From 4^th – 14^th July 2009, Vodafone’s Team-SIM (a collection of Vodafone riders of varying abilities and age) will be cycling 1,000 miles over 10 cycling days, to raise money for four charities.

The team will start and finish at the Vodafone HQ in Newbury, Berkshire, cycling down to Portsmouth to catch the ferry to Bilbao. On reaching Bilbao,  our route will take us over thePyrenees into France and on to Caen to catch the ferry back to Portsmouth after which we will cycle back to the Vodafone HQ in Newbury. During this ride, we will tackle four massive climbs featured in the Tour de France, these being the Col de Marie-Blanque and the massive Col D'Aubisque on Day 4 and the Col Du Tourmalet and the Col D'Aspin on day 5.  

Our four chosen charities are YouthNet, Skill, Rathbone and Foyer, who have all joined forces under the “Life Choices” programme.  Life Choices is a ground-breaking programme that aims to empower and equip all young people aged 16 - 25 years to make informed choices about their work, study and training. With 7.2 million young people in the UK and 1.2 million young people (16%) currently not in employment, education and training, this is the single biggest issue facing young people today. 

YouthNet is acting on behalf of the joint programme, so funds collected on this page will be sent to them to be distributed equally between the four charities.

We have set ourselves a target of £30,000, so any support you can give us to reach (or even beat!) this target will be greatly appreciated.  Please sponsor us as much as you can spare.

If you’d like to follow our progress, we’ll be posting blogs, photos and videos on a dedicated  Vodafone  website at: http://www.vodafone.com/thebigride.

Meet the team

Riders

Alun Boyd
Matthew Conner
Darren Fox
Andy Harland
Tom Hayden
Tim Howe
Lindsay Hudson
Neil Jervis
Richard Knowles
Bart Kuijten
Mark Letsome
Graham Lloyd
Andres Manchola
Alex Paterson
Garry Pike
Paul Rawlings
Leon Saunders
George Shanidze
Kevin Stirzaker
Colin Turton
John Tranter
Fran Wiseman

Support crew:
Rob Drake

Mike Saunders
Peter Saunders
Steve Yates

Many thanks for your support.

 
Donating through Justgiving is quick, easy and totally secure. It’s also the most efficient way to sponsor me: YouthNet gets your money faster and, if you’re a UK taxpayer, Justgiving makes sure 25% in Gift Aid, plus a 3% supplement, are added to your donation.