Unity Ride III - 17th August 2008

Hi,

We are finally in a position to announce that Unity rides again.

This year Unity Ride promises to be the biggest charity motorcycle ride ever undertaken through the Capital. 15 members of the Metropolitan Police and 2 Paramedics will be assisted by 55 trained Unity Support Riders (USRs) to make sure this year’s event will also be the safest.

Every year we give bikers a day out in London where the freedom of the city is ours, the Motorbike is king and we can enjoy the sights from a totally different perspective. No filtering through traffic and no stopping at all just a cruise with a 1000 or so other bikes enjoying Summer time in the Capital.

Riders will meet at London Excel on 17th August and we will commence the mass ride through the city at 1.30pm. We are organising meeting points for riders to gather at and ride to London Excel together so feel free to join us at these satellite points or make your own way to London Excel at Docklands E16 1XL ;

Satellite Meeting points
Fox's Diner
- Oxford Rd, Dorchester-on-Thames, Wallingford, Oxfordshire, OX10 7LY

Box Hill
- http://www.boxhill.co.uk/information/where.htm

Ace Café
- http://www.ace-cafe-london.com/Find-us.aspx

Oakdene Café
- Oakdene Cafe, London Rd, Wrotham TN15 7RR

High Beech Tea Hut
- Epping Forrest (both Tea Huts)

Eastern Counties
- Haverhill, Suffolk

The West Country
- Avon Heath Country Park Cafe Brocks Pine St Ives

Luton Hein Gerick
- 326 Dunstable Road, Luton, Bedfordshire, LU4 8JS

Satellite ride start times will be posted on the Unity website closer to the date of the ride. Please contact us for assistance if you wish to organise your own satellite ride in and we will promote your store for bikers to meet at.

This year’s route is extensive, and is available to view on the Unity website (www.unityride.co.uk) under the "where" link. Past historic monuments, down by the Thames and past the parks, just another excuse to ride and get pleasure on two wheels.

The registration cost for joining the ride is the same as last year £5 and through your generosity last year we raised £5400 for Children in Need and Help a London Child. This year we are riding to raise funds for two charities - "Children in Need" and "SERV".

SERV (http://www.serv.org.uk/Home/Default.aspx) who are also know as the 'Blood Runners', is a charitable organisation that delivers blood products to the emergency and accident hospitals across Southern England at night free of charge whenever and wherever it's urgently needed. The service has saved many lives and is run by volunteers at their own expense, giving their time, petrol, cars and motorbikes to ensure blood supplies are available when needed.

Children in Need is the children’s charity which is run by the BBC and their aim is to positively change the lives of disadvantaged children and young people in the UK

This is our 3rd year of running the ride and which is a totally non profit making motorbike ride and all the funds raised through ticket sales go to charity. Everybody working on the ride has volunteered their time and commitment to raise money to make a difference and create a positive celebration of Motor biking in London. The Police are assisted by Unity Support Riders and they provide us with safe passage along the route and ensure that we are kept moving as we understand how bikes keep cool.

We may have to limit the number of registrations this year, we therefore suggest that you register as soon as possible to avoid disappointment. This can be done by following the links on the Unity homepage.
http://unity2.unityride.co.uk/

T-shirts for this year’s ride will be sold on the day at a cost of £10 per t-shirt but there are only 500 available. If you wish to pre-order your t-shirt for delivery before the ride, please contact us at admin@unityride.co.uk.

We have a much larger area at Excel this year, and so are in a position to offer space to biker clubs and charitable organizations so that they might promote their causes. Please contact us with your suggestions so that we might ask them to contribute to Unity III, this must be done by 17th July so that we are able to plan our Biker Village.

Welcome to Unity III

http://www.unityride.co.uk

Video Trailers from previous years
2005 Unity Ride
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=vujagyv2Prc

2007 Unity Ride
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=YFQjo1rUYiY

Press articles
http://www.motorcyclenews.com/MCN/Ne.../?&R=EPI-87136
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/e...on/4170524.stm
http://www.motorcyclenews.com/MCN/Ne.../?&R=EPI-93140

Unity Ride 2007 Pictures

Just a quick update note to the forum elders / elite / much adored

Do you want SV650.org to be added to the main Unity Ride web promotional pages?

Or do you want to bring along a banner advertising the forum on 17/08/08 and put it up at Excel?

Or do you want to set up a club stand / meeting point?

Please let me know we would love to have you guys join the Biker Village.

We expect that about 30% of all the riders will start from Box Hill and 25% will start from the Ace. Registration sales this year are well ahead of last year, so we are already making contingency plans for things like water availability and toilets.

The number of other satellite rides has also grown, we now have riders coming from the East Midlands and Battle, Hastings. More information available on http://unity2.unityride.co.uk/

The front of the Unity Ride will be led by service bikes, so we already have the Police, Fire brigade, Paramedics, Medic bikes and Serv bikes. Please let me know if you know of any other services that we can invite to participate.

For those who don't ride or those with family wishing to attend, we have organised a London Bus..... details for purchasing a ticket coming soon

Background on how the ride started and where it's going

http://londonbikers.com/articles/920...e-then-and-now

Update for the times

In addition
- Fleet Services 9.15am departure, meeting in the Lorry Park
- Bury Hill 8am Departure, 3miles north of Arundel on A29

‘Pay on the day’ tickets will be available at each of the starting points, so please look for the Unity Support Riders in the orange Hi Viz .

L Plate and non motorway fans
Getting to London Excel without going on the Motorway

The Box Hill meeting point will have a special escort through central London via the Blackwall Tunnel departing at 10am

The Ace Café meet will take the North Circular (A406) so this will be suitable for you

If you are planning to go to one of the other meeting points and do not want to take the motorway, please contact me and I will make arrangements so that it will be possible for you to take part

Non Riders in the Family
We have 60 seats on and Open Top Route Master bus. The tickets will be £5 each (this money will pay for the bus and not go to charity as the driver, insurance and fuel needs to be paid for. Hopefully next year we will get a donation for this). Please contact admin@unityride.co.uk. for further information the Bus will depart and return to London Excel.

The Sights of London on the Unity Ride Route (with ETA's)

Depart Excel ( 1.30PM)
London City Airport
Blackwall Tunnel
The Dome (O2 Arena) (1.45 PM)
Greenwich (1.50 PM)
The Cutty Sark
Tower Bridge (2.05 PM)
City Hall
Embankment (2.15 PM)
London Eye
Houses of Parliament (2.25 PM)
St James Park
Victoria
Vauxhall Bridge
Chelsea Bridge (2.45 PM)
Exhibition Road
Hyde Park (3.05 PM)
Lords Cricket Ground (3.20 PM)
Regents Park
Aldwych (3.35 PM)
St. Clement Danes Church
Fleet Street
St Paul's Cathedral (3.40 PM)
The Bank / Mansion House
The Monument (3.45 PM)
The Gerkin
The Tower of London (3.50 PM)
Lime House Link (3.55 PM)
Canary Wharf.
Return to Excel (4.00 PM)

Am I going to be the only .orger going on this?
Does no one want to ride through all the red lights on a 2.5 hour ride of London?

I'm shocked.

i will be on this too

me mum is leading the ride from box hill to the excel so i have no choice...