MTB Fund Raising/Charity rides?
09-30-10, 09:22 PM
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MTB Fund Raising/Charity rides?
Right up front, let me assure you this is not a solicitation for money, just opinions!!
We all know roadies have lots of fund raising rides: MS 150, Tour de Cure, Ride for the Cure, Pan-Mass Challenge and many, many more. I haven't seen too many mountain bike rides that support causes (please correct me if I'm wrong), so my question is do you think the MTB community would support these kinds of events and do the fund raising efforts to necessary to make them worthwhile?
Two examples (and I'll use the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) as the cause for my examples because my wife is a Type 1 diabetic):
1. Find an organized ride you want to do such as the Kokopelli Trail, supported by your tour company of choice. I like the guys at Bikerpelli and their 3 day version of the trip, fully supported, but there are others that go 5,6 and 7 days, too. JDRF could make an arrangement with the tour company to guaranty X number of spots per trip (say 5-10) and you sign up and pay for one of those spots at the normal trip rate. Using the JDRF fund raising site and tools, you raise money for them as part of your ride.
2. JDRF sponsors a specific ride or rides dedicated for fund raising like they do with their Rides for a Cure series of road rides (https://ride.jdrf.org/). They could be one day rides, like many of the road rides for causes, in some very cool places or there could be multi-day adventure rides, again, like Kokopelli. There would be minimum fundraising requirements, but the cost of the trip would be sponsored as part of your fund raising if you meet certain levels. I don't know all the details; it's something I'm exploring with a JDRF contact right now. I'm trying to get a sense of interest as part of that exploration.
Would you guys be interested in this kind of event? The Kokopelli trip is not "plush"... you sleep in tents (that you bring and pitch!) and use primitive "facilities" - very primitive, but with amazing views to enjoy while you do your business! The food is amazing as are the campsites, but you are roughing it. For me, that's part of MTBing, but for folks who go out and raise lots of money, I don't know. Day events could have more amenities, obviously. For either, the post-event party would be a big celebration of completing the ride and helping the cause, enjoying the shared bond of completing a very challenging bike ride and making a difference for many people.
Given the number of road rides that support causes, it's obviously something that works well. Do you think we should have the opportunity to support causes by doing what we love, too.
I look forward to your thoughts, and thank you for taking the time to consider this!
Note: posted in Mountain Biking because it's about MTBing and not any specific charity ride. Besides... if there aren't any MTB rides of this type, you guys probably don't visit the Charity Rides forum too often!
We all know roadies have lots of fund raising rides: MS 150, Tour de Cure, Ride for the Cure, Pan-Mass Challenge and many, many more. I haven't seen too many mountain bike rides that support causes (please correct me if I'm wrong), so my question is do you think the MTB community would support these kinds of events and do the fund raising efforts to necessary to make them worthwhile?
Two examples (and I'll use the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) as the cause for my examples because my wife is a Type 1 diabetic):
1. Find an organized ride you want to do such as the Kokopelli Trail, supported by your tour company of choice. I like the guys at Bikerpelli and their 3 day version of the trip, fully supported, but there are others that go 5,6 and 7 days, too. JDRF could make an arrangement with the tour company to guaranty X number of spots per trip (say 5-10) and you sign up and pay for one of those spots at the normal trip rate. Using the JDRF fund raising site and tools, you raise money for them as part of your ride.
2. JDRF sponsors a specific ride or rides dedicated for fund raising like they do with their Rides for a Cure series of road rides (https://ride.jdrf.org/). They could be one day rides, like many of the road rides for causes, in some very cool places or there could be multi-day adventure rides, again, like Kokopelli. There would be minimum fundraising requirements, but the cost of the trip would be sponsored as part of your fund raising if you meet certain levels. I don't know all the details; it's something I'm exploring with a JDRF contact right now. I'm trying to get a sense of interest as part of that exploration.
Would you guys be interested in this kind of event? The Kokopelli trip is not "plush"... you sleep in tents (that you bring and pitch!) and use primitive "facilities" - very primitive, but with amazing views to enjoy while you do your business! The food is amazing as are the campsites, but you are roughing it. For me, that's part of MTBing, but for folks who go out and raise lots of money, I don't know. Day events could have more amenities, obviously. For either, the post-event party would be a big celebration of completing the ride and helping the cause, enjoying the shared bond of completing a very challenging bike ride and making a difference for many people.
Given the number of road rides that support causes, it's obviously something that works well. Do you think we should have the opportunity to support causes by doing what we love, too.
I look forward to your thoughts, and thank you for taking the time to consider this!
Note: posted in Mountain Biking because it's about MTBing and not any specific charity ride. Besides... if there aren't any MTB rides of this type, you guys probably don't visit the Charity Rides forum too often!
