Bobbin and Griffin from Bourke to Sydney

On August 4, Peter Bobbin and Ray Griffin will set off from Bourke, in rural NSW, on a 10-day, 1250km bike ride to Sydney. Their aim is to raise awareness of the Future2 Foundation, and also to raise money to fund the foundation’s works. Both Peter and Ray are founding trustees of Future2.

The pair have set up a website at which their progress can be followed. They’ll be providing regular updates on the website, and tweeting en route. The site also lays out some of the rationale for the ride – Ray’s father, Jack, was a professional cyclist, and the Wheel Classic follows the same route that Jack took in an event in 1955.

BT has signed up as a Gold sponsor of the event, and Matrix Planning Solutions as a Silver sponsor. The ride is also being supported by Telstra.

However, further financial support for the ride is welcomed, and they’ve set a $100,000 fundraising target. In addition to making direct donations, there’s an opportunity for keen cyclists to join Peter (pictured, left) and Ray as they complete the ride – details on how to get involved are available via the website.

The ride has been cunningly timed to start just after the Tour de France has finished, thus avoiding any embarrassing direct comparisons. While Ray has completed several thousand kilometres in training rides, the same can’t exactly be said of Peter. However, Peter has offered to shave his legs tomorrow, at a Sydney FPA Chapter meeting, if pledges and donations have reached 10 per cent of their stated target figure by then.

Click here to visit the Future2 Wheel Classic website