Swansea Big Ride Spring Challenge 2021 for PALESTINE

Covid-19 We are now in another lockdown and of course we need to keep safe but we hope our Spring Challenge will give you a goal to aim for – getting out and keeping fit AND helping raise awareness of what is happening in Palestine
The Spring Challenge

We are running a ‘Spring Challenge’ this year to emphasise our support for Palestine and to make sure that we take every opportunity to keep Palestine in the public eye with our physical presence. We also want to encourage riders and to get back out on their bikes as we start to emerge from the depths of winter.
This is not a fundraising event – our MECA fundraiser will be in the summer when we have our main Big Ride for Palestine.

51 Day Challenge
The Spring Challenge will run for 51 days from Saturday 20th February to Sunday 11th April 2021 so will finish before the start of Ramadan. We hope that the flexibility of the challenge will mean that people will be able to join in whether we can cycle just in ones and twos or in larger socially distanced groups.
51 days is the length of the bombardment of Gaza in July and August 2014. Appalling events like this are briefly in the news, but the impact of destroying schools, hospitals and infrastructure lasts for years, especially when reconstruction work is obstructed by Israel’s blockade of so many essential items. 
A 51 day bombardment of one of the most densely populated areas in the world, whose inhabitants are unable to leave because of closed borders – which is why Gaza is often referred to as the world’s largest open air prison.  A 51 day bombardment that receives some coverage because of the number of deaths of civilians and especially children, yet smaller scale military bombardments and assaults are a common occurrence and receive little or no coverage. 
We’re riding to bring attention to the actions of Israel in violating international law in respect of the responsibilities of an occupying power.
 547 Children, 22 Miles
547 is the number of children murdered in Gaza in 2014 during the bombardment.
22 miles is the extent of the road stretching the length of Gaza. Cyclists can ride for no more than this before turning round and repeating as shown in the fantastic film ‘Cycling Under Siege in Gaza’ .
You can use these figures for the distance you want to ride when completing the challenge but they be applied flexibly depending on experience, circumstances and, of course, weather.Completing The Challenge We suggest the following ideas – adapting them as necessary to your own circumstances and the lockdown rules which apply at the time.
* Everyone takes part in a socially distanced 22 mile ride on Saturday 10th April or Sunday 11th April, the last weekend of the challenge
* Organise rides of 22 miles on each of the seven weekends of the challenge
* Aim to complete 547 miles 
* Ride multiples of 22 miles

Keeping Track of your Miles
We have set up a Spring Challenge Strava Club where we will keep track of your miles for you. You can join this Strava club when you sign up for the ride. If you haven’t used Strava before, it’s free and easy to use. Click to the Strava website and find out how to use it and how to download the app.
Of course you can use another way to keep track of your miles and then let us know what you have done.

Sign Up for the Spring Challenge!  
Signing up for the Spring Challenge is free. Complete the sign up form here
Visibility – it’s going to be too cold for us to be seen in our Big Ride cycling jerseys but do consider wearing one of our Big Ride Hi Viz sleeveless tops over your cycling gear so that everyone can see that you are riding for Palestine. Available from the Big Ride shop