The Most Exotic Bicycle Tour; Cycling for Change
After years of supporting from the sidelines, I recently took part in the 2025 Most Exotic Bicycle Tour.
I’m not a cyclist, so doing 250km in four days was a reasonable challenge, especially in the heat. But this was an amazing way to experience India and meet a fantastic group of people who were all deeply committed to raising money for the British Asian Trust. I signed up enthusiastically and was not disappointed.
Before the bike ride started, we had the privilege of meeting three young people supported by our programmes. They had travelled from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, it was their first time on an aeroplane and their first time seeing the sea. They shared their life experiences of child labour and child marriage, and how as a result of our programmes, all three of them had been supported to turn their lives around. They also went on to become advocates and community leaders, helping other families understand what not to do when faced with similar circumstances. It was incredibly inspiring and the perfect motivation for cycling up and down some big hills the next day.
If there were children in the UK being denied education or forced into child labour, there would be an outcry, and we would do everything we could to stop this happening. That this is happening in another part of the world does not make it any less horrendous and that is why we are doing something about it. We need support to keep these programmes as impactful as possible and to continue delivering life-changing work.
That is why I signed up to this sponsored cycling challenge, together with a fantastic group of 20 people, all from different backgrounds and almost all of whom I had never met before.
We all got on brilliantly, bonding over early starts and hill climbs! Together, at the time of writing this, our collective fundraising has just gone over £450,000. This is really quite remarkable and a testament to the commitment of everyone who took part. These vital funds will enable the British Asian Trust to reach and support even more children through our groundbreaking work in child protection, education and mental health.
This was the seventh edition of the Most Exotic Bicycle Tour, an annual challenge led by two amazing supporters of the British Asian Trust: Rohit Chadha and Bobby Ahluwalia. They have taken the bike ride from Royal Palaces to the Serengeti, raising millions of pounds for our programmes with children. I’ve worked in the charity sector for 30 years and every charity in the country would love to have supporters like Bobby and Rohit. They are incredible people and it’s an honour to count them as my friends.
If you want to see a short film about our experiences, please see here:
If you would like to support our work with children and young people, please donate here: https://www.justgiving.com/page/richard-hawkes-1736270594076
By Richard Hawkes, Chief Executive of the British Asian Trust