Resources
Download any resources you may need to spread the word about your challenge and why you're fundraising for vital dementia research.
How it all works
Got a question about Cycling Down Dementia?
We’ve got answers for you below. And if you still can’t find what you’re looking for, you can get in touch here.
The Challenge
Cycling Down Dementia is a virtual cycling challenge from Alzheimer’s Research UK, supported by Garmin.
We’re challenging you to ride 300km (Pioneer), 1,500km (Epic) or a distance of your choice (Maverick) between 1 October and 31 December to raise £150 for life-changing dementia research.
When you raise £200 you'll receive a free Cycling Down Dementia neckwarmer, and when you hit £400 you'll get your very own Cycling Down Dementia cycling jersey!
More people with dementia have died from COVID-19 in England and Wales than those with any other pre-existing condition. In fact, a quarter of COVID-19 deaths have been people with dementia.
One in three people born today will go on to develop dementia in their lifetime – but your incredible challenge has the power to change this through research.
Sign up to take on the challenge this winter! 😊
We must all take precautions to help reduce the transmission of COVID-19, and we encourage you to keep up-to-date with the latest government guidance. While government restrictions have now been lifted, we know that it is important for everyone to take things at their own pace. This is your challenge, whether you cycle at home on an indoor bike, at the gym, or out in the open.
Thousands of people across the UK will also be taking part in their own way. However you take part, we’re so excited to have you as part of the team.
1. The challenge begins on 1 October 2021, but you can still sign-up before this date and get your training started early! Register to take part in Cycling Down Dementia.
2. Follow the steps to create a Cycling Down Dementia supporter page, where people can view your progress and sponsor you. Connect your supporter page to Strava so you can start tracking your rides when the challenge kicks off, or add your rides manually to make sure your activity is tracked. Connect your device here.
3. Make sure you track every activity you do, otherwise it won’t be counted towards your total. You can also manually log your rides if you don't use a tracker.
4. Mark your calendars to get cycling on 1 October! If you’re looking for inspiration and motivation during this time, join our dedicated Facebook group: Cycling Down Dementia - TeamARUK.
5. You’ll be able to check your progress on the leaderboards and see how you compare to the Cycling Down Dementia community.
You choose how and when you ride. The challenge runs from 1 October to 31 December and you can take on the 500km (Pioneer), 1,500km (Epic), or a distance of your choice (Maverick) to raise £150. You can log your kms any way you like, whether on an indoor bike or on the road, with Strava or manually.
Yes! A team can be anyone you like: friends, family, work colleagues or your cycling club. When you register, you can create a team or join one if it’s already been set up. If you’re in charge of setting up the team, follow these simple steps:
1. Create a name for your team while you’re registering.
2. Once you’ve finished your registration and have set up your own team page, use the “Invite Members” button on your team page to send email invitations.
3. If someone else has set up the team, just search for the team name when you’re registering and you’ll be automatically connected once you complete your registration.
Company: If the organisation you work for has chosen Alzheimer’s Research UK as your charity of the year, select your organisation name from the drop-down at signup so your challenge will count towards your company total.
Team: Teams are a great way to measure your kms and encourage a little friendly fundraising competition with people you know. Once you’ve signed up, visit your JustGiving page and click "Create a new team" or "Join an existing team" on the right.
The Pioneer challenge is 500km and Epic is 1,500km. The Maverick option lets you choose the distance you ride - it's your choice (but make it a challenge!).
Nope, Cycling Down Dementia is completely free! We just ask you to set yourself a challenge that will push you, and ask your friends, family and colleagues to sponsor you to hit your £150 (or more) target so we can continue funding life-changing dementia research.
a. If you have a tracking device, then you can connect your device through Strava, just click here. If you need support, then please read the following instructions to see how to link your fitness app to your JustGiving page:
- Connecting your FitBit to Strava: https://support.strava.com/hc/en-us/articles/216918087-Fitbit-and-Strava
- Connecting your Apple Watch to Strava: https://support.strava.com/hc/en-us/articles/115000161184-Strava-Apple-Watch-App-iOS
- Cnnecting your Samsung device to Strava: https://support.strava.com/hc/en-us/articles/360018601971-Samsung-Gear-and-Strava
- Other workout data import to Strava: https://www.strava.com/apps/data-importer
b. If you don’t have a tracking device then you can add your lengths manually on your supporter page, just login to your fundraising page and add your ride on your activity feed.
Yes – we'd love for you to be involved again this year! If you have a JustGiving account already then you can use that, otherwise it's very easy to set one up. We'd advise doing a short test ride to make sure your accounts are set up correctly and that your tracker is still connected before you start your challenge!
If you completed 500km last year, why not challenge yourself to our Epic 1,500km challenge or set your own challenge as a Maverick?
You can access a great range of training plans on the Cycling Weekly webpage that have been specially designed for us. There are training plans for beginners, intermediates and racers, so there's something for everyone!
Yes! You can still set up your supporter page and add rides manually within JustGiving, the fundraising platform.
