The 2011 Ride

The Big Bad Bike Ride website has now been updated for 2011.

PLEASE REGISTER NOW! (click to follow link)

Everything you need to know about the Big Bad Bike Ride 2011 is on the website. The most important thing is to register online ASAP.

There are only 150 places guaranteed in the hotel and the sooner you commit, the better.

You can secure your place by registering and paying the £39 registration fee now. The balance of £130 will be collected in late June.

We hope that the majority of riders who took part last year will join us again in 2011, but remember... we are looking for virgins!

If you know someone who looks like a virgin, please go up to them and ask them if they fancy sitting on a saddle for 70 miles?
We are not looking for superfit cyclists. We are recruiting those people who like a bar of chocolate and keep saying, 'I'm going to get fit'. Are you prepared to take on a challenge and raise lots of money for Ataxia?

Please forward this email to any potential virgin now!

Don't be daunted about getting sponsors, as once you start, you will be amazed by how generous people can be (especially if you use JustGiving).

The vast majority of riders raised more than the required commitment and nearly 40 paid in over £1,000! (Nearly all of these riders used JustGiving.)

This is what the Big Bad Bike Ride is all about – doing something for others less fortunate than yourself and at the same time having one of the best weekends of your life.

What's new for 2011?

• New sexy riding jersey & t-shirt.
• New quick registration process. If you've done the ride before, it takes seconds to register.
• New sponsorship link. We will automatically create a JustGiving page for you on registration (see section on Sponsorship).
• New updated Dummies' Guide. This tells you everything you need to know.
• New Photos (strange how there are a lot of pictures of pretty girls...).
• New BBBR helmet (get a new head at 25% off) - this year's colour is yellow. Use discount code BBBR25.
• New signs on route (like "WARNING: massive hill ahead").

What's exciting?

• You will be able to put 'Mc' or 'Mac' in front of your surname... and buy a kilt.
• You will learn new scottish swearwords.
• You will either lose your virginity or meet virgins!
• You will start eating porridge for breakfast and drinking irn bru instead of tea.
• You will gain a super-fit sexy body and will end up installing a mirror in your shower.

DON'T HESITATE... JUST DO IT NOW!

It's life Jim... but not as we know it

Kommander K

The 2010 Ride

The 2010 ride was the biggest fundraiser to date. 153 riders donated a total of £103,000 to Ataxia UK.

Graham and The Big Bad Bike Ride in the York Press

How Graham was given his mission. A York businessman who was inspired by his children to embark on two decades of charity fundraising tells his story to Stephen Lewis.

Read The Press article > >

Graham Kennedy's MBE

Last year, Big Bad Bike Ride organiser Graham Kennedy received an MBE in the New Year's Honours. After putting the letter from Her Majesty's Service to one side for nearly a week, suspecting it to be a large tax bill, Graham eventually opened it to discover that he was receiving the award in recognition of his charity fund-raising work.

Graham says the award is “a tribute to all the people who have helped me. Over the years, a lot of people, mainly from the York area, have been involved in the bike rides.”

Read the full article about Graham's MBE in the York Press > >

Newsflash

This is it. This is the exciting news you have been waiting for. The reason God has let you live in 2011.

This is the GOOD NEWS! Yes, it’s time to get on your bike and reincarnate yourself into that gorgeous specimen of a human being who has been hiding in the shadows in the last few months.

It’s time to meet new, interesting people.

It’s time to get on that tight Lycra gear and feel the sensual touch of Nylon against your skin.

It’s time to start telling people what a wonderful person you are, and why they are either going to do the bike ride with you or give you lots of money in sponsorship for a fantastic cause.

It’s time to get your trusty warrior bike out of the shed and tell it that it’s going on holiday with you to Bonnie Scotland!

It’s time to look in the mirror and ask yourself why such a beautiful specimen of humanity is so lucky to be part of the Big Bad Bike Ride team?

The answer lies in your reflection. This is the the type of person that says...

YES

YES, you will do this ride.

YES, you will get at least one more friend - for whom this will be a real achievement and test of willpower – to do the ride with you.

YES, you will be guaranteed to be chosen for the next front cover of Vogue magazine and will lose any spots of visual deformities that have been annoying you, (even if it does involve some tedious touch-up photography and lots of bribery.)

YES, you will enjoy some of the most spectacular scenery that Scotland has to offer, and you will thank Graham for enhancing your life (again) and not complain about anything (including any of the hills I have lied about).

YES, you will be staying at luxury accommodation where there is a jacuzzi and personal masseur in every room.

YES, you will be capable of getting to Scotland in time for the ride and not ringing me up the week before to ask me about your bike and how to get it there.

YES, you will be checked in by Lovely Lorraine and Kommander K. and be given your ‘I look like a plonker’ pass to wear around your neck until people are sure you are a plonker.

YES, you may well be distracted again by Lorraine’s cleavage when you are meant to be listening to my interesting description of the route.

YES, You will have one of the best weekends of your life.

YES, you can wear a kilt.