We're back

Over the coming days/weeks it'd be great to get your stories and experiences up on the blog. If you could mail them to biketobestival@bestival.net that's be great. There are still a few posts to get up here, but for now I'd just like to say a few words.

Firstly, it has been a pleasure and a privilege to meet, travel and perform with you guys. You are all brilliant and beautiful people. As it was explained to me over the weekend, there was always a chance that we'd all get along (Think of a Venn diagram with three circles "Likes Cycling", "Wants to go to Bestival" and "Wants to perform music"... we were that crossover.). That said you were all nicer and more helpful people than we could have hoped for..

Secondly, we raised a lot of money for Cancer Research UK through our justgiving page. (If you have only just found us there is a newly created team donation page here to keep that seperate from the individual fundraising. Please donate there.) This is a great thing to do and you should all be very proud.

Thirdly check out the video that the Times guys did about the trip. Doesn't that look like something you'd want to do (If you hadn't already)

And finally... THANKS!!! (That's a massive thanks) to Ros, Peter and Mike (For cooking, driving and general anything-we-needed help)...Legendary volumes of cheese sandwiches.

I'd also like to thank Veleco (for our t-shirts and hats and generally being nice), Cocofina (for donating lots of coconut water) and Dovesfarm (for donating enough cereal for all of us). This all helped us keep the costs down for all the riders.

That's all for now. It's be lovely to hear your trip reports or thoughts and I hope to see you all soon.

Dominic

Odds n ends!

Hi guys and gals,

Hope the training is going well and you've all been inspired by the Olympics to get out on the bike and do some miles!!

We've finally had a confirmation from justgiving that the event is listed on their site.  That was a long old wait, but for those of you who've had trouble setting up your page, follow this link and it should be more straight forward. Any problems refer to the previous posts on the 'how to' or drop us an email!

http://www.justgiving.com/fundraising-page/creation/?cid=2357&eid=882930

We're at the 10% mark of our target which is fab but still a long way to go.  Let's all make an effort to give that extra push over the next few weeks.

A few tips from my friend who advises charities on fundraising. 

1. Start with the story, why give to Cancer Research UK? Have a look at their website for some inspiration.

2. Don't be afraid to chase people, she advised me to send an email every week!

3. Use every method of communication you have, so tweet, facebook, email and talk about all the work you're putting into this.

On a separate note, we're still waiting to hear from some of you with your phone numbers etc, please email the following

- mobile phone number

- emergency contact name and number

- dietary requirements, if none please still tell us, then we know how many veggies/non veggies to cater for.

- t-shirt size, orders have already been sent so if you didn't reply already we can't promise you the size you require but we'll do our best!!

Thanks and hopefully see some more of you at the social this Sunday. Bring along your instruments if you want to play along and we'll have another go at a few songs!

Sophie

Songs for the social

Hi there buskers,

The day of the first musical meeting will soon be upon us and it’s time to start learning the songs. I’m including links to the chords and words that we’ll be using below so that you can familiarise yourselves with these. As long as most of you are familiar with the chord shapes for the main bits of the song, and the main melody we’ll be able to work from there. Whilst I think all the songs below are great, they also work well as acoustic-busky-sing-alongs which is the main thing

Dreaming of you

http://tabs.ultimate-guitar.com/c/coral/dreaming_of_you_crd.htm

A lovely fairly short jaunty number from The Coral. The nice bit here is that we can split into two groups. One group will sing the main vocal with Warren, and the second group will sing the bits in brackets. There is a little bit that’s not in the music (those of you that know the song will spot it, but it only needs one or two instruments to play and extra 2 chords at the end of the chorus)

Below is a video of the buskers on bikes  (Warren and I included) playing this in a friend’s Kitchen

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7IvCGhMJQ8

Make me smile (Come up and see me)

http://tabs.ultimate-guitar.com/s/steve_harley_cockney_rebel/make_me_smile_come_up_and_see_me_crd.htm

In a break a break from the style of the original... this one works really well as a waltz (1,2,3..1,2,3) and again has a lovely split in the vocals that will work well as a group sing-along

Going up country

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcywnNixrQw

This is an extra one to learn because it’s quick and it’s easy. 12 bar blues in A. Which is A, D and E.

http://www.songlyrics.com/kitty-daisy-lewis/going-up-the-country-lyrics/

Lastly but not leastly Sophie Holloway is still storming out in the lead with £230 raised so far. Glen Orford is very close behind on £220.99. After that there is a little bit of a gap with Ryan and I just breaking the £100 mark. Great work all of you so far. Little by little we’re getting there. There are still a few of you with tickets that haven’t got your just giving sites set up yet. Please get in touch if you are having problems with this.

