Accor: The Amazing Bike Ride, Cambodia 2017 and Vietnam 2019
Two charity rides for one hotel group, run on the ground by Social Cycles: 75 riders across Cambodia in 2017, and 58 riders through Vietnam’s Mekong Delta in 2019.
- Riders, Cambodia 2017
- 75
- Riders, Vietnam 2019
- 58
- Nationalities in 2019
- 17
- Reported, November 2019
- 128,800 USD
Who and Why
In 2017 the hotel group Accor, then trading as AccorHotels, set up a charity cycling challenge for its staff and called it The Amazing Bike Ride. It came out of the group’s diversity and inclusion network, and the 2017 jerseys carried the words Diversity & Inclusion in Action. Social Cycles hosted the ride and ran the logistics, with founder Brett Seychell leading on the road.
Seventy-five team members, from every level of the business, rode from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh on 24 to 26 November 2017: three riding days inside a five-day trip.
Edition One · 24 to 26 November 2017
Cambodia 2017: The Route
The Plan for Each Day
- Day 1, 23 Nov Arrive in Siem Reap. Registration and bike fitting, welcome briefing, dinner at Marum.
- Day 2, 24 Nov Ride 23 km to the boat port via a hospitality school. Boat towards Battambang, then 18 km by bike into town. Circus performance in the evening.
- Day 3, 25 Nov Ride 53 km from Battambang via Banan Temple to lunch in Phnum Thippadei village. Coach to Pursat. Visit to Sustainable Cambodia.
- Day 4, 26 Nov Coach to the start on Highway 5. Ride 28 km to lunch, then 47 km and two ferries into Phnom Penh.
- Day 5, 27 Nov Free morning in Phnom Penh and departure.
Planned Kilometres by Riding Day
The first riding day left Siem Reap on back roads, crossed towards Battambang by boat and ended with a private Phare Ponleu Selpak circus performance. The second ran on gravel through villages to Banan Temple before a coach transfer to Pursat. The third was the longest, 70 km or more with two local ferries, finishing at the hotel door in Phnom Penh.
The Organisations Along the Way
The ride was planned around the organisations it raised money for. The itinerary started at a hospitality and tourism school in Siem Reap, and staff from This Life Cambodia were due to ride the first leg. The welcome dinner was booked at Marum, a Friends International training restaurant. Staff from a children’s organisation in Battambang were due to join the ride out of town, and in Pursat the plan had a session with the local team at Sustainable Cambodia. The fundraising was also to support Accor’s own charity partner in Thailand.
Edition Two · 15 to 17 November 2019
Vietnam 2019: The Second Edition
The Plan for Each Day
- Thu 14 Nov Meet in Ho Chi Minh City, bus to My Tho, team briefing.
- Fri 15 Nov My Tho to Can Tho, 101 km, four ferry crossings, lunch in Vinh Long.
- Sat 16 Nov Can Tho to Ben Tre, 99 km, three ferry crossings, 4 to 5 km of single track, lunch in Vung Liem.
- Sun 17 Nov Ben Tre to Ho Chi Minh City, 93 km, two ferry crossings, lunch in Tan Tru.
- Mon 18 Nov Breakfast together and departure.
Planned Kilometres by Riding Day
Accor came back two years later for the Amazing Bike Ride 2.0. Fifty-eight staff in 15 teams, 19 women and 39 men from 17 nationalities, aged 24 to 62, rode from My Tho to Can Tho, Ben Tre and Ho Chi Minh City on 15 to 17 November 2019.
Each riding day was close to 100 km on flat back roads, canal paths and ferry crossings: 101 km, 99 km and 93 km.
128,800 USDReported 20 November 2019
The Money
Each team set out to raise 10,000 USD. On 20 November 2019 Accor reported 128,800 USD raised, with fundraising open until the end of that year. The ride named four organisations to benefit, in Vietnam, Thailand and Cambodia. One of them, Mekong Plus, works in more than 800 delta villages, and Social Cycles riders still visit it.
Behind the Scenes
Moving 75 people and their bikes across Cambodia was planned with a Social Cycles team of 15 to 18, five mechanics, four trucks, two minivans, two coaches and three boats. The plan split riders into teams, each with its own guide and mechanic, with a head count at every scheduled stop.
The Cambodia 2017 Plan
- Crew
- 15 to 18
- Mechanics
- 5
- Trucks
- 4
- Minivans
- 2
- Coaches
- 2
- Boats
- 3
For the Mekong Delta the plan called for a local team of more than 20, with two buses, three vans, three trucks and about 15 cycle guides. The delta is a maze of small paths, so the briefing set rules: at every turn one rider stops to point the way until the tail rider comes through, a support vehicle waits every 15 to 20 km, and anyone still at lunch at 2 pm finishes the day by van.