Cycling for charity, 70 techies depart from Paris for a 200km, 2-day ride to London

Cycling for charity, 70 techies depart from Paris for a 200km, 2-day ride to London
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TechRiders

This morning’s 7AM Eurostar from London to Paris may have been filled with more than just your typical commuters and tourists. That’s because 70 London-based techies/founders piled into the train to cross the Chunnel to Paris, all in order to cycle back to London by Sunday evening. This is the second edition of TechBkers, and they’re seeing twice as many participants as last year, raising twice as much money for Room to Read, a school-building charity.

IBVKVntnCcAATr-4n total, the riders are expected to raise nearly £50,000 in their endeavor, with sponsors like Microsoft Ventures, Yandex, Lever39 and Pearson. The event is co-organized by Google Campus London’s Eze Vidra, alongside cyclr founder Gerry Newton, Stripe’s UK MD Andy Young, & Ben Southworth (formerly of the TCIO), among others. The donations and riders are tracked on Believe.in, a London-based startup currently working at London coworking space TechHub. Among the riders who have received the most donations for the trek are Mixcloud co-founder Nikhil Shah & Balderton Capital’s Harry Briggs.

The event represents a stray from your typical tech event, and focuses on technology’s ability to give back to the community, without necessarily building an app for a developing country.

The event is set to conclude on Sunday evening; however, its organizers are already thinking globally about this opportunity to combine tourism & charity, with potential future cities including Tel Aviv to Amman & Boston to New York.

We here at the Rude Baguette welcome, if only for a brief few hours, these 70 riders to Paris, and wish them a safe and enjoyable bike ride through the French and British countryside!