Mark Cramer, one of our wonderful contributors, is cycling along the Loire from Orleans to Tours, and then on to the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe horse race at Longchamp in the Bois de Boulogne, near Paris, on the weekend of September 8.
It's a charity ride of around 200km to raise money for research into finding a cure for Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis (both inflammatory bowel diseases, where the immune system attacks the intestines).
You can read all about the ride here (and sponsor him if you can).
So, yes, this is a blatant plug to help publicise a great charity ride by one of our contributors – but it's also a reminder that there are many and varied ways of developing a great idea for a charity bike ride.
Mark's two-day ride ends on both days at horse-racing tracks – appropriate for a racing journalist, but also appropriate because he has linked his theme to his chosen charity. Check out the full backstory of how (and why) Mark devised his route.
As Cycling the 6 charity rider Steve Fabes points out here, when organising a charity ride, it's important to find a unique and personal angle that is relevant to both you and your charity in order to maximise donations and, just as importantly, to help raise awareness of the charity's work.
This is something Mark has done really well by linking his son's medical condition to his horse-racing theme – it's clearly a theme close to his heart, and one that will hopefully inspire people to support the ride with donations, while at the same time helping to educate people about Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis.
Good luck to Mark and Alan for the ride – keep an eye out for them if you're cycling in around Orleans, Tours or Paris on the weekend of September 8.
You can read some of Mark's writings for us on this blog on bicycle culture in Paris (includes cycling in Paris tips) and his article on the Laval to Renazé greenway in the Loire.
See more of our charity bike ride articles:
- Charity Bike Rides: Taking the Plunge
- Marketing Your Charity Cycle Challenge
- Organising a 1500km ride for 80 charity cyclists
- How to Cover Your Costs
- Robbie Sage's Global Guitar ride
- Steve Fabes' Cycling the 6 ride