Portsmouth to Liverpool ... and back.

[stegellett]

Hi Guys.

In September I'm planning on doing a 500 mile cycle for charity over the course of a week or 10 days.

Having not done anything like this before I need abit of help with planning and everything.

The route itself im going to plan myself but I don't really know what im going to need to take with me on this cycle except the bike of course.

Im hoping to get some sponsorship from local businesses and hopefully a big name bike company. So i would be looking for not necessarily free stuff but atleast discounted stuff to help me complete the ride. Would you say that thats reasonable or am I asking for too much?

Ste

 

[ufkacbln]

Sorry if the first reply is a "downer"

This is a big undertaking and not one that should be rushed into.

You need to have some sort of credenitals or proof of ability to convince any firm that you are worth sponsoring. If you were to fail, it will reflect poorly on the company as well.

 

[jimboalee]

That's a nice straight route. Marlborough, Worcester, Whitchurch.

Its not 500 miles directly, so a detour is called for. Maybe ride back through Coventry and pay homeage to J.K. Starley's house.

 

[stegellett]

to be honest being a personal trainer and having done long distance running for a few years my level of fitness is quite high.

im doing 50 miles a day in my training around my work hours and thats not particularly hard so i think its going to be alright though

 

[garrilla]

I'd be surprised if you got a bike sponsorship for something like this. However, I'd try and make my route go through as many 'media locations' as possible, ie places with their own radio/newspapers and so on. If you can convince a Bike Manufacturer that you are on top of your PR and you can assure them of coverage including photo ops and plug for the bike you might get lucky.

Good luck.

 

[killiekosmos]

Is this called the Peter Crouch route?

 

[Wigsie]

From a Marketing an PR background I would recommend you pitch to the Bike Manufacturers as more of an 'every day joe' challenging himself to the max for charity and Market it as such. Rather than from a keen cyclist point of view or Cunobelin will be right and they would want some credentials.

Garrilla is right, if you can get an interview with local media on route and the bike manufacturers are aware of this then they may well oblige with a discount. Alternatively approach a cycle centre near portsmouth as they are likely to get better media coverage from there rather than say Swindon/Marlborough when some random dude is riding a bike through town, not really news worthy for them.

The Petrer Crouch route is funny but would market well in Pompy!

 

[montage]

Hi Guys.

In September I'm planning on doing a 500 mile cycle for charity over the course of a week or 10 days.

Having not done anything like this before I need abit of help with planning and everything.

The route itself im going to plan myself but I don't really know what im going to need to take with me on this cycle except the bike of course.

Im hoping to get some sponsorship from local businesses and hopefully a big name bike company. So i would be looking for not necessarily free stuff but atleast discounted stuff to help me complete the ride. Would you say that thats reasonable or am I asking for too much?

Ste

Bike shops will most likely give you around 20% ish discount for something like this - don't know if you will get any response from businesses but it is worth a try.

50miles a day every day is asking for trouble, even if it doesn't seem that much. Make sure you are fully completing stretches etc, and you pay attention to any pains, not just ignoring them. Try a longer ride at the weekend, a few shorter higher intensity rides elsewhere in the week (before I was injured I would cycle over to Portsdown Hill ....I assume you are from portsmouth?..... and go up and down that around 12 times. That hurts). Of course have your rest day.