Riders of Charity

In 2019 my mother passed away from complications surrounding Alzheimer's Disease. I felt I needed to do something to raise awareness and funds for Alzheimer's Society, but had no idea what to do or how. Alzheimer's is a cruel disease that robs the person you love of everything that made them who they are. Dementia leaves behind a shell that you still need to love and care for, reminding you with every visit that your loved one has all but gone. I needed to do my part to help fund further research and improve treatments.

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I had no idea what I was going to do, and explored many options until I passed my motorbike test in December 2019. My mum was a rocker in the 1960's and always had fond memories of her days with motorbikes. I suddenly realised a motorbike ride would be the only logical option. I re-joined social media to research options and connect with local motorbike groups. At the time I was working as a teacher, so needed to use an alias to avoid being found by my students. I settled on the name Victor David, this was my father's first and middle names. In using my father's name it felt they were both involved in this venture.

 

I started to plan the very first trip in early 2020. Lands End to John O'Groats is an extremely popular route, but it has been done so many times. I knew that if I wanted to raise money it needed to be more challenging or engaging. I decided to take the long route and ride every challenging road I can find, a bold choice for a rider with less than 6 months experience.  Worried about going alone I invited a friend, but after a few social media posts it became clear that so many people wanted to join me. This was the spark that led to founding ROC in 2020. The ride finally went ahead in 2021, with over 20 riders from across the UK coming together to ride and raise money. After over 3000 miles and some very dodgy roads, we fundraised £8826. This money was divided equally between two charities; Alzheimer's Society and Mind UK.

 

Due to the success of the first run, I planned a second adventure for 2022.  Again strangers from across the UK came together, heading out to ride Ireland's 'Wild Atlantic Way'. Over 10 days we raised a total of £7550. This money was split equally between; Alzheimer's Society, Air Ambulances UK, The Stroke Association and Mental Health Motorbike. We also raised £250 for the Irish Community Air Ambulance.

These trips cost a lot of money for our riders, as each rider pays their own expenses. To keep things affordable in a very expensive world I had to make some changes. I decided to do a big adventure every-other year and in between just do small ride-outs. 2023 is a small ride year, with weekend ride outs in Cornwall, Brecon Beacons and Yorkshire. We still managed to raise £2200, split between Alzheimer's Society and Mental Health Motorbike.

2024 is another BIG adventure year. We have a weekend ride out along the Norfolk Coast, before a huge week long adventure across the NC500 in Scotland. This year is the 200th anniversary of the RNLI, my mother was a big supporter of this charity. Across our ride-outs this year I aim to visit as many Lifeboat Stations as I can. All funds raised this year will be split between Alzheimer's Society, Mental Health Motorbike and the R.N.L.I

We invite all members of the Motorbike Community to join us, all we ask is that each rider makes a donation to the cause. All financial costs incurred on the rides remain the responsibility of the individual rider. All money raised will be split equally between our chosen charities. 
 

Please support us in anyway you can, liking and sharing our posts can help spread the world and donating if you can truly makes a difference.

If you are a business or company: we are always looking for ride-shirt sponsors, you also get a shout out in live videos and in our You Tube videos

Stay Safe, Stay Awesome

Victor David