There is something profoundly transformative about crossing a finish line knowing your pedal strokes have raised possibly thousands of dollars for a good cause. In Australia, charity bike rides form the beating heart of the annual cycling calendar. My first bike event was the MS Gong Ride, from Sydney to Wollongong to fight multiple sclerosis.

Like my CycleHub Co-founder Andrea, I have done charity rides without bothering to raise money. And we’ve completed others where we went all out to get as many donations as possible. We won’t tell you which approach to take for your next charity event. Whatever you decide, the outcome will be rewarding.

To help you get started, this is our ultimate guide to Australia’s top 10 charity bike rides, with advice on how to get started.

1. MS Gong Ride (NSW)

• The Route: Sydney to Wollongong (82km or 54km)
• The Cause: MS Plus (Multiple Sclerosis support and research)
• The Vibe: An iconic coastal pilgrimage over the Sea Cliff Bridge.
• Learn more about the MS Gong Ride and register.

Going now for over 40 years, the MS Gong Ride is a rite of passage for Australian cyclists. I’ve ridden it alongside other riders wearing everything from thongs and board shorts to the latest Lycra gear.

Starting in Sydney, riders wind through the pristine canopy of the Royal National Park. This is a notoriously risky spot where there is usually at least one crash, so give plenty of room to the riders descending in front of you. Then you emerge onto the breathtaking Sea Cliff Bridge, ride through the beautiful, rolling coastal country north of Wollongong, and finally finish right in downtown Wollongong.

One rider who completed the event in 2023 suffers from MS. His team raised $5,400. “Crossing that finish line wasn’t just a physical victory,” he said. “It was knowing that money directly funds the MS nurses who helped me navigate my diagnosis.”

2. United Energy Around the Bay (VIC)

• The Route: Melbourne (Distances from 20km to 300km)
• The Cause: The Smith Family (Supporting disadvantaged Australian children with education)
• The Vibe: Australia’s largest one-day cycling event, featuring an iconic bay-crossing ferry ride.
• Learn more about United Energy Around the Bay and register.

Around the Bay is another legendary event. The premier 210km and 300km loops take riders completely around Port Phillip Bay, including a mandatory, highly social ferry connection from Queenscliff to Sorrento. Funds raised support children’s education programmes to help break the cycle of poverty.

A rider named David (no relation to CycleHub) tackled the loop on a vintage, heavy steel single-speed bicycle to honour his late father, who had been a passionate teacher. He was exhausted when he got onto the ferry, but was immediately surrounded by other riders who cheered him on, bought him coffee, and scanned his fundraising QR code right there on the deck.

He raised an extra $4,200 before the boat docked in Sorrento.

3. Hawaiian Ride for Youth (WA)

• The Route: Albany to Perth (700km over 4.5 days)
• The Cause: Youth Focus (Youth mental health and suicide prevention)
• The Vibe: An emotional, deeply impactful journey through regional Western Australia.
• Learn more about Hawaiian Ride for Youth and register.

You could call the Hawaiian Ride for Youth a moving conversation. Teams of riders journey from Albany to Perth, stopping at regional high schools along the route to deliver vital presentations on mental health, resilience, and where young people can find help. The event has raised $36 million and has had an immeasurable impact on wellbeing.

A veteran rider named Glenn tells about completing it three times. “The training is brutal,” he recounts. “Months of 5:00 AM bunch rides in winter.”

But Glenn says the real challenge is emotional. He describes how, after making a presentation at a country high school, a 15-year-old boy walked up to him with tears in his eyes. The boy said he’d been struggling but was now going to talk to the school counsellor.

“You realise then that it’s not about the kilometres in your legs; it’s about saving lives. That kid is why we climb the hills every morning.”

4. Amy’s Great Ocean Road Gran Fondo (VIC) [Bonus]

• The Route: Lorne and the Great Ocean Road, Victoria
• The Cause: The Amy Gillett Foundation (cycling safety, working towards zero rider deaths)
• The Vibe: A closed-road celebration of cycling that funds the fight to keep cyclists alive.
• Learn more about Amy’s Great Ocean Road Gran Fondo and register.

