The basic idea

The Inspiration:

The Stop Climate Chaos Coalition have organised a demonstration in London to take place on Saturday 5 December 2009. This event will be known as The Wave.

Several of us felt moved by the excellent recent film The Age Of Stupid. We felt we must DO something.

Our idea is to cycle to London in the week leading up to the march. Our starting point is Bradford and we thought we could stop for a night at conveniently located towns along the way, trying to raise awareness of some of the issues as we do so.

The Route:

We decided on the following route:
30th November: Bradford to Sheffield
1st December: Sheffield to Nottingham
2nd December: Nottingham to Peterborough
3rd December: Peterborough to Cambridge
4th December: Cambridge to Walthamstow
We will aim to stay on the south side of Cambridge as Cambridge to Walthamstow is the longest leg.

If people want to cycle one day with us as we go through their part of the country - or indeed join us for the rest of the journey to London - then great. Local groups could also help with local publicity.

The Preparation:

We have planned several collective bike rides for us to judge our own level of fitness, and these are really intended to make sure that each of us can actually manage the full journey. This seems a timely point to put in a health warning – obviously this is an entirely self-organising group, and we are all individually responsible for making sure we are ready to do a week’s cycling in December – so it’s also important to make sure that’s clear to anyone else who'se interested in doing this.

Anyway, collective bike rides (all from Bradford):
• 6th September, 20 miles
• 27th September, 35 miles
• 18th October, 50 miles
• 14th & 15th November – 2 day ride – 50 miles each day, staying over at a bunk-barn, maybe at Ribblehead?
• The big one 30th November – 5th December to London of course!