SPELL IT OUT 12-27 June
Unsupported adventure // £100,000 for Choose Love // Guinness World Record
Unsupported adventure // £100,000 for Choose Love // Guinness World Record
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This June, to coincide with Refugee Week, Thighs of Steel will cycle an epic route along our southern border to spell out the words REFUGEES WELCOME.
Gather a peloton of your pals, sign up to cycle one letter or more and together we'll break the Guinness World Record for the largest bicycle team GPS artwork in the world... EVER! We're aiming to raise an incredible £100,000 for Choose Love. The money we raise will go straight to grassroots organisations who are working hard to give refugees and asylum seekers the dignified welcome that the UK government withholds. |
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WHY SPELL IT OUT?
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The British government is trying to make it almost impossible for refugees to claim asylum in the UK.
Home Secretary Priti Patel's latest proposals will put the UK in direct opposition to the 1951 Geneva Convention. The proposed law will shut down more of the few remaining legal routes to the UK. According to The Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants, this means that 'LGBTQ+ people and those fleeing political or religious persecution will be left with no options to travel to the UK'. This. Is. Not. Fair. Let's show Priti Patel that refugees are always welcome here. |
"Priti Patel visits Metropolitan Police Mounted Branch" by UK Prime Minister is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
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One letter is NOT ENOUGH / too much!
Each letter is between 115-260km, but you are completely free to build a route that satisfies your body and soul - and your donors! You know best whether that means cycling 1km or 2,000km so we'll leave it up to you. What days & How long do i ride?
The challenge runs from 12 June to 27 June - but it's completely up to you what days you ride and how long you ride on those days. You can choose whether to ride your letter(s) over the course of the whole two weeks or blast it out in a day. We'll all be cycling in parallel throughout the challenge, so while you're starting the 'R' down in Cornwall, someone else will be polishing off the 'E' over in Kent. Put together, all our efforts will add up to something amazing. WHAT WILL I NEED TO BRING?!
What you need for your Spell It Out adventure really depends on how you're doing it. Your kit list will look very different if you're camping compared to staying with friends or in a swanky hotel. One thing you'll definitely need is either a smartphone (and a battery power pack!) or a bike GPS like a Wahoo or a Garmin so that you can follow the route and record your part of our amazing collaborative artwork. We're fans of doing things as cheaply and greenly as possible, so there's not much on our 'essentials' list. We really recommend asking buddies and pals to borrow bits and bobs to save on buying new! What about accommodation and travel?
Spell It Out is an unsupported adventure, so it's completely up to you to sort out your own accommodation and travel to and from the start and finish points. We've tried to start and finish as close as possible to train stations, but expect to have a little extra cycling above and beyond the official route distance. Please do check the map closely and make sure you have a plan for getting back home. Accommodation wise, check out Warmshowers: a wonderful network of generous people around the world who are up for hosting touring cyclists. Who am i cycling with?
Spell It Out is totally unsupported so you can either cycle solo, or - better - invite your mates! According to the government road map, there will hopefully be no limit on the size of your cycling crew, but it'll still be the rule of six or two households for indoor accommodation. what if i can't get down to the south of england?
If you can't get down to the south coast, don't panic - we'd love for you to get involved wherever you live! You can still take part in Spell It Out by riding a heart-shaped route of your own devising anywhere in the world. Besides the fact that you'll need to work out your own route, it's exactly the same process to join the challenge: signup, fundraise, ride and finally upload your gorgeous GPS artwork. Let's fill the map with love! 💚 How much does it cost to take part?
Spell It Out is an unsupported adventure so we're suggesting you 'Pay As You Feel'. Our main aim is to raise loads of money to help make refugees feel welcome in the UK so we won't be offended if you want to focus your resources elsewhere. But, as you can imagine, organising such an epic adventure has taken a lot of our time so if you feel that's worth some of your hard-earned moolah, we'd be thrilled with any contribution. Cheers! more questions?
Email Adventure Inventor Georgie on georgie@thighsofsteel.com and she'll do her best to help! |
Fancy a cycle ride?Join our monthly London not-so-serious cycle club
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Past Rides & TestimonialsFirst-hand experiences, anecdotes and accolades from past riders
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