Absolutely not! You can do it your own way – whether that's cycling 150km a week on an indoor bike for ten weeks or clocking up the kms outdoors at weekends. As long as you track all your activity with your tracking app (or manually add the rides) you can complete the challenge however you choose.
No, unfortunately not as they are two separate challenges. But drop us an email at sportingevents@alzheimersresearchuk.org and we can talk you through your options.
Yes, you can! You can buy one through our online shop, or if you raise £200 we’ll send you one for free!
Yes you can, you just need to go to the fitness tracking area of your profile in order to update your challenge distance.
- Alzheimer’s Research UK will send one neck warmer to each participant when the JustGiving fundraising page receives over £100 and one cycle jersey when the fundraising page receives over £200. Offline donations are not counted towards your page total. Any donations received after 31st December will not count and the neck warmer and cycle jersey will not be awarded.
- Neck warmers are sent by post within 10 working days to the address provided when you created your JustGiving page.
- Cycle jerseys will be sent when you have confirmed your size by email or phone and sent by post within 10 working days to the address provided when you created your JustGiving page.
- It is your responsibility to ensure that your address and any other details are correct and we will not be responsible or liable to you if these details are incorrect.
- Only one neck warmer and cycle jersey per fundraiser.
- Subject to availability.
- No cash alternative will be offered.
- Alzheimer’s Research UK is not responsible or liable for any neck warmers or cycle jerseys that are undelivered.
- Alzheimer’s Research UK reserves the right to delay, postpone or cancel the give away of neck warmers and cycle jerseys.
It’s important to us that everyone who wants to take part in Cycling Down Dementia can. If you have a disability or an injury which means you need to adapt the challenge to take part, you can do so. Whether it’s changing your distance goal, adapting the timeline of the challenge, or using equipment to support you, we encourage you to make this challenge your own. If you require more information or would like to speak to a member of our team about this, please get in touch on sportingevents@alzheimersresearchuk.org.
Fundraising
Yes, there are some downloads at the top of this page to help you with your fundraising to hit your £150 (or more) target and promote your Cycling Down Dementia challenge!
a. Dementia is one of our greatest medical challenges but at Alzheimer's Research UK, taking on a challenge is what we do best.
b. The money you raise will help fund our pioneering research programmes to make breakthroughs possible for people with dementia and their families. Every £20 you raise will power another hour of life-changing research.
c. More people with dementia have died from COVID-19 in England and Wales than those with any other pre-existing condition. In fact, a quarter of COVID-19 deaths have been people with dementia.
d. One in three people born today will go on to develop dementia in their lifetime – but your incredible challenge has the power to change this through research.
e. You can find out more about what we do here.
Sharing your story is a great way to raise awareness of your challenge, Cycling Down Dementia and Alzheimer’s Research UK more widely!
If you've been affected by dementia or are taking on your challenge in an interesting or different way, the press may be interested!
We have an easy to use press release and guide, available here. Simply follow the instructions to contact your local paper with your story. If you need support with this then please get in touch with us at fundraising@alzheimersresearchuk.org
When you sign up to Cycling Down Dementia an online fundraising page will be automatically created for you with a target of £150 (but you can increase this if you like!).
To make the most of your page, we recommend you:
- Add a photo – so everyone can see your face!
- Set a target – we know that pages with targets raise more.
- Complete the ‘About me’ section – tell people why you’re challenging yourself for Alzheimer’s Research UK.
- Share your page – as far and as wide as you can using email and social media.
- Update – keep updating your page and sharing it throughout your challenge.
During Cycling Down Dementia we’ll be in touch regularly to help you make the most of your page and share extra fundraising ideas with you!
Donating through Gift Aid means we can claim an extra 25p for every £1 you donate to our life-changing research. It won't cost you any extra, but will make a big difference to what we can achieve with your support. Please note, you must be a UK taxpayer to enable us to claim Gift Aid.
Organisations
UK Cycling Events (UKCE) is a dedicated cycling events organisation passionate about encouraging all abilities of rider to experience the best cycling the UK has to offer. It runs well-organised, friendly events including road sportives and mountain bike events, which are suitable for riders of all ages and abilities.
Cycling Weekly is a dedicated hub for all things bike-related, including cycling news, a shop, deals, and much more!
Alzheimer's Research UK is lucky enough to be the charity partner with both of these for Cycling Down Dementia and The Treble Challenge.
Jon Snow is a supporter of Alzheimer's Research UK and has volunteered his time to be part of our campaigns over the years, most recently Cycling Down Dementia.
We're pleased that Garmin has become the official sponsor of our sporting events for the next three years, which also includes the Treble Challenge. We will work together to help reduce people’s risk of developing dementia by encouraging them to make positive lifestyle changes.
JustGiving is the platform that's the home of our Cycling Down Dementia website and fundraising pages. We've been working with JustGiving (everydayhero before) for a number of years with fundraising pages across our sporting events. Everydayhero is the platform we used for our virtual events before, but this has now merged with it's sister platform JustGiving (both products of Blackbaud).