KIWL 500 in 2022 - Getting Fit & Giving Back.

In June this year I will be joining the 9th KIWL 500 Charity Bike ride. 500km over mountains, around lakes, and along rivers in Japan by bicycle to raise money for a superb cause. This is the second time for me to do the ride and I will be joining most of the same team members from my first ride in 2018. The landscape and the challenges will have changed but the mission remains the same: raising money and awareness for disadvantaged children in Japan.

You may be wondering what need is there in Japan, one of the richest countries in the world, for children’s focused charities. To give you a snapshot from my conversation with the founder of YouMeWe the need is very large indeed. I learned:

·??????There are over 3 million children growing up in Japan below the poverty line. As there are estimated to be around 15 million children under the age of 15 years old that puts 20% or thereabouts below the poverty line.

·??????Over 30,000 children are living in care homes. The reasons they are living there are many; to escape abuse, parents unable to provide for them, being orphaned. The needs they face are shared, and in large part are a lack of support, a lack of role models, and a lack of opportunity. Without outside help there is little prospect of a future much better than they have today.

The needs are clear, and people are helping in what way they can. I want to highlight the good work being done by two groups to help some of these children. Work being done by Rob Williams the founder of KIWL, and Michael Clemons the founder of YouMeWe. Links to both organizations will be included below so that you can contribute if you wish to. Money is important but so is your time.

I sat down with Rob Williams to learn more about Knights in White Lycra (KIWL) and how it all came about. He informed me that the genesis of the group and ride stemmed from a night in the HobGoblin pub in Roppongi in 2012. A group of portly British blokes decided it was time to do something to improve their own wellbeing, and to ensure they saw it through, they would tie doing it to improving the wellbeing of others in less fortunate circumstances. The 2011 Tohoku earthquake was still fresh in everyone’s minds and the recovery efforts were in the early phase. The bar was set, pints were pulled, ideas mulled, and over karaoke a name was concocted as a play on words from the song “Nights in White Satin”.

It took until the next year to get it on the road, and in 2013 the inaugural KIWL was a 300km bicycle ride to Minami Soma, undertaken by 10 lycra-clad British men. That first ride was cut short due to a freezing blizzard on the final day, but the team went back in June to complete the ride.

Everyone was happy to have been able to complete the ride but the lasting impression they all took away from the journey was when they visited one of the homes, seeing firsthand who they were raising money for, and the gratitude they were shown for helping and not forgetting those people in need. From that experience it was clear the ride was going to become an annual event and not just a one-off.

The following year the team looked at supporting a charity further up the pacific coast and realized to ride there they would need to add another day and another 200km to the event. So that is what they did, and the KIWL 500 was born in 2014. Since then, every year the ride covers a 500km course and ends on the final day at a care home so that the riders can again know what their efforts have been for. The route changes but the outcome remains the same.

Another way the ride has evolved since 2013 is the participants. In 2013 it was 10 British men pedaling through the Japanese countryside. This year the ride is made up of 44 men and women, hailing from 13 different countries, with an age range from 23 to 62 years old. The ride is not for beginners though, each person needs to be an accomplished cyclist.

KIWL has always been about giving back, and since I have known the group, KIWL has always been about raising money for children in care homes. But I learnt in my conversation with Rob that was not originally the case. He told me that the first ride in 2013 was to raise money for food and water for the survivors of the tsunami that devastated many parts for the Tohoku region. In the second year they raised money for a charity that was educating young people in Tohoku on farming practices and agriculture in an effort to reduce the migration of young people from the shattered countryside to the city post-earthquake. Though not explicitly set up to support children in need, those first two rides were in large part doing just that, so the team decided to build on that common theme. From the following ride onwards KIWL 500 has focused their fund raising on charities that help marginalized and disadvantaged children in Japan. With a focus on helping children living in care homes.

Rob speaks highly of the support KIWL has had over the last 9 years from the cyclists, as well as the corporations that have sponsored the ride multiple times. All monies raised are given straight to the charities and KIWL does not keep any of it (if you wish to donate you will see from the link provided that the money you give goes directly to the charity). Some companies donate cash, while some choose to also support the riders directly. Notably Land Rover Japan provides support vehicles each year to help make sure the riders make it safely to the destination. Everyone is aligned in the mission to raise money while promoting healthy activities and contributions to the communities we live in. This year’s charity is YouMeWe. Please look at the link below to learn more and read the second part to learn more about the specifics of the work they are doing.

So, what does the future hold for further KIWL rides? It has already grown from 10 to 40+ riders, as well as from the initial 300km to becoming the KIWL 500. Rob explained that the ride is over-subscribed each year as the group size now is pretty much as big as it can get without becoming a logistical nightmare. And of course, not everyone who wants to contribute is a keen cyclist. The group has therefore expanded to a range of activities throughout the year so everyone can play their part. These include a Palace walk, golf events, a Futsal tournament, pub quizzes and more.

This is my second ride but plenty of people have returned many more times. What brings them back? Rob feels the reason is simple, cycling is a sport with a strong sense of community, and the KIWL 500 is no different in that regard. People have improved their fitness, achieved things they may not have thought they were capable of, and in the process made a lot of very close friends. The team I rode with in 2018 keep in regular contact. To top it all off, at the end of the ride each year we get to meet children from one of the homes we have been supporting through the ride. After 500kms on tired legs, seeing those kids and understanding that the charities we support will help prepare them for a future above and beyond the one mapped out for them by circumstance makes us want to do it all again.

LINKS

If you want to get involved with KIWL please do so here.

If you want to donate to YouMeWe please do so via their website here.?