About Us
A B O U T U S
The Big Ride was initiated in 2015 by activists in Britain, Ireland and beyond who wanted to combine our love of cycling with support for the Palestinian people.
We staged a marathon ride from
Edinburgh to London over nine days
on the first anniversary of the bombardment of Gaza, raising over £65,000 for projects helping children recover from the loss and trauma they suffered.
In 2016 we staged a four leg ride converging on Birmingham for a community festival followed by a mass ride to Shenstone where we
successfully blockaded
the UAV factory in protest at its selling drones to Israel.
2017 was a ‘Northern’ Ride, where we embarked on a three-day protest leaving from Liverpool and finishing up in Sheffield, cycling via Manchester and Bradford.
In 2018 we had our biggest ride yet, with over 200 cyclists journeying from Coventry to central London, ending the fourth Big Ride outside Westminster.
In 2019 we staged two Big Rides, in London and Manchester. Both routes mirrored the length of the military perimeters that isolate Gaza and fence in its people - London route: Gaza/Israel, Manchester route: Gaza/Israel and Egypt.
In 2020, due to Covid restrictions we organised a one day 36/44 mile Solidarity ride with over 400 people riding solo or in small groups in their local areas. We also held a 440 mile Challenge over 6 weeks.
In 2021 we had a 'Spring Challenge' for the first time enabling people to connect during Covid and continue to raise solidarity with Palestine. The distances used were 22 miles corresponding to distance a cyclist can go in Gaza and 512 reflecting the number of children killed in the 2014 bombardment. The length of the challenge was 51 days - the length of the 2014 bombardment.
In the summer of 2021 we were able to carry out the 4 day Bristol to London ride originally planned for 2020. This ride was tremendously enthusiastic, committed and diverse - coming as it did shortly after further attacks on Palestine.
Our chosen charity is the
Middle East Children's Alliance
(MECA), a charity that specialises in working with children who have been traumatised by living under a vicious military occupation. We encourage you to visit their website and join us in raising important funds for them!
In 2021 we also supported Palestine Riders initiative for a children's cycling club in the Am'ari refugee camp
Viva Palestine!
