Costs and Fundraising
THE DIRT TO DC RIDE HAS BEEN DISCONTINUED FOR THE FORESEEABLE FUTURE. IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS ABOUT THIS RIDE, PLEASE CONTACT BIKE@FULLERCENTER.ORG.
THE INFORMATION BELOW IS ARCHIVED FROM OUT 2017 RUNNING OF THE EVENT.
Every FCBA rider must complete two financial components to fund their trip: the registration fee, and fundraising.
Registration fee
Early Bird: $200 (By May 15)
Regular: $250 (By September 1)
Slow pokes: $300
Covers your lodging on the ride, most meals, a jersey, water bottle, and transportation back to Pittsburgh at the end of the ride if you need it (read about transportation here).
Fundraising
To meet our team fundraising goal, we require every rider to raise at least $750 (riders 26 and younger are only required to raise $500).
You can choose to designate your fundraising to one of the Fuller Center Covenant Partners across the U.S. and around the world, or send it to where it’s most needed in our ministry. We encourage you to set your fundraising goals high – the more we can raise, the more lives we can impact!
Don’t let the fundraising aspect of the ride intimidate you – we have great tools and advice to help you reach it, including helping you send out letters, creating a personal fundraising page and much more. Year after year riders discover they can raise more than they thought they could. Check out the fundraising section on our Tools for Riders page for some helpful hints.
Early bird and regular registration will be open through September 1, but be sure to sign up early – we’re expecting this to be a full ride and registration may close sooner if it fills up!!
Age Restrictions
Because of the inherent hazards of cycling and our communal lifestyle during the ride, we have the following age policy:
Riders under 14 may participate for a one-day ride if accompanied by their parent/guardian. However, we urge participants choosing to do this to use special caution and to be prepared to offer their own support vehicle as needed. As for anyone, experience riding a distance similar to the one they are undertaking is a plus.
Riders 14-17 may participate for any length of the journey so long as they bring their own chaperone, such as a parent, guardian, teacher, etc. We’d like for each minor to have an adult chaperone, but if you’re interested in joining, please contact us at bike@fullercenter.org!
Riders 18+ are encouraged to join us as they are able!
Speed Minimum
Our average distance is about 57 miles with some days shorter and our longest being around 64 miles. We do not need to ride as a giant pack all day every day; riders are free to ride alone (but not alone at the back) or to break up into groups as they choose. We try to regroup at rest stops.
For this reason, there is no precise speed at which we all need to ride. However, in order to keep the group together and advancing at a reasonable pace, riders joining for a segment or more should be able to average at least 10 mph and be able to go 20-25 miles without long rests. But don’t worry; it seems to get easier when you’re doing it with a group than when you’re doing it just for training on your own.
Also, a note for riders gifted with speed: We plan to have only one support vehicle that will stop every 18-25 miles to provide rest stops for the team. This means that if you’re going significantly faster than 10 mph you may find that you need to wait at rest stops for our less quick teammates to catch up, or ride at a slower pace. However, since this is not a race, but a team on a mission to change the world, we hope this is less a challenge as it is an opportunity for our team of cyclists from all backgrounds and a range of abilities to bond together for a common purpose!
