The second edition of NowWeBike is back to show Europe the benefits of cycling with a pan-European cycling tour. The #Journey of Hope is brought to you by ECF and ISCA together with the support of the European Commission's Erasmus+ program.
What is it? The #Journey of Hope is an interactive cycling tour. It will start from Copenhagen, Denmark, and go to Vienna, Austria. The public is invited to ride with the team and welcome them with events in their towns or cities.
Where? The tour will travel through Denmark, Germany, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Austria (for the full route see below).
Who is it for? Anybody can feel free to join the tour, the general public, cycling enthusiasts, local physical activity providers.
Look out for: Some familiar faces riding with the team. The CYKLO festival in Aarhus. The official opening of the European Week of Sports in Kosice, Slovakia, to coincide with the Slovakian EU Presidency; the finale on the last day of the European Week of Sports in Vienna.
The goal: A total of 2530km covered in 31 days and as many people joining in the tour and side events as possible.
Get involved: Over the next 2 weeks we will be publishing six Journey of Hope side event ideas: See the ideas here.
Spread the word: #journeyofhope
So why #Journey of Hope?
“That day, for no particular reason, I decided to go for a little run...What I was doing seemed to make sense to people...So I got company, and after that I got even more company, and then even more people joined in. Somebody later told me it gave people hope.” Forrest Gump (1994)
The vision of the tour is simple. We want to give people hope for healthier habits and societies, all through something as simple as cycling. Therefore we invite everyone to cycle with us from city to city and border to border. The tour will start off in Copenhagen, Denmark (18th August), cross Europe and open the European Week of Sports in Kosice, Slovakia. The tour will end up in Vienna, Austria on the 17th of September after covering over 2500 km of cycling.
NowWeBike Tour dates 2016
Support the #Journey of Hope.
How can you help contribute to the #Journey of Hope. When supporting the tour remember that every bit helps. Here is what you can do:
Before the tour: - Help us spread the word: We want as many people as possible to know about the tour before it starts. So let your members, interest groups, cycling organizations, politicians, well anybody who might be interested know about the tour. - Give us recommendations: Since a lot of the tour will be going through routes that you know best, give us advice on where to stop, accommodations, and/ or good collections points to meet up with other cyclists in connection to your town.
During the tour: - Events: If there is interest to help us organize local events on location, this will be a great way for you to gain publicity both locally and internationally, the events can be any size. - PR: To contact your local media and let them know about the tour. ISCA, ECF and EuroVelo will be publishing articles about the tour, feel free to use these as models for own articles or to spread as is.
More information and contact
Contact: Fredrika Germundsson, nowwemove@ecf.com
NowWeBike webpage
NowWeMove Blog
Twitter: @NowWeMove, #JourneyOfHope
European Week of Sport Webpage