TLD 2010 & Beyond, Some thoughts....

[PanRider]

I can’t wait for TLD 2009 to start, what an excellent thing it is. Getting a load of Bikers (Capital B on Bikers because we are the chosen few) to do what they love, ride their bikes and at the same time do something memorable and raise money for charity. Simple and very commendable, whoever it was who had the initial idea is a hero. Does anyone actually own TLD? The organising team well deserve the massive thanks they will no doubt receive.

From a personal point of view riding my bike and doing my bit for charity are two things I enjoy and take very seriously. I’ve ridden many miles and I’m proud to say I’ve done my bit for various charities in my time. That being said, I’ve never managed to do the two things together, until now. Thanks XRV.org

Last year a staggering £15,000.00+ was raised for charity. Three times the targeted amount of £ 5000.00 and I’ve no reason to believe this year will be any different. That being said I honestly feel the money raised could be a lot higher. (Gently places cat amongst the pigeons).

I can ride my bike any day of the week, anywhere I want. I’m in this, primarily to raise money for charity. And I’m assuming the same can be said for all the other riders. Here we go… some food for thought.

The Longest Day could quite easily be a nationally recognised event, with Bikers from all across the British Isles getting together for 1 day a year to do their bit for charity. We could even qualify for a place in the Guinness book of records. That’s not as daft as it sounds! On the same weekend as TLD 2009, The Royal British Legion, Riders Branch in association with IBA, are doing a qualifying “biggest charity motorbike rally” for the Poppy appeal and will succeed if 80% of the 200 riders complete the course, (info taken from their website)

As we all know TLD 2008 was JOG to LE and TLD 2009 will be Five Capitals. I can understand organisers wanting to provide some variation, but this will soon dry up due to availability of routes. Of all the possible journeys an individual can make in the British Isles there is none better known as JOG to LE. From 2010 and onwards let’s stick with it, why? Simple, variety doesn’t stand the test of time, consistency does.

Each year existing plans if necessary, can be refined and re-used, ensuring a slick continuous operation. This will enable the committee to concentrate on our primary aim; getting money into the chosen charity kitty. They won’t have to worry about new routes, hotels, ferries etc; it’s the same plan as last year. The only thing that changes is the actual year.

The more we do it, the better we become known, The better we are known the easier it becomes to attract sponsors, more new riders and so on. More riders also mean more bikes with TLD decals on them; these bikes then covertly spread the word and web address everywhere they go, potentially attracting more sponsorship and riders. It’s a recurring thing.

A website is arguably, after “word of mouth” the best advertising tool any event/organisation has. www.thelongestday.org although not bang up to date is an excellent source of information for anyone interested in taking part or sponsoring TLD.

The website too needs to be continuous. When one years ride is completed and reported, the next years event and riders should immediately be published. As such riders, who in July 2009, can confirm their time and commitment to TLD 2010 will have a full 11 months to gather sponsorship and let’s not forget that’s the reason we are all taking part. This information is also essential in confirming authenticity of riders looking for sponsorship and attracting new riders.

Believe it or not I think with the right direction and focused fund raising we could achieve £ 30,000.00+ on TLD 2010. Think I’m talking ****e??? For TLD 2009 we are aiming for £ 5000.00 as it stands 35 riders have said they are up for it. For us to reach our target each registered rider needs to rise £ 143.00 in 4 months that’s £36.00 sponsorship a month. So if we can get 100 riders raising £ 10.00 a week for 10 months for TLD 2010 that’s £ 40,000.00 this allows us a 1-month and 25+% margin of error and shows £30,000.00 could be achievable. In fact it numerically equates to what was achieved in 2008. The key issue is number of riders.

To make this achievable the plans for TLD 2010 need to be in operation before TLD 2009 even takes place. We only have 4 months to go before this years event and things are still being sorted. This is wasting valuable fundraising time and time to recruit new riders. Part of the fault being it’s a whole new game. New plans, decisions, artwork and all manner of time consuming things had to be made. Whereas amending existing plans etc. would have been a lot easier.

Please don’t think I’m having a go at the committee I’m not. Part of my job is event organising and I sometimes see how to make more out of things. All I am really interested in is seeing that TLD is used to maximum effect. Raising publicity and efficiency of this excellent event will increase money raised beyond our wildest dreams, not to mention to the delight of our chosen charities.

Here's 10 ideas to finish on.

