2012-08-11 / 16 Olympic Truce Tour

Olympic Truce Bike tour comes to London 16th August
Hi,
I have been contacted by an Italian contact who is organising an Olympic Truce http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olympic_truce Bike tour they are arriving in London on the 16th August completing their ride outside the Houses of Parliament at 6:00pm if you are interested in welcoming them to London please get in touch.
Angelo’s original e-mail to me is below.
Zebs

My name is Angelo Bandini, I live in Italy, I’m setting to leave with a bunch of friends on a biketour to promote the Olympic Truce, a stop to all wars and conflicts during the 2012 London Olympic Games.
For more infos about this event check:
www.tregua.org/default.aspx
www.abcycle.org/bike4truceeng.htm
This is the itinerary of our Bike4Truce tour:
August 10: Arrival by bus at Malmedy (Belgium)
August 11: Malmedy-Polleur 53k – van transfer to Mons
August 12: Mons-Lille (France) 92k
August 13: Lille-Saint Omer 75k
August 14: Saint Omer-Calais 51k
August 15: ferry to Dover (England) – Dover-Gillingham 104k
August 16: Gillingham-London 78k
We are NOT looking for hospitality but we’d been delighted if you could share a little road with us. And also help us find a bike friendly route in your whereabouts!
Best wishes of peaceful rides
ciao
Angelo Bandini
abcycle(at)virgilio.it

... can't help thinking they're arriving two weeks too late?

Well it is before the Paralympics also they timed to arrive after the Olympics as the ride is not about the Olympics as such but about world peace.

Bump and a press release:

From a press release distributed earlier today…

Twelve Italian cyclists will soon begin a five day pedal-powered tour from Malmedy in Belgium to central London. The aim of the Bike4Truce initiative is to promote the Olympic Truce.

The Olympic Truce is a tradition from ancient Greece dating back to the 9th century BCE, established by a treaty between three kings. During the period of the Olympic Truce, athletes, artists and their families, together with ordinary pilgrims, could travel in safety to participate in or support the Olympic Games as spectators, and then return home to their respective countries.

While the modern manifestation of the Olympic Truce cannot halt international and civil conflicts around the globe, it embodies the Olympic spirit, setting it in a context wider than that of the sporting spectacle currently underway in London, and which commands the world’s attention.

Angelo Bandini and his fellow Bike4Truce cyclists are celebrating the Olympic spirit in their own way: by riding from Malmedy, starting on Saturday 11 August 2012, and arriving in London on Thursday 16 August. For the final leg of this international cycle ride, the Italians will be led by London-based journalist and cycling advocate Dr Francis Sedgemore, an active member of the London Cycling Campaign.

Francis will pilot the cycling pilgrims from Gillingham at the mouth of the River Medway in Kent to Victoria Park Gardens by the Houses of Parliament in Westminster. The plan is to arrive at Westminster between 17:30 and 18:00 on Thursday, with the tour welcomed by London cyclists who will provide hospitality during their Italian friends’ stay in the host city of the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Bike4Truce itinerary above.

Angelo and his friends welcome company along the road from local cyclists.

... can't help thinking they're arriving two weeks too late?

Maybe my press release will sink without trace, but as a journalist I can safely say that we stand a better chance of gaining publicity for an initiative such as Bike4Truce in the immediate aftermath of the games. And not only because it's August, when there's little else of interest for journalists to wibble about.

Also, the Olympics will not be over come the closing ceremony on Sunday. There are the Paralympic Games to come, and, given the Olympic feelgood factor generated for UK plc, you can be sure that PRs and politicians across the board will be spinning the Paralympic Games for all they're worth.

What is Bike4Truce? - YouTube

Thanks for the longer press release / explanation. A ride for world peace sounds ridiculous - however this ride properly contextualised supplements the aims of Olympics and appears to raise peace awareness without being self-aggrandising.

Fairly keen to join them for some tarmac but I have no idea where the hell Gillingham is.

Gillingham is in Kent near Rochester

Kent is the southeastern-most county of England. It lies outside the M25.

Gillingham is one of three towns that make up the emerging city known as "Medway". Gillingham, Rochester and Strood are situated at the mouth of the River Medway, on the other side of the Hoo Peninsula (the spur of land that Boris Johnson wishes to annex for a new 'London' airport) from the Thames Estuary.

Rochester is famous for its particularly fine sub-species of homo chavicus.

Here endeth the remedial geography lesson.

Reminder Olympic Truce Tour arrives tomorrow 16th Aug Victoria Tower Gardens 5:30 - 6:30

Hi, I am hoping some of you will be able to make it to meet 12 Italian Cyclists participating in the Olympic Truce Tour we are meeting in Victoria Tower Gardens beside The Houses of Parliament from 5:30 after then we will be going to Robert Bennetts Fund raising BBQ in London Fields www.uk.virginmoneygiving.com/robert.bennett

*The aim of the *[FONT=Calibri]Bike4Truce[/FONT][FONT=Calibri] [/FONT] initiative is to promote the [FONT=Calibri]Olympic Truce[/FONT][FONT=Calibri].[/FONT]

Zebs

Bump. Who can resist a group of Italian cyclists?

Bump. Who can resist a group of Italian cyclists?

Bump. Who can resist a group of Italian cyclists?