My Tech Bikers Summer Adventure 2019
I’ve always been a keen cyclist and commute almost daily from my home in East London to the office in Victoria, but this year, I took cycling to the next level. I’ve swapped my comfy city bike for a speedy road bike for the challenge of cycling 320 km from Paris to London in 3 days.
Why have I done this you may ask?
Even rolling almost 30km daily through the streets of London seemed like a crazy endeavour initially. Not knowing if I would really become a regular on the seat of a bike, I started my cycle career like so many in this city on a Boris bike (for those not in the know, a public bicycle hire scheme in London). The next Boris bike station wasn’t even near to where I live so I began every day with a 15 min jog before I could jump on the bike for another 30 min. Nice workout, wouldn’t you agree?
Loving the idea of making my way through London on two wheels, skipping overcrowded tubes and red double-decker buses stuck in traffic jams, I made the decision to invest in my own bike. And along came Betsy — that’s right, I gave her a name — is a super neat (some call her sexy), 7 gears Tokyobike that took my heart by storm. She gave me the freedom to be wherever and whenever I wanted to be somewhere as long my legs can paddle.
Cycling comfortably nearly 150km per week alongside buses, trucks, motorbikes and speed maniacs on their bikes (who are actually the most dangerous traffic participants), I was wondering — “what’s next?”
This was the moment I considered new challenges, such as doing long-distance rides. Growing this idea in my mind, things started to fall in place. Seeing the profile picture of a friend of mine gloriously lifting up her bike in front of the Parisian landmark gave me the initial inspiration.
I thought to myself “WOW, this woman looks so strong”(and she is)” Is there any way that I can physically and mentally do such a thing as well?”.
After discussing the idea of cycling from London to Paris for a charitable cause with family and friends, I decided to face my fears and signed up for a bicycle ride event spread across 5 days, riding from London to Paris in July. Getting all psyched up and feeling energised by the thrill and anticipation of cycling past lovely sceneries, engaging in interesting conversations and experiencing triumphs, reality hit me hard.
I’ve learned that only 20% of the fundraising money goes towards the actual charity and they will be able to send only a fraction of this to the children in need. Doing the math, almost nothing will benefit the actual children. “What’s the point?” I thought “Paddling the hell out of me to fill the pockets of an event organisation?”
In this moment of disappointment and while organising my withdrawal from this challenge, a friend of mine came across something amazing. He sent me a picture of a poster he found while interviewing for jobs at different office spaces in the tech industry. The poster was about a community called Tech Bikers which has the same charitable ethos, but is way snappier, fresher and … above all fairer.
Snappier in a sense that the tour is over 3 instead of 5 days. It would be tough but this was also the appeal of the challenge. Fairer in a sense that all the money fundraised goes straight to the charity Room to Read a truly amazing endeavour. Tangible results can be seen, with schools being built and libraries set-up which give a chance to underprivileged kids to learn and build the foundation for a better life once they grow up.
Why fresher? It comprises a group of like-minded people who love a good joke but know when it’s time to get serious and goals need to be met.
Being part of the Tech Biker’s Paris to London 2019 ride turned out to be one of the greatest decisions of my year so far. The ultimate achievement, of course, is that we raised over £60k for Room to Read 🎉.
Why was this the best choice ever and you should do it as well?
- You’ll meet new people — it’s one thing to go on networking events, you get to briefly talk to a variety of interesting people from all sorts of backgrounds. Mastering a challenge of cycling 320km is a much more intense experience which forms real connections and even friendships. No wonder that discussions about the next ride started to arises straight after we arrived.
- You’ll feel absolutely awesome — I have to confess that there have been moments during the journey when I thought “Why the hell am I doing this again?”. Climbing up some real monster-hills, including the final challenger “Biggin Hill” not only takes physical energy but it especially requires mental willpower. Being able to fight your own mind when it wants to give up and to make it to the finishing line gives you an absolutely proud and rewarding feeling, a sense of euphoria. This winning feeling will last long after the ride is finished and help to push you through tough projects and challenges in your daily life.
- You’ll have so much fun — The sign-up process was already a blast: Reading through the FAQs and Toolkitspreadsheets gave me some big laughs. The author of these documents definitely had a good sense of humour.
Throughout the ride, we had a couple of breaks where we could refuel our batteries and bottles, had lunch together, chatted, laughed and even had a beer here and there (don’t underestimate the isotonic power of a cool beer on a bike ride). Not only made the beautiful scenery of rural France and the English countryside made you feel excited, the jump into the cold water of a river gave it that extra feeling of being a real adventure (especially after we got told that it’s not safe to swim there).
To answer my question: It was the absolute best choice and experience of the year. Doing something you thought would be impossible is such a great feeling, especially if it’s for a good cause. And it makes you feel good knowing that you’re supporting people with fewer opportunities in life than you have. Being on the road with a group of people for hundreds of miles is a real adventure. The way you get to know people is supreme to the everyday network we all have to engage in.
I can’t deny that I’m totally into this now and encourage everyone to sign-up with Tech Bikers for future rides such as the upcoming Petra to Tel-Aviv one.
If you love the idea of contributing to transforming the lives of less privileged children, but you feel that cycling such a long distance is not an option quite yet, you can support Room to Read’s amazing work on a cause I strongly believe in: providing children with an education.
We are busy collecting donations before, during and after each ride of which 100% will go to Room to Read. If you like to contribute, you can do so here or use the link of my bike ride here.
Thank you to everyone who made this an incredible experience! I’m sure there are more journeys to come worthwhile writing about.