1. We need to become a registered charitable organisation.
2. We need a President / Figure head (e.g. A Long distance Biker Celebrity, erm let me think, who could that be?)
3. We need to advertise on every Biker website available.
4. MCN and others need regular updates give them a good enough story they’ll print it.
5. Let’s give every Biker in UK the opportunity to take part.
6. Let’s get every Biker in UK wanting to take part.
7. Let’s get the British public talking about, that massive group of Bikers who every summer solstice ride from John O’Groats to Lands End for Charity.
8. The more we do the easier it will get.
9. The only thing stopping us is ourselves.
10. This excellent charitable event was initiated within XRV.org let’s keep it here, but open it to all Bikers.

Thanks for reading, please give me some feed back. If you want to contact me privately, email: ash at satents dot net

But whatever you do, everybody ride safely.

Ash

Lies down and waits for the Lions.

[Lord Vader]

Hmmm
What are doing to our Forum
Coming on here and suddenly talk sense
We do not need your"SORT" on here






You do make a lot of sense

[Snaphappy]

Raising lots
Having fun

ticks my boxes

[Sohoeasy]

For my own reasons I didn't do the TLD,and probably never will.Having said that,what a great & worthy event ! I may be right out of place here,didn't the whole idea/concept come from Robster ?

[phil w]

For me TLD was agreat intro into the forum and I would openly encourage any one who has not done it yet to have a go and applaude the funds raised for charity. But my opinion is that to do every year lessens its impact. It costs soo much money to get around the country whatever way, and lots cant afford such a blast every year, I know I cant as there is other stuff that is higher on the list of to dos.
I personally could give consideration to 2010 as this year has too much going on

[DaveS]

You might want to approach Sam Manicom as a figure head.
He gets to a lot of events gets asked to speak a lot, has written some books, plus I know him so may be able to put in a good word.
But of course you try for some of the more widely known celebrities.

[winxp-master]

My understanding is that the original idea was from Robster (sorry if im wrong about that).

You make some good points Ash, i can see your reasoning behind doing the same event each year, the time it would save on planning routes and getting numbers for b&b`s etc would be cut enormously... but... (and this is just from a personal point of view) ive done JOG to LE... ive never been to Wales or even Ireland (sad i know) so for me, i'm really looking forward to riding down the coast of ireland. I was looking forward to JOG and LE coz i had bever been there but i have now and doing it year in year out would fry my head, lol.

I know we will eventually run out of routes worthy enough for someone to go "whoa, you are riding where?, man i'll sponsor you" but i think if we at least come up with 3 or 4 then we can go back to JOG every 4 or 5 years or so and look forward to it again.

And, don't worry about waiting for the lions, you have subscribed and you are signed up for the charidee runs so you are entitled to your opinion like everyone else and you make som good points, hope you keep it up

[alpslapper]

My understanding is that the original idea was from Robster (sorry if im wrong about that).

Well, once upon a time, in a galaxy far far away

A Man called Stanbloke first suggested doing an ironbut ride and linked to their website.

Various routes existed on that site, including a run from JOG to Landsend.

Various XRV rabble got very excited about a long day in the saddle.

One of these rabble was a strange little german fellow with a funny accent who said he would do the ride with his long suffering and saintly wife Debs, and get some sponsorship for Martlets Hospice.

Robster suggested riders should ride for their own individual charities.

Sharrie and Chad said they would support Vaders cause and because Chad is very very big and very very scarey everyone agreed they too would raise money for Martlets Hospice or Chad would hang them by their ankles and shake the money out of their pockets and give it to Vader anyhow.

Sharrie first muted raising the money for MacMillan Cancer Support.

Chad suggested getting an on line sponsorship page up.

Sharrie suggested the justgiving website.

Robster set up a justgiving webpage, designed the graphics and suggested the name the Longest Day.

Everything took place in the virtual reality that is XRV, and involved 14,566 threads and 12,345,5676 individual posts, agruements, discussions, agreements and suggestions, with a small army of people in the background doing various tasks, making calls, sending emails, talking to sponsors, and popping migraine tablets.

And the rabble went forth, and made a sublime and stunning success of the inaugral event.

The rest, as they say, is history

[alpslapper]

Panrider - interesting post

[Monsieur]

The main reason I didn't join TLD was because I don't enjoy riding with big groups - 3/4 is normally my limit. If you go down the 'big is better' route you create a monster whereby you have hundreds of bikers taking part and need to inform police etc etc.
Don't get me wrong - I think raising money for charity is a great idea and I give money away gladly (charity only!) but I juts feel that TLD could be come so big that it becomes unmanageable and you end up with something like the hundreds of bikers who watched Boorman at the M40 last year.
Just my 2p.