Here’s the 50 Mile Ride for Project Rwanda VISION STATEMENT for this year’s event:

5 - Major sponsors @ $5000 each

500 - Riders in the main event

$50,000 - Net dollars raised for Project Rwanda

The first 50 Mile Ride for Project Rwanda was held last year on Saturday December 30, 2006. Starting out as a 50 mile mountain bike ride in honor of co-founder Doug Grant’s 50th birthday, the event evolved into something far more significant.  Deciding that his birthday ride was a great opportunity for a fundraiser, Doug shared the story about helping Project Rwanda with his friend Andy Brazelton. The two gathered their mountain bike buddies, and this enthusiastic and dedicated volunteer team pulled together an incredible event in just under two months time.

The original goal for last year’s 50 Mile Ride was to attract 50 riders and to raise $7500. But industry and rider support was simply overwhelming. It seems that people were inspired by the “coffee bike” story of Project Rwanda, and wanted to help get these new utility bikes into the hands of coffee growers.  Riders were also challenged by the prospect of riding 50 miles on a mountain bike – a feat most had not attempted before.  The results of the first year’s effort was simply amazing, and a testimony to the positive impact an event like this can have – both for the project beneficiaries and for the local community who were inspired to participate.  The first-ever 50 Mile Ride for Project Rwanda ended up with 247 registered riders and raised over $30,000 for Project Rwanda.

Now we’re preparing for the sequel – and YOU can help.

Click here to see pictures for the 2006 event.

The 50 Mile Ride crew is officially in the blogosphere. Our good buddy Greg Howard will be providing you with all the 50 Mile Ride news and tidbits you can handle!

Click here to check out the blog.

People have been asking “Are you still having your event, even after the recent fires?”  And to that we answer ABSOLUTELY YES.  We need this event now, more than ever.

Yes, the Santiago fire was devastating to some of our favorite trails – including the Harding Truck Trail - which was our intended “Upper Rwanda” Leg #1. This year, we intend to divert a portion of funds raised in this ride to help with local trail rebuilding.  In addition, we encourage all riders to watch for and participate in volunteer trail work opportunities.  Our friends at SHARE www.sharemtb.com and Warrior’s Society www.warriorssociety.org will post volunteer opportunities as they become available.

Here’s the GOOD NEWS:  We’ve mapped out a NEW ROUTE, and we think it is even BETTER than last year’s!  We will offer two ride options, a full route and a 25 miler.

The full route will start at Cooks, enter the back side of O'Neill, proceed through and out of the park near the RSM lake, proceed to the Dove Canyon waterfall, ride the ridge trails all the way to Caspers.  We’ll drop down Star Rise, do kind of a loop that includes Bell Canyon, Oso, Cougar, and East Ridge, at the end of East Ridge we arrive at a parking lot and rest rooms that will be our outermost checkpoint and refueling/aid station.  From there we proceed back on Bell Canyon, then turn and climb back out on Star Rise, tracing our route all the way back to the waterfall at Dove Canyon (an aid station will be there as well).  From the Dove waterfall, we head back out to what was basically last year's "second leg",  We will pass the Coto main gate, climb and traverse Chiquita Ridge, head down Tijeras Creek trail to Arroyo Trabuco Trail, turn back to O'Neill, through the park and back to Cooks Corner. Although this full route is 46.5 miles, it will challenge you, and it will certainly feel like 50+ miles.

The 25 mile route will start an hour after the full route (approx 8am).  This route will be basically the same as last year's "second leg".  We're changing a little to avoid some of the water crossings in the Arroyo Trabuco trail and we’ve added some fun single-track as well. To ensure everyone's safety, please ride with your cell phone.

Rain or Shine:  Rain is always a possibility this time of year.  But playing outside in the rain can be a fun adventure too, right?  Our event will be held on our scheduled date, rain or shine – so prepare accordingly.  If the planned dirt trails are not open, we have an alternate route along the Aliso Creek bike trail we will use.  Riding on dirt is just so much more fun though – so pray for sunshine!

For more details on the course go to:
http://www.geoladders.com/show_route.php?route=10961

How to prepare for this 50 Mile Ride – (download Event Preparation Form).

After the ride join us for a BBQ sponsored by Cook's Corner and raffle with a ton of MTB give-aways.

This is a 100% volunteer coordinated ride. To pull off this event we need your help. If you are interested in volunteering the day of the ride please email Andy Brazelton at andy@outsideallday.com for more details. If you only have a few hours, we'll take it. Volunteer for the first half of the ride and do the second half...or the other way around.

Volunteer opportunities:
Medical
Set-up/tear down
Check-in
Rider support
Traffic directing
Photographers
Etc.