See you at the social bikers!!

Dominic

8 weeks and counting!!!

Hi Folks,

It's time to start pushing on with the sponsorship side of things....

I'm going to be reminding you all about this over the next 8 weeks.

YES 8 weeks, its not long untril we're off! And we are all working mega hard, in order to make it fun but also make some serious wonga for CRUK.

Few tips....
1. add a photo or two (or a video)
2. set up text donate, you can do this through your page its so easy (and try and make a memorable code mine is BTBV88)
3. make a poster and put your text donate details on it, print thousands, make wallpaper etc
4. make it personal- tell people on your page why your doing this, go on get soppy
5. email/facebook/tweet/blog your Justgiving link far and wide.

Finally - please set up a £200 target. Theres a few missing currently..... David, Sophie Herbert and our own technology resistant Warren!!
And if you're doing this with friends who haven't set up a justgiving page yet, chase em up!

If you are reading this and want to support us all by sponsoring members of the B2B team you can find their justgiving poages here

http://www.justgiving.com/teams/BiketoBestival2012

Thanks boys and girls,
Sophie :-)

On a personal note‏

Hi there everyone,

I wanted to add a personal note about why Cancer Research UK is so important to me. One of my oldest and dearest mates Em, lost her dad to Cancer a few years ago.  It was so quick and so devastating, and it was also the first time someone I knew had died from cancer.

Larry was a lovely man with a good sense of humour; despite having to take and pick-up me, Em and our other mates half-cut from various teenage parties at ungodly hours.  He always had time for people, he was well known in our home town and would regularly corner or be cornered my mum for a chinwag!

I have the honour of becoming god-parent to Em's son Adam in a months time, I'm sure Larry would have loved to have been there with all his family, he'll be sorely missed.

Anyway Em has written a bit about why she is supporting us, please take a read.

Sophie

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Hi all,

I just wanted to add a quick personal note to explain why I will be donating to Soph, Dom and the bikers this year. Apart from the fact that Sophus is one of my oldest and closest mates, the charity they are raising money for is one very close to my heart.

It is an old, tired but painfully true cliche that everyone knows someone effected by cancer. Three years ago I lost my dad to the most deadliest form of skin cancer, melanoma, he was 63. He was taken from us so quickly, in under six months, but that half year felt like a lifetime of slow pain, terror, upset, tears, anger and frustration. He underwent a huge nine hour operation to remove the tumour two days before Christmas, where he nearly died twice on the table. Following this, he travelled to hospital five days a week for gruelling radiotherapy sessions, during which he had to wear a mask on his face to pin him to the table, he was so scared. We lost my dad ten days after his last session of radiotherapy.

Fortunately not all cases have to end in this way. I have an Aunty who has successfully had half her intestine removed to remove a bowel cancer, another Aunty who is being treated for non-hodgkins lymphoma, and an Uncle living with prostrate cancer. Obviously they, like many others, are able to do this partly because of the money that is raised through charities like Cancer Research.

I know these are difficult financial times for a lot of us, but if you, like me, agree to donate to just one cause this year, make it this one! Soph, Dom and the crew, good luck, and I hope we can help you to reach your £20,000 target. xxx

Just giving and all that

Hi there,

Just a quick post today to thank those of you that have already got your justgiving pages set up, and a massive thank you to Sophie Holloway and Ryan Sivyer for getting us started with early donations.

In the particular environment (economy-wise as opposed to weather etc.) that we find ourselves in, almost everyone I know is doing some form of sponsored event. Timing, and the way you ask people to sponsor you can make all the difference. Be persuasive, but also sensitive and give good reasons as to why you are asking.

