London to MK Bike Ride

[944fan]

Anyone doing this?

£15 entry fee. I live not far from the stadium in MK so for me just be a case of hopping on a train and riding back.

No course announced yet.

[GhostDriver]

I'd like to, but asking for sponsorship is a bit weird as a 55 mile ride is something I do anyway.

[944fan]

I know what you mean. I tend to shy away from sponsorship events because I feel like a bit of plum asking for sponsorship for something that is a normal Saturday afternoon. If it was something I had never done before then its different.

I did do a sponsored 5K run once but that was because I had just started running and weight the amount of a small elephant and for me at the time it was a big deal.

There is no mention of minimum amounts so I might just sign up and donate myself and maybe the the parents and in laws to put a bit in.

[GhostDriver]

Wondering if there is a way to ride back as well?

If I ride to Ali Pali, then MK & back that would be about 130 miles. That would be a challenge for my level.

I will send them an email to find out and report back.

[Thurbs]

I have done a few sponsered events and from the look of most riders, less than 20% of them wouldn't concider a 100km ride a normal weekend outing.

[TKF]

GhostDriver said:

I'd like to, but asking for sponsorship is a bit weird as a 55 mile ride is something I do anyway.

I have trouble asking for sponsorship for these sort of events for the same reason.

It's like asking people to sponsor you to eat a jalfrezi.

[Gizmoish]

Last year when I did London to Southend (55 miles, but I rode 8 miles to the start), I didn't ask for sponsorship. And a few days later a colleague (who's a proper cyclist) sent an email around asking for sponsorship to do a 40 mile ride. Chancer.

[littleandy0410]

I did London to Brighton in June. When I signed up to do it, 56 miles was double the furthest I had done on the road bike. I raised £200 for BHF, which was ace!

I have now done a 104 mile sportive (well, a 95 mile sportive with a 9 mile diversion due to missing a sign!) and get annoyed if I can't fit a 50 miler in during the week, so feel like I can't expect people to sponsor me to do anything less than 100 miles!

I'm hopefully doing a Brampton to Brugge next May, which will be a sponsored event.

I think from now on, I'll happily enter sponsored events, but treat them like expensive sportives, and "sponsor" myself. (And pester the wife and maybe the folks.)

[944fan]

I am not going to bother with this. There are no trains in the morning so I will have to go the night before and stay in a hotel. Once I have paid for that, the entry, fee, self donating it will turn into a very expensive early morning jaunt.

I know that sounds uncharitable but I am sure plenty of others will sign up.

I did my first Triathlon at the weekend so I am going to find a charity half Ironman or something insane like that. Most of my friends, family and colleagues think I am mental for doing a sprint so wont feel bad about asking for sponsorship.

[Engineer1]

Gizmoish said:

Last year when I did London to Southend (55 miles, but I rode 8 miles to the start), I didn't ask for sponsorship. And a few days later a colleague (who's a proper cyclist) sent an email around asking for sponsorship to do a 40 mile ride. Chancer.

The point is to collect for charity, kids 20 minute silences or what ever are sponsored per unit to ensure they atleast raise something, but as an adult you either do it or you don't and the money goes to the charity.

[yellowjack]

Engineer1 said:

Gizmoish said:

Last year when I did London to Southend (55 miles, but I rode 8 miles to the start), I didn't ask for sponsorship. And a few days later a colleague (who's a proper cyclist) sent an email around asking for sponsorship to do a 40 mile ride. Chancer.

The point is to collect for charity, kids 20 minute silences or what ever are sponsored per unit to ensure they at least raise something, but as an adult you either do it or you don't and the money goes to the charity.

Well I DO understand the point he's making. In the military you'd be laughed out of camp if you asked for sponsorship for a 40 (or even 55) mile bike ride. To raise money for our regimental 'Injured Soldiers Fund' some members of one of our EOD squadrons rode, as a team, from Essex to Scotland. They took with them a memorial stone to be added to the Commando memorial at Spean Bridge, in memory of one of our fallen comrades. That was considered a sufficiently 'out of the ordinary' undertaking to warrant support through sponsorship. A 'proper' cyclist asking for sponsorship for a distance he/she would think nothing of covering on a random day off from work would seem to me to be too easy an undertaking to warrant the assistance. I'm not saying I wouldn't support a charity putting on such an event, but I'd be inclined to make my own donation direct, rather than conferring bragging rights upon someone for whom it wasn't really a challenge.

Same deal with running events. It depends on who it is who's asking for the sponsorship. If it's some lean, mean, pink hatted paratrooper asking for cash to run 10km, forget it. That fellow probably runs 50km a week and puts another 4 hours in at the gym. If on the other hand, it's the Quartermaster's (civil servant) clerk asking for sponsorship for a 10km run, she'd probably do OK, as she's the kind of woman who'd get a taxi from one end of the High Street to the other to avoid walking. Personally, for me, I'd feel uncomfortable asking for sponsorship for anything less than 75 miles on a bike, and I'd hesitate to ask for support below 100 miles, to be honest. For others, 25 miles might genuinely be challenging, each to their own really. But if I know that you are comfortable at, and regularly achieve, 40 mile rides, don't bother asking me for 'sponsorship' for that sort of distance. If you want to raise money, I need to see you get well outside of your 'comfort zone'.

[aspender]

Don't worry, next month thousands of people will be looking for money for not bothering to shave for a month. Your 50 mile bike ride will seem like Everest in comparison.

[944fan]

aspender said:

Don't worry, next month thousands of people will be looking for money for not bothering to shave for a month. Your 50 mile bike ride will seem like Everest in comparison.

Someone in my office did this last year. I said I would only sponsor him if he goes for a "Hitler". Which he did.

[bakerstreet]

944fan said:

I am not going to bother with this. There are no trains in the morning so I will have to go the night before and stay in a hotel. Once I have paid for that, the entry, fee, self donating it will turn into a very expensive early morning jaunt.

I know that sounds uncharitable but I am sure plenty of others will sign up.

I did my first Triathlon at the weekend so I am going to find a charity half Ironman or something insane like that. Most of my friends, family and colleagues think I am mental for doing a sprint so wont feel bad about asking for sponsorship.

Just do a normal ironman and choose your own charity. That way you can choose a chairty that means something to you and who actually desperately need the money.

The outlaw has all ready sold out and there aren't that many Half ironmans or full ironman races in the UK. I quite fancy the F3 events one and the one n the new forest.