What is the Indoor Ride to End Polio?The Indoor Ride to End Polio is a ready-made polio fundraising event open to every Rotary Club, Rotary District and Rotarian in the world. The Indoor Ride is a complement to the Ride to End Polio, a bicycling fundraiser held each November in Tucson, Arizona, USA, in conjunction with El Tour de Tucson, one of the largest perimeter bicycling events in the US. El Tour, organized by Perimeter Bicycling Association of America, annually attracts more than 8,000 cyclists. The Indoor Ride allows Rotarians across the country and around the world to participate without coming to Tucson by riding stationary bikes at home or in a gym, having a ride or walk in your community, or planning a special event such as Putt for Polio (event at mini-golf course), Pints for Polio (a beverage drinking event), etc., with participants collecting donations for Polio Plus.”The Indoor Ride is encouraged to take place in early November in conjunction with The Ride to End Polio/El Tour. Download the full FAQ sheet here.
How can my club or district participate? Form a team in your club or district. There is no maximum or minimum number of cyclists. Team members collect pledges and donations for their ride, and then hop on stationary bikes for the self-selected length of time at the local gym or at home. During the pandemic, some riders choose to ride a traditional bike in their neighborhood, which is also acceptable. DOWNLOAD THE INDOOR APPLICATION HERE.
How can my club or district register? Registration forms are available. When your team’s registration form is received, a packet to help you get organized will be sent to the team captain.
How does this event raise funds to support Rotary’s top priority, the eradication of polio? Each rider solicits donations to PolioPlus in support of the ride (for example, some riders may ask $1 per minute). All funds raised and turned in are matched 2 to 1 by the Gates Foundation in support of Rotary’s efforts to eradicate polio from the face of the earth. Contributions can be made by checks made out to The Rotary Foundation with Polio Plus in the memo line and the Club’s Rotary Foundation Chair submits the appropriate form with the check OR donations can be made through a special Crowdfunding pages at www.rotary.org (We will notify our cyclists once those pages are available to construct). Each rider is requested to track contributions made in support of their ride by either cash, check and online to ensure that such contributions go to the Rotary Foundation PolioPlus fund. Indoor team leaders are encouraged to track team totals (on-line and off-line) and to report totals to the Indoor Chair as listed on the registration form.