FAQ’s

Now you have paid your registration fee (click here to see what’s included) all you need to do now is get in training for the 250 miles and deliver on your Fundraising Pledge of a minimum of £500 per rider which will go directly to support the work of halow. We prefer our riders to use www.givepenny.com – please contact Fundraising@halowproject.org.uk for details.

• • • *At least £300 per person of the fundraising target must have been received by the charity 1 week prior to the event 21st April 2023).

• • • Balance of fundraising monies must be submitted to the charity no later than 4 weeks subsequent to the event.

• • • Packages available for teams and corporate entries.

Contact us for more details.

The halow250 is a reasonably tough cycling challenge requiring stamina and endurance. You will not need to be Bradley Wiggins or Chris Froome but you will need to be prepared to cope with long stints in the saddle with little rest. Each day is split into stages of around 25-30 miles with feed stations between for nutrition and hydration.

We recommend that you do train for this event and get some practice in with hills! We suggest some training plans on the site and we will be organising some practice runs too.

This is a road cycling challenge and it’s recommended that you only undertake the event on a well-maintained and serviced bike with slick tyres. However this isn’t a race and as long as you can maintain a sensible pace (average including stopping time of 12 mph) you will be fine.

We have had single-gear bike/fixies, hybrids and mountain bikes, but we haven’t had a folding bike/Brompton or Boris bike yet.

You’ll need a helmet, lights, and although we will be proving mechanical support you should have kit on you to change an inner tube and the knowledge of how to do it! So a couple of spare tubes, tyre levers etc should be on the bike. We will provide additional spares so we can keep you mobile. You also might wish to bring a small personal first aid kit.

The ride starts at The Alexander Pope, Twickenham – a Youngs pub. We will contact you at least 2 weeks before the start to confirm the details.

You need to arrange to get yourself, your bike and your personal baggage here by 8am on Friday 28th April 2023. Youngs will be putting on coffees, teas and some bacon rolls to set us up for the day. there is no parking at the pub itself as that is needed for the support crew – however there is some parking on local streets nearby.

You will need to allow time for registration, bag drop off, photographs and a briefing before we head off at 0900 hrs.

We will finish on Sunday 30th April near Guildford (TBC) getting to the finish at 2pm. Exact timings and detailed instructions will be supplied nearer the time.

We will send you off from London with a breakfast and a send off party courtesy of Young Pubs  and that evening they’ll be drinks and crisps at the Fort prior to heading to the ferry. OPn Sauturday we will have a full meal at our French finish  – ooh la la. All other meals will be at your own expense although we will have plenty of provisions at the food stops on the route.

You need to get your bike thoroughly serviced and a bike MOT conducted at your local cycle shop before joining the ride; we recommend arranging a service through https://www.elswoodcycleworks.com/ who have supported the Halow250 for many years and can offer a discount to #Perfect10 riders. Bob Smith and his team will be coming back to deliver his normal 1st class support service throughout the ride and will be on hand at the start and during the event. They will carrying a large amount of bike spares and in the event that your bike can’t be fixed then a replacement bike may be available. All labour costs are covered however spare parts, inner tubes etc will incur a cost.

Expert Spanner, Bob Smith will be providing his best team of Mechancis and outriders for the event for the 8th year.

You will get plenty of rest over the weekend with comfortable accommodation on each of the 2 ferry crossings provided for in the cost.

We will be posting the maps in advance of the event so you can load them into Wahoos or Garmins or others. In addition to that we will sign post the route with glorious pink signs. Support crew and other riders will be on hand to point out odd junctions and our 2 Motorcycle outriders will mark the very tricky ones.

You might get lost…but we will minimise the danger!

If you cant take part we will be very very sorry. As part of signing up you commit to covering the fundrasiing and the registration fee.

The best option is to find someone to take over your place – we will do our best with kit sizing so transfer your place.

We do have exceptions to this but in essence we commit to the charity to provide the funding – and we need everyone of the riders to deliver this.

If you have collected fundraising monies then there are strict rules surrounding the refund of donations to donors or the notification to them that you will not be participating and you must seek guidance from halow.