Support a Rider Charity and win a fantastic bike

Win a LIMITED EDITION ONLY ONE IN THE WORLD Complete Custom Dartmoor Shine.

Dartmoor Bikes, Mojo Suspension and Slam69 have put together a great prize to help raise money for UK Rider Scott Shepherd. See Scotts story below.


The Rider Down Trust was founded in 2011 following Scott Shepherds serious crash at Round 2 of the Schwalbe British 4X at PORC. Scott sustained traumatic brain injuries as a result of the crash on the 8th May 2011. Although injuries to this extent are very rare, they are becoming more and more common due to the increased interest in cycling, especially mountain bike and BMX. Scott was classed as being in a coma for nearly 5 months and nearly a year on has progressed to minimally concious, but of course this is still very limiting and he is totally dependant on others for all his care and needs.

What does The Rider Down Trust aim to achieve?

As Scott's family, we found that support was very difficult to attain. Much of the support available is aimed at people with less severe brain injury and therefore very difficult to get the right advice at the right time. Also due to the lack of information in the public, we still find that people do not understand the situation Scott is in and, although not down to ignorance, this makes it very difficult for people who know him to deal with the situation.

We felt that we wanted to offer a service to cyclists who have been through a similar traumatic situation, initially this service is for sufferers of traumatic brain injury (TBI) but we hope to role out the service to help cyclists with any serious injury across the UK. The cycling community as a whole, may be divided by the type of bike they ride but everyone is united in supporting fallen riders and we aim to be the first stop for individuals and their families when such an incident occurs.

The Trust can offer support to individuals through specific advice for their situation and injuries, one to one support when needed, financial grants available to help with travelling if the injured cyclist is at hospital away from home. Although we have predetermined goals we do not limit to these and if we can help in any other way other than what we lay out we will ultimately do our best to accommodate all situations.

We also are aiming to set up a group to help seriously injured riders to keep their social experiences and keep riding by providing access to specialist cycle equipment in a safe environment. This will ultimately be based in Derby however we plan to work with similar organisations across the UK to provide this to as many people as possible.

The Rider Down Trust is a very new charitable organisation, but awareness for our cause is growing rapidly enabling us to get out there and help more people. The more people we are able to help the more money we need to raise to be able to offer the best service we possibly can. The funds we raise will go to providing the advice and financial support which injured riders and their families need when they need it, as well as going towards purchasing the cycle equipment to provide the rehabilitation service and social integration that is so important to sufferers of life long disabilities as a result of their injuries.

To riders like Scott, who's passion was to ride, to give them the opportunity to continue with this passion and help them retain their sense of identity is crucial to their well being and mental stability throughout their lives. It is currently being brought to the attention of the media that although science has developed in leaps and bounds in order to increase survival rates, little is available to support these individuals once they are stable. Even the number of hospitals capable of giving full and adequate care to these people is very limited and often a long commute for their families.

As a trust we aim to support as many people as possible, and our aim for 2012 is to raise at least £15,000 in order for us to keep getting out there and offer these services. Whether the rider has sustained a brain or spinal injury or a broken bone we will offer the service that each individual needs. The grants we offer are to help with travel costs for the family if the patient is in hospital out of their home town, or to cover basic costs if the person is in hospital for two weeks or more to relieve financial hardship and grants are available up to £500 (dependant on severity of injury and length of hospital stay)
Watch this message of support from a man who knows.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=jqWP9KA8FNk

The bike is a one-off, the frame was supplied by Dartmoor Bikes HQ with the shock coming from Mojo Suspension, the rest of the build has been supplied by Slam69.
Components include; Manitou Circus Expert forks, Halo H-Blok tyres, Funn disc brake, plus a host of cool Dartmoor parts.

To win this one-off bike all you need to do is go to the slam69 site; link below, then pick one of 3 answers to a question and pay your entry fee, you can enter as many times as you wish.
full details on the slam site.


http://www.slam69.co.uk/shop.php?sec=prod&prod=671&product=win-a-complete-shine

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