The Quintessentially Foundation Bike Ride is our annual cycling fundraising event, it has raised over £4 Million and covered over 5,000 km in its 14 year history.
About the Bike Ride
Since 2009, our annual Bike Ride has been one of our key fundraising events. Over the years we have cycled across Europe from Geneva to Paris, Bilbao to Barcelona, Zagreb to Split to name just a few. Since its inception, the ride has raised over £4 million and attendees have cycled almost 5,000 miles.
Taking part means you’ll join a group of remarkable people, tackle some of the Europe’s most difficult yet rewarding cycling routes and travel through incredible scenery - all whilst giving back to an incredible cause.
Quintessentially Foundation Bike Ride 2024 will be taking on the Swiss Alps for an epic three day cycling challenge! The route will take riders 350km over the Furka Pass, climbing over 7500m over one of the highest mountain passes in Switzerland, also famous for that iconic car chase scene in the James Bond movie "Goldfinger".
What You Need To Know
When?
June 13th-17th 2024
Where?
Switzerland, Zurich to St Moritz
Why?
Challenge yourself, enjoy incredible scenery and expand your network all whilst giving back to an incredible cause.
How much?
Registration is £1,850
(inc flights, accommodation, food & drinks and nutrition plus on bike support).
Each rider is then asked to commit to a minimum fundraise of £6,000 per person (£3,500 for under 35's).
Quintessentially Foundation & The Firefly Project
Around 40% of London's children live in poverty, the highest child poverty rate in England.
Quintessentially Foundation is a charitable foundation set up to tackle child poverty and the limitations it places on the futures of children and young people. We do this by finding, funding and supporting small frontline charities well-positioned to make a big difference.
Small frontline charities often have some of the best solutions to society's biggest problems. However, they are often overlooked and underfunded. So, through our flagship programme, ‘The Firefly Project', we scale our charity partners’ successful interventions for young people, tackling child poverty in all forms, by providing the charities with:
• Unrestricted funding - so that our partner charities can invest in increasing their internal capacity and prepare for growth.
• Tailored organisational support – ensuring they develop the proper infrastructure for their model to increase the number of young people they support and optimise the quality of their impact.
• Untapped networks and connections – so that they can have more supporters amplifying their cause and, most notably so that they can continue to grow sustainably once our funding ends.
Get Ready For The Ride
Do I bring my own bike?
The maiority of our riders like to use their own bikes but that doesn't mean we can't assist in hiring one for you whether you need a standard road or e-bike.
There will be a mechanic on the ride who is there to keep you on the road. Quintessentially Foundation will arrange a London based bike drop off ahead of the ride and we will transport your bike to and from Switzerland on your behalf.
What else do I need to bring?
You will need to bring enough clothing for the duration of the trip on and off the bike. You will always need two 500ml water bottles for your bike.We allow one medium suitcase per rider and a small cabin bag only (to fit under the seat).
Where is this years ride and what should I expect?
This year's ride is from Zurich to St Mortiz in Switzerland. The overall trip length is approximately 350km through the mountain tops with a 7,500m ascent of The Furka Pass on day two. We will fly to Switzerland on Thursday afternoon and the ride will begin on Friday morning. We will fly back to London Monday lunchtime.
More info on the route here.
How much training is required?
We recomend three x training sessions per week and repeat each session for two weeks. Our 2024 ride is set to be truly epic but you’ll need to be prepared. Consistency in training is key. Don’t worry about having an amazing week just try and avoid having bad weeks.
Check out our recomended training plan here.
Corporate Partnerships & Teams
Registration fee: £1,850 per rider. This covers flights, hotels, food and drinks plus professional on bike support. You can choose for the company to cover this or a percentage of this for your riders.
Team fundraising target: This amount is dependent on team size and underwritten by the company meaning any shortfall would be made up by a donation. We recommend £5,000 per person.
Team size: Aim for a mixed group of 5-6 riders made up of at least one senior team member who can help drive recruitment and fundraising.
Previous Corporate Teams
Thank you to our partners
