When the sun shines it’s good. When the sun shines and there’s mountain biking to be had it’s great. When the sun shines there’s mountain biking to be had and it’s all for a good cause then it’s fan-flipping-tastic. And that’s exactly what happened at the Ride for a Flight 2004 weekend.

Hundreds of bikers turned up to partake of dry trails, free camping, good company, superbly organised events and fantastic singletrack. Their efforts have raised in excess of £5,000 for the Air Ambulance service with more on its way as the sponsorship rolls in.

Ride for a Flight was conceived by Trail Break in 2003 following the formation of the Russ Appeal. It’s a long story, told in detail at http://www.russ-appeal.org.uk, but in essence Ride for a Flight is there to raise money for the Air Ambulance service. and it works.

This year’s event straddled a whole weekend and included navigator racing, randonees, a “shonky” bike downhill event and the main Ride for a Flight fund raising event itself.

Ride for a Flight is a simple format. Pay £10 to ride a lap of a challenging and varied cross country course. Every penny of the £10 is given straight to the Air Ambulance service. The Reading based RATZ mountain bike club had kindly donated their race course for the day, and even provided the marshals. Riders were treated to five miles of twisty turny singletrack that snaked through the local woods and skirted the corn drenched fields. The course goaded the expert riders to push their skills whilst giving the novice a significant, yet achievable challenge.

This year’s event attracted the young (6), the old, novices, experts, ladies, gents and the odd rider that we weren’t too sure about. Special mention goes to the Chilterns 1XV mountain bike club who called their riders to arms and sent 16 along in total.

We had riders in chicken costumes, singlespeeders, full sussers and even a shopper bike or two. We had those doing one lap and those riding ten, we had fast laps, slow laps, group laps and soloists. In summary, everyone and anyone. Ride for a Flight was a simple celebration of mountain biking getting back to its roots, fun, challenging, inclusive and for the benefit of all.

And so, thanks to the efforts of all those involved, the Air Ambulance are a little bit richer today. The money raised crudely equates to ten Air Ambulance missions. That’s ten lives saved, by simply turning up to a great event and cycling in the sun.

All involved unanimously agreed that the event needs repeating, again and again. So pencil in the hottest weekend of August 2005 and keep an eye on the Trailbreak website. In the meantime, if you weren’t able to make it then send us some cash. It saves lives. The Russ Appeal is at:

Russ Appeal
c/o 3 Dunworth Mews
London
W11 1LE

Or visit www.russ-appeal.org.uk and hit the PayPal link.