Charity rides are a dime-a-dozen these days (this is a good thing) but they can be a bit unoriginal. Well, how does a month-long charity mountain bike ride sound? The Cycle Burn Challenge is a competition that will challenge mountain bikers of all skill levels to raise donations for LIVESTRONG in an effort to fight cancer.
The Cycle Burn Challenge is a pretty simple concept – you and your friends create a team of five riders, and then bike as many miles as possible in 32 days. By the end of this month-long event, the team in each division with the most ride points is deemed the grand champion.
Here in Utah, there are 212 official rides that are accepted in the challenge. You can see the complete list here. Each trail is worth a certain amount of points that add to your tally. The criteria is based on length and difficulty (both technical and physical) of the ride. For example, an easy ride like Gemini Bridges in Moab is only worth five points, while the most difficult ride, the 145-mile Kokopelli Trail, is worth 39 points. You can do the ride up to five times per person and rack up serious points.
The challenge begins at sunrise on July 15 and ends at sunset on August 15. The event is open to everybody with a mountain bike across the whole country, from beginners to experts. To accommodate all skill levels, there will be divisions like Beginner, Sport, Expert, Women’s, Junior, Veteran, and Tyke.
There is a $35 registration fee for each rider, and $10 of the cost will be donated to the Lance Armstrong Foundation, aka: LIVESTRONG.
Many of us will be racking up a ton of trails this summer anyway, so might was well sign up, donate funds to fight cancer, and compete with other mountain biking teams across the country. It sounds like a fun way to keep track of your mileage (and the mileage of your friends) plus motivate you to keep that bike tuned up and put wheels to dirt as much as possible. With the amount of quality trails here in Utah, it shouldn’t be too hard to add miles to the bike odometer and help a cause at the same time.
For event details and registration, visit www.cycleburn.com