwall for the autumn.

Two years ago, I did a similar tour of England and south Scotland, 1000 miles but much bigger distances that my knees didn't appreciate, so I am trying to limit myself to 50 mile days instead of 75 mile days like before. That was for the sheer bloody hell of it on my own dime. This tour is effectively no different except it is twice as long in time and distance (almost) and I'm doing it for charity.

For the sceptics out there, you have until the end of August to make your donations to Virginmoneygiving (money we all can see but can't touch in any way shape or form by the way), so follow my blog and website and see if I'm being honourable or not. Phone up the campsites to make sure that I'm there (they'll love you for that, I'm sure!) or check my daily picture uploads which should have some photographic proof that I am at a site on a day.

For the others, do the same thing and spread the word that I am a straight-up kinda guy and make a donation when you are ready! When I go on tour, I'll have a bank card and an overdraft limit to keep below. I'll let you which sites want to charge me and if I want to stay there or not!

Yes I would have done the tour anyway. It might not have been so long maybe...

NO I don't think it is a pointless thing to do. Try telling that to anyone jogging the streets getting ready for the marathon season!!! My ride has to be around Britain because it is for the British Heart Foundation, not Greenpeace, Red Cross or Oxfam, but the BRITISH British may we all bless it British Heart Foundation.

Doing a tour of Europe isn't going to do much good. Going round the world will be frowned on even more, rolling through the Sudan and China might get me lynched!

How many people do things they don't enjoy for charity? Live in a pit of snakes for a week or cross London in the sewer network. Not many! People do what they like doing, but being in the saddle for 4 hours plus every day 4 days out of 5 for 6 weeks is not a guaranteed orgasmically pleasurable experience, but bloody hard work!

Doing it in the road and not on the path is more challenging, especially as more and more cyclists are scared to go in the road these days!

Take it or leave it, I'm going. Follow my adventure and do what you like. you internet spoilers are not going to deprive me of my adventure or the charity of any benefits it gets from my efforts. Ya boo sucks to you, watch and see.

Lots of love!

Andrew the ididotic fearless and tactless andybiker.

Enjoy!

[horizon]

A good reply Andrew - you've been tarred with a very general brush (by me included) that took up some simmering issues about sponsorship and more. I am glad that some of these issues got an airing above but it's unfair if they are aimed at you personally - they apply across the board. Have a great trip and do your bit for BHF!

[jack1]

Hi Andrew,i know how you feel i,m doing 3,000 mile ride FOR HELP THE HEROES i was in our local paper with details of my trip.i didnt have any replys or 1single SPONSER.,i,v had remarks like yours, but if it was there SON OR DAUGHTER they might think again.SO GO FOR IT ANDREW Regards Darrell Jack 1 PS i,m up to £4,800 last count dont give up mate

[andrew.sharp3]

I do wish people wouldn't talk in generalities in forums. People who post forums want specifics as a rule, and I do take things personally.

It would be nice to hear from other people who would like to join me for a leg or two or want to meet up at a campsite. If you want to offer me a sofa and a supper, that is great too.

Less criticism and more help please. Failing that, shut up and go away.

On a brighter note, I have got a gps key that works with Linux, so it is unlikely that I'll get lost in a hurry like last time around! Apart from my midweek lone rides, I shall be joining the Reading CTC on Sundays to help clarify that my training distance and speed is coming up to standard before I go.

Positive feedback in future please!

Yours,
Andrew, a slightly more reassured andybiker.

[stephenjubb]

Take it or leave it, I'm going. Follow my adventure and do what you like. you internet spoilers are not going to deprive me of my adventure or the charity of any benefits it gets from my efforts. Ya boo sucks to you, watch and see.

Less criticism and more help please. Failing that, shut up and go away.

Positive feedback in future please!

How are you going to persuade people to donate when sometimes you are rude and confrontational? Nowhere in the responses above have people resorted to your level of language so it is undeserved.

You are looking at criticism in the wrong light, it can be beneficial in improving your chances. You need to evaluate each piece of criticism, see if it has merit and of benefit and act on it. Any that isn't then respond (as in some places you have) with relavent facts to allay that criticism. Just having a lot off will not further your fundrasining efforts.

You want people to donate, your language above will not work, you need to do it by persuasion.

If you want an example then IAM Total Cycle assist in the link below get slated for being a claims outfit.

The Managing Director of Total Cycle assist rather than slagging them off gave a great informative, persausive reply to the point the original people criticising him were acknowledging their mistakes. It was a great example of how to communicate.

I think if you were to learn from this link you will raise more money for your charity.

If you apply this then it can be classed as positive feedback.

http://www.timetriallingforum.co.uk/lof ... 53352.html