Touring - Bike around America (Fundraiser for the disabled)

So I'm putting together a huge ride this Summer, riding around the US to draw attention/support for the disabled. It would bring attention specifically to disabled athletes and the organizations that work with them (Special Olympics, Paradox, NSCD...). I'm working on gathering some corporate sponsorship, but what I want to do here is just put the idea out there and see if anyone is interested in potentially joining in. I'm not asking for anyone to commit to the whole thing, I'm just curious if anyone thinks this is a cool idea and would like to help out in any way, shape, or form.

The tentative plan right now is to leave from Colorado in mid-May and travel west to California, then up the west-coast to Seattle, then over to the east-coast, and down and back around. Pretty massive undertaking but I do think it is doable. I even have a film-maker who is interested in following along and documenting the whole thing. Anyway I just wanted to put this idea out there and see if there's any interest for it in the biking community. I'm receptive to any and all help/ideas. Thanks for reading.

Welcome to the touring forum. A lot of people have circumnavigated the US and I hear good things. You can find more information about it on www.crazyguyonabike.com You might want to reconsider your route though since you plan to be riding north on the West Coast which will be against the wind and without bicycle lanes, as opposed to going South.

Yes, its a cool idea but not a new one. How much of the profits from your sponsors will go to the charity and how much of it will be going to fund your ride? Have you ever done a bicycle tour like this before?

No, I have never done a tour like this. I spend this whole summer training, doing lots of long distance rides and riding up to the top of Mt. Elbert and Trail Ridge Road. The charities would receive 100% of the profits.

Thank you for the link. I've tried to do as much research on this as I can, but haven't had the opportunity to talk with anyone who has any experience in doing something like this. To say the least it's been pretty overwhelming trying to get the idea to become a concrete possibility.

No, I have never done a tour like this. I spend this whole summer training, doing lots of long distance rides and riding up to the top of Mt. Elbert and Trail Ridge Road. The charities would receive 100% of the profits.

Thank you for the link. I've tried to do as much research on this as I can, but haven't had the opportunity to talk with anyone who has any experience in doing something like this. To say the least it's been pretty overwhelming trying to get the idea to become a concrete possibility.

Touring really isnt all that hard. You'll see. However, there are so many different ways to tour that the choices become overwhelming. You would also do well to Google "Touring 101" great site. I suggest you also do some weekend bike cmaping. Trainning is a good idea but its MUCH better if you do it while carrying the full load of gear you think you will have with you. You will be very surprised how the bike feels with all that weight on it and will likely change many pieces of kit from the experience. Weekend camping trips on the bike also allow you to get used to sleeping in a tent and feel how your camping gear is likely to work out.

As zppinger said, do some weekend tours... and yes, do a short tour in some nasty weather on purpose, because you will deal with nasty weather. That will really tell you what gear you need to add, substract, or tweak.

The hardest part of touring though isn't your gear or your bicycle, it's psychological. touring is 90 percent psychological although it's rarely mentioned in here. Maybe 10 percent of touring is the actual gear.

And not trying to be a ... but you said "profits"... Are you planning on using some of the money you raise to pay for your hotel rooms and such or are you planning to pay everything out of your pocket? The reason some of us are skeptical is we've seen people do rides for charity, but then use most of the money to pay for their hotel rooms, food and such (thus giving themselves a free vacation while claiming it's for charity), and only give what is left over to charity. A legit ride for charity will always request the funds to be sent directly to the charity and not to themselves.

The reason some of us are skeptical is we've seen people do rides for charity, but then use most of the money to pay for their hotel rooms, food and such (thus giving themselves a free vacation while claiming it's for charity), and only give what is left over to charity. A legit ride for charity will always request the funds to be sent directly to the charity and not to themselves.

I am under the impression that donors, assuming they can itemize, cannot claim the donations as deductions unless the money is donated directly to a charitable organization.

Why not just give money directly to the charity? Somewhere Sheldon Brown questioned bike-a-thons and walk-a-thons because they give the impression that biking and walking take extraordinary efforts and that people who ride a bicycle or walk are really sacrificing themselves and because of this huge sacrifice, we should give money to a charity. Cycling a long distance is not terribly difficult nor is walking fifty miles.

I believe that one of the first organizers of charity rides has become a millionaire.

+1, Too many Charities eat up most of the funds on Overhead,
to run the Organization, Office rent, Salaries, etc.

see: Pink-washing for breast cancer cure charities by companies for PR.

Why not just give money directly to the charity? Somewhere Sheldon Brown questioned bike-a-thons and walk-a-thons because they give the impression that biking and walking take extraordinary efforts and that people who ride a bicycle or walk are really sacrificing themselves and because of this huge sacrifice, we should give money to a charity. Cycling a long distance is not terribly difficult nor is walking fifty miles.


No argument with Sheldon's logic. Fact is though, this sort of stuff, done for charity, is about the publicity, not really much about the cycling, 'cept for the ones doing it. Cycling is the 'hook' to get the donations. Means lots of on-bike advertising, business cards, media alerts, etc. Pretty much good as long as ALL donations go to the charity. The best way to handle the ethics of charitable activities is for the legitimate recipient organization to be intimately involved. Some will reimburse the organizers for reasonable expenses.