When you email your colleagues/friends it may help to remember the following points:

• Is it just after payday? catch people straight after they get paid and they are more likely to donate
• Have I explained that I've paid for my ticket and the cost of the ride. All the sponsorship money goes to Cancer Research
• Have I explained what the charity does and why Bike to Bestival supports it?
• Is it too cheeky to send a follow up email jujst before I go to remind people that I can still be sponsored? (I always do, and remember to thank those who've already donated. In fact the second email should thank everyone for their support and remind people that it's not too late if they haven't got round to it.)
• Have I been polite?

As part of the justgiving site, you can set up a txt giving code which allows people to text you a donation. It's free and it can go on posters or flyers or even the bottom of an email. Top marks to Vera Gulbranson for getting her poster up at work already. You can do this in something simple like word, or a poster app on your phone... or pester anyone you know with fancy design software...

If you make a request personal it is more likely to succeed.  This is the first Bike to Bestival and we're all very excited with the progress and support you've all given us so far.

Don't be shy and don't forget to ask friends and family. We're going to have a great ride and a great festival to follow it.

Take care

Dominic

First part of the route

Hi there bikers!

I thought you might like to have a look at the first half of the route. On monday we showed you where we were going so today I thought you might like to see how you are getting there. Bear with it... the map does take a little time to load. Warren and I are going to ride it in the next few days to check it for timings etc (is the lunch stop in the right place etc...) but I thought it'd make it a little more real for you. If you don't want to look at the embedded map it should be saved just here





View Larger Map

Bike to Bestival JustGiving team page

Howdy Bikers,

Good news..... I think!

We've had a few little problems getting the Bike to Bestival event listed on JustGiving, however we've had someone join our team page (well done Ryan!) so its clearly out there and it may be our technical skills that are lacking somewhat!!

So if you have bought a Bike to Bestival ticket already, please sign up and get fundraising!

If you're not familiar with how JustGiving team pages work theres a basic guide on their website here, have a read:

https://justgiving.zendesk.com/entries/446806-how-do-i-join-a-team-on-justgiving

First you need to set up your own JustGiving page linked to Cancer Research UK which you then link to our team page, we then get a notification to approve your membership of the team.  We have to cross reference this with the list of people who have bought tickets so please bear with us if we don't do it immediately, we'll get there!

Bike to Bestival is going to be a really fun way to start the Bestival week, but its really important to us and the folks at Bestival to raise as much money for Cancer Research UK as we can at the same time.  We know a few of you are a bit anxious about raising the £200 minimum we have asked for but you've got over 2 months before the event. 

Thats plenty enough time to beg your family members, and get your mum/dad/granny/sister/brother/dog to ask around and tell all their friends what a brilliant project you're involved in and collect a few pennies (or preferably pounds) for you.  Shout loud and shout proud, because its for a very worthwhile charity.

If you're a student and your mates are saving their pennies for pound a pint night, how about cooking them dinner or doing their washing up for a donation.

Basically be creative!  Every penny helps.

We know some of you have family or friends who have been affected by cancer, so will know all too well how important the charity is.  If you're lucky enough to not have been touched by the disease have a read of the Cancer Research UK website and find out about the work they do and the people they have helped.  

http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/

Last year after the Buskers on Bikes event we went along to a fundraiser evening at the CRUK offices where we heard from CRUK fundraising staff, a CRUK scientist and a long term fundraiser called Tony Selman.

Tony has been a fundraiser for CRUK for many years following his wife's long battle against cancer which she sadly lost in September 2010, his sister also died of cancer four years earlier.  Tony himself was diagnosed with prostate cancer in March 2010 and is undergoing treatment.

It seemed desperately unfair that someone who had lost 2 close family members and has raised thousands of pounds for Cancer Research UK should themselves get the disease.

Tony's message was clear though...... Cancer doesn't care.

This really struck a chord with me.  You can read more about Tony Selman and other stories on the CRUK website here:

http://aboutus.cancerresearchuk.org/what-we-do/our-new-tv-campaign/featured-stories/tony-selman/index.htm

So our team page is here https://www.justgiving.com/teams/BiketoBestival2012 please sign up, set your target at £200 and get fundraising!

Thanks,

Sophie