A new bicycle century ride that benefits World Bicycle Relief is coming to the Seattle area in 2012.
The Cascade Bicycle Club is presenting the Red-Bell 100 on June 30 next year. Registration opens Jan. 25.
As you can probably guess, the charity ride rolls out from Marymoor Park in Redmond and ends with a party in Bellingham. It follows bike trails and low-traffic roads that will be familiar to cyclists on Day 1 of the RSVP (Ride from Seattle to Vancouver and Party).
Cascade offers a fully catered breakfast, provisioned rest stops, and
mechanical and SAG support for the ride. The riders will find a cookout
at the finish line and can make their own arrangements to return or take
the optional charter bus Saturday night or Sunday morning.
More bike rides for a cause listed at Charity Bike Rides.
Participants in the charity bike ride, limited to 600, will be expected to raise a minimum $250 in pledges for World Bicycle Relief, the organization that has supplied more than 90,000 rugged bicycles to Africa. The bikes are primary transportation in the rural areas and provide a wide range of services.
Helping Africa
World Bicycle Relief was launched in 2005 by Chicago-based component maker SRAM in response to the tsunami that swept south Asia that year. After its success in providing transportation to Sri Lanka, the nonprofit was contacted by aid groups working in sub-Sahara Africa.
In addition to providing the bicycles, World Bicycle Relief trains local mechanics to keep the bicycles rolling. That has led to programs in field mechanics training, microfinance, education and social enterprise across Africa.
According to the World Bicycle Relief website, it costs $134 to supply a bicycle and $250 to train a mechanic. The last I checked, 91,875 bicycles had been shipped to health workers, students and entrepreneurs in the field.
SRAM has other partners in the nonprofit enterprise now, including Trek, QBP, Lazer and Specialized.
The Red-Bell 100 isn't the first charity ride for World Bike Relief. The Wrigley Field Road Tour is a century that starts at the famed Chicago ballpark; in 2011 the 650 cyclists raised $435,000. Other grassroots events also raise money to supply bicycles.
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