Mobility charity looks for cyclists to ride for them

BIME, a Bath-based charity is looking for cyclists to help them raise funds in 2011 by making a New Year's resolution to do a sponsored ride on their behalf. There'll be plenty of you out there with your new year's resolutions already mapped out. Ride more, obviously. perhaps a longer ride then you've managed in the past, or a sportive you've never done before. Having a good cause to contribute to is always a good way of keeping your goals in focus. And here at road.cc we'd like to introduce you to BIME, a local charity who are looking to sign up fundraising riders for 2011.

BIME is the Bath Institute of Medical Engineering and it's a design and development charity working in the fields of medicine, health care and assistive technology for disabled people. Based at the Royal United Hospital in Bath and affiliated to the University of Bath, the charity works on a large number of projects to help disabled people, one of their most successful designs is a bike for children with restricted growth.

"Imagine the frustration of trying to ride a bike with your mates and you cant reach the pedals or handlebars", said Tony Husband of BIME. "Our bike is specifically designed to help kids with restricted growth to get on with being kids". It's a super-low chassis with a low-ratio gear and short cranks, and can really help kids with restricted growth to join in.

"The bike is just one of our great ideas to change the lives of people with disabilities", said Tony of the project, "and even very small amounts of money can help to pay for some of the mobility aids we design". For an idea of the kind of areas the charity are involved in, head over to www.bime.org.uk.

BIME will be registered with JustGiving in the new year, making fundraising a lot easier, and they're interested in talking to anyone who'd like to raise money, whatever the amount. You can contact the charity via their website.