Pedaling with Purpose: Elevating Your Masters Cycling Game by Giving Back to Your Community

In January, I had an amazing experience combining my passion for cycling with making a difference in my community. In this post, I’m going to explain how The Insane Bike Posse the cycling club I belong to pulled it off. It’s all about elevating your masters cycling game by giving back to your community.

Note: It’s really easy to find a cycling club in your area with a simple Google search. Alternatively, you can just start your own cycling club. Here’s a link to my post on How to Start Your Own Cycling Club. It’s actually really easy!!!

The Benefits of Combining Masters Cycling with Charity

As a masters cyclist, chances are you’re a person who enjoys working hard for your cycling accomplishments. You celebrate when you hit a PR on a Strava Segment, finish on the podium in a race or just finish a long hard ride. I learned how fundraising for a charitable cause can provide a sense of purpose and fulfillment way beyond the personal achievements I have accomplished on my bike.

My Story: The Insane Bike Posse HOLA (Heart of Los Angeles Youth) bike giveaway January 2023.

At the Insane Bike Posse, we’re been creating our own custom kits for literally decades. Below is what we came up with for 2023.

We are currently using Cuore and are loving their work by the way. We’ve always raised sponsor money, but only to cover design costs and build a slush fund for random things. 2023 marks the 30th anniversary of our club, so we decided to take our fundraising seriously and raise real money for a charity. We set what we thought was an ambitious goal of $10,000 and actually ended up raising more than double that.

The next challenge was figuring out what to do with the money we raised. We ended up deciding to take the funds, purchase bikes and donate them to children who couldn’t afford them. Through one of our club members, we found HOLA, Heart of Los Angeles Youth. They ended up being an amazing partner as they were able to select worthy children and an amazing venue for the giveaway event. We purchased the bikes through Helen’s Cycles the go-to bike shop in Los Angeles which ended up being a massively valuable partner providing logistics and mechanical expertise.

So for our first event, we were able to give 20 brand-new Trek bikes to kids in need along with helmets, a pump, and a lock. Some of the kids didn’t know how to ride a bike so some of our club members were there to teach them. Overall, it ended up being a great experience for all and even received local news coverage. In fact, it was such a success, that we are planning another event this June to coincide with graduations and Summer vacation because we ended up with a lot of extra money to donate.

I can tell you the whole experience was as good as if not better than anything I’ve accomplished on the bike. And, I can tell you that the rest of the Insane Bike Posse membership would tell you the same.

Below are some photos from the event

Here’s a guide on how to accomplish the same results as The Insane Bike Posse!

Pick a Leadership Team from Within your Masters Cycling Club

Before you do anything, I highly recommend you select a leadership team with various backgrounds, strengths, and skills to put the charitable program together. Once you get the basics covered, bring in the rest of your club to help out as well.

Fundraising Strategies for Masters Cyclists

Team Kit Sponsorship: Charge businesses to put their logos on your cycling kits. This is one way the pro-cycling teams raise money from sponsors and how we raise our funds.

Charity Ride: Organize a charity ride, where cyclists can sign up and participate in a fundraising ride. The ride can be a specific distance or route, and participants can fundraise leading up to the event.

Donation-based Ride: Set up a donation-based ride, where cyclists can ask friends and family to pledge a certain amount for each mile cycled during a specific time period. This is a great way to encourage people to support the cyclist and the charity.

Virtual Ride: Host a virtual ride: where cyclists can ride on their own and track their distance and time. Participants can fundraise leading up to the event, and the virtual ride can be held on a specific date or over a certain time period.

Charity Race: Participate in a charity race, such as a triathlon, marathon, or cycling race, and fundraise for the charity leading up to the event.

Charity Auction: Organize a charity auction, where people can bid on cycling gear, sports memorabilia, or other items donated by local businesses or community members. The proceeds can go towards the charity.

Raffle: Host a charity raffle: where people can buy tickets for a chance to win a prize. The prizes can be cycling-related, such as a new bike or cycling gear, or donated by local businesses.

Charity challenge: Set up a charity challenge, such as a 30-day cycling challenge, where participants can fundraise and challenge their friends and family to donate.

Finding the Right Charity to Support

Choosing the right charity is super important to your program’s success. We were lucky as one of our members is the past president of the charity we chose to donate to. If you or your club doesn’t have connections to charities, it’s probably best to create a short list of charities, get to know them, and pick one from there

Partners, you’re going to need Partners

It doesn’t matter what kind of event you plan, it’s a lot of work and you’re going to need partners. Most importantly, you’re going to need a bike shop for help with logistics. And don’t be afraid to ask and share the good PR as bike shops do this type of thing all the time and will be happy to help you.

Pedaling with Purpose: Elevating Your Masters Cycling Game by Giving Back to Your Community

As I said earlier, this experience was as good as if not better than anything I’ve ever accomplished on the bike. If you are so inclined, I would highly recommend you elevate your masters cycling game by giving back to your community. I can pretty much guarantee you won’t regret the experience. Promise!

John