Trinity Velo Club Ride to Bruges Fundraiser! Postponed.

DONATE NOW

 

Thank you for expressing an interest in the Trinity Velo Club Ride to Bruges Fundraiser!

Firstly, an introduction: the ride will be organised by FOTS (Tom Potter) in partnership with the experienced "Bicycle Moaning Collective”. The BMC has been organising group cycle trips since 2009 for friends, their friends, their childrens’ schools, etc. – including some epic ‘300+ miles in 3 days’ rides from London to La Rochelle, Amsterdam, Cologne and of course, our last ride Henley to Paris in 24 hours. They will host our no less epic, just a little bit shorter (and relaxed) in miles & time, Henley to Bruges 2020 ride.  

The Plan: We’ll be leaving Trinity Primary School playground – waved off by the kids and a Police escort through the town – at Friday morning break and head South East to Folkestone where we’ll rest and refuel at one of Folkstone’s “finest” hotels. We’ll enjoy the sunrise as we ride less than 20km’s along the Kent coast to Dover ferry port for our breakfast cruise to Dunkirk. From Dunkirk it’s 115km along the Northern French and Belgian coastlines with just 395m of climbing. Then it’s the final push to Bruges riding through its fairytale streets to the ancient cobblestoned Burg Square, where it’s time for a moules-frites, steak, and waffle feast before a fast train home before you’re missed (feel free to stay on and make a night of it in Bruges if you would like though! 🍻🍾💃🎉...) 

So now that you’re really excited to take part….

The Date: May 15th - May 16th 2020

Costs: Once we have numbers confirmed we will confirm the costs per person – the current estimate per rider is £500. We propose a minimum pledge to cover these costs plus a modest guaranteed amount to the charities involved of £550 (paid by the cyclist). This includes: 

• x1 custom premium Santini cycling jersey - £100 RRP. Extras for training / friends / to be signed by everyone as a memento etc. will be available at a special price and if we have enough interest they'll do some super comfy bib shorts designed to match so you look and feel like a pro

• Souvenir water bottle

• All support vehicles and drivers, fuel, tolls, ferry and Eurotunnel back

• Bike mechanic, sports therapist and professional support riders providing directions, wind breaks, advice and emergency on the spot help, etc. (if you have any doubt about their value on such a ride please speak to anyone who took part on the Henley to Paris ride!)

• Safe delivery of your bike back to Henley from Bruges 

• Ferry there and Eurostar / train home to Henley 

• Friday night hotel at Folkestone

• Friday night meal & pint

• x3 'on the road meals' (sandwiches, crisps, drinks, bananas) and plenty of water

• We expect some of our corporate and local business sponsors may also offer participants some great value or even free products or services too

Sponsorship: Trinity and the Chiltern Centre would love us each to raise an average £500 sponsorship per rider which should be achievable for such a demanding challenge. On average we raised over £1000 per rider for Paris and over £10,000 sponsorship from local businesses for the jerseys on top so the target is to smash the total £45,000 raised last time (the BMC’s most successful charity ride raised over £55,000). 

Our custom Santini 'cycle jerseys’ will be professionally designed – so if your business or any business contacts are interested to sponsor the ride their company logo can feature on the ride jerseys which I’m sure will be highly visible around Henley for years to come just as the Paris ride jerseys still are. Please contact me about this! ridetoBruges@icloud.com 

Please visit Virgin Money Giving: http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fund/ridetoBruges to set up your personal sponsorship page linked to this. 

Training: For the trip we recommend that you are comfortable riding at a 15mph average - if you haven’t ridden a bike for a while you shouldn’t find this too hard on modern equipment. This is the training plan BMC suggest for all their rides:

- Ride to work regularly if you can

- Spin classes at the gym: NB Athlete Service is offering all rider half price classes and treatments in the run up to and immediately after the event. 

- Get out and ride! If you're starting from a low base try: 25 miles X 4, 40 miles X 3, 50 miles X 2, 75 miles X 1

It would be great to ride together before the Grand Depart so we will also set up a Whatsapp Group to allow us to organise training rides beforehand. Any questions on training please let us know.

Kit: Athlete Service have both kindly committed to provide some fantastic discounts / donations to the cause if you’re tempted by a new bike, a bike fit, etc. and even some services free of charge - please contact Rob at Athlete Service on 01491 598089 / athleteservice@gmail.com

A drop handlebars road bike with clip in pedals is essential. Please also make time to have it serviced over before we leave – both for safety & sanity, no one wants a squeaky rear sprocket for 24hours! A comprehensive kit list is attached (but passport, helmet and lights obviously). 

Insurance: We would also like you to check your travel insurance and / or join British Cycling to get their cycling insurance which includes overseas trips. www.britishcycling.org.uk/membership

Support: We will have support vans to look after us on the road, carrying kit, spares, supplies and to transport the bikes back home - if you still want your bike ;-) We will also have experienced support riders to help with pace setting and catching back up after any mechanical issues, etc.

Hopefully the above has answered any questions you may have and confirmed your interest in the ride. Please let me know if you have any further questions! 

To confirm you place please:

1. Transfer £250 deposit so we can start booking ferries, vans, order kit, etc. to T POTTER: 68761988 sort code 50-42-37 with your MOBILE NUMBER as reference (FYI new account set up just for this purpose) or you can use PayPal link - https://paypal.me/pools/c/8jH1O8IClv . - We will then add you to the dedicated What's App group.

2. Complete and return the attached Contact and personal details form - IMPORTANT!

Any more questions let me know (detailed route and stats to follow shortly). We will be organising a get together in the New Year to meet over a few drinks in the first instance at which we will also auction some great products and services donated by our sponsors - so watch this space.  

Meanwhile - have a wonderful Christmas and I look forward to meeting you all in the New Year! 

Very best wishes

Tom