Amy’s is named for Amy Gillett, the elite Australian cyclist killed by a driver while training in 2005, and the Amy Gillett Foundation it supports exists for one purpose: reducing death and injury among bike riders. You probably know their campaign, “A Metre Matters”.

The riding itself is a treat and entirely on closed roads, which makes it among the safest and most visually spectacular Aussie gran fondos. The flagship Gran Fondo runs roughly 120 to 130km on fully closed roads along the Great Ocean Road, climbing to Skenes Creek and winding through the Otway Ranges before dropping back into Lorne.

There are also shorter Medio and Family options for everyone else.

This event pulls a serious crowd. The 2025 edition drew more than 2,000 riders, among them cricketer Peter Siddle and Olympic swimmer Mack Horton. As AusCycling CEO Marne Fechner, whose organisation has partnered with the foundation on road safety, puts it: “Every cyclist death is preventable.”

5. Tour de Cure Signature Tour (National)

• The Route: Varies annually (approx. 1,000km over 9 days)
• The Cause: Cancer research, support, and prevention projects
• The Vibe: A professional-grade, fully supported peloton with a massive national footprint.
• Learn more about Tour de Cure and register.

Tour de Cure is a fundraising powerhouse and has raised $158 million for cancer research. Their flagship Signature Tour brings together corporate leaders, everyday cyclists, and celebrities to ride through regional Australia. Along the way, they visit local primary schools to teach kids the “Be Fit, Be Healthy, Be Happy” cancer prevention message, while funding local cancer projects at every overnight stop.

Samantha is a breast cancer survivor and three-time Tour de Cure rider. She recommends it.

“The support crew treats you like a pro athlete, mechanics, masseuses, and navigators,” she recounts. “But the highlight is entering the towns.”

She describes entering a small town in Victoria where the local primary school had lined the streets with handmade yellow flags to welcome them.

“To stand on stage in my cycling kit and tell those kids that they have the power to help prevent cancer, and then hand over a $10,000 check to the local hospital,” Samantha recounts, “was an unforgettable feeling.”

6. Great Cycle Challenge (National / Virtual)

• The Route: Anywhere in Australia (Rider-defined goal throughout October)
• The Cause: Children’s Medical Research Institute (CMRI)
• The Vibe: Highly accessible, community-driven, and perfect for families and solo riders.
• Learn more Great Cycle Challenge and register.

For those who can’t travel or prefer to ride at their own pace, the Great Cycle Challenge allows participants to set a personal kilometre goal for October and track their rides via an app. It democratises charity riding, allowing kids, commuters, mountain bikers, and even indoor cyclists to join the fight against childhood cancer.

I’ve never taken part in this ride, but I am inspired by the story of Lucas, a 10-year-old from Adelaide who wanted to help his school friend, who had been diagnosed with leukaemia. Lucas set a goal to ride 150km on his BMX bike during October.

Every day after school, he’d put on his helmet and ride laps of the local park. Neighbours started joining him. By the end of the month, Lucas had raised $3,200. The flexibility of the Great Cycle Challenge means that even a 10-year-old can make a real difference.

7. The Bobbin Head Cycle Classic / “The Bobbo” (NSW)

• The Route: Sydney’s Northern Suburbs (27km to 104km)
• The Cause: Lifeline & local Rotary charities
• The Vibe: A community-focused, scenic challenge through Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park.
• Learn more about the Bobbin Head Cycle Classic and register.

Organised by local Rotary clubs, “The Bobbo” offers spectacular, traffic-managed routes through some of Sydney’s toughest terrain. The 104km route features the infamous, leg-burning Bobbin Head climb, drawing competitive riders and weekend warriors alike to support mental health services.

More than 450 volunteers station themselves along the route to keep Bobbo riders safe. One volunteer says that his favourite spot is the top of the Bobbin Head switchbacks. Riders arrive completely spent and gasping for air. However, as they clear the crest, the volunteers cheer them on, hand them water, and remind them that their sweat is directly funding Lifeline’s 13 11 14 crisis line.

For the riders, that’s a moment of both relief and pride.

8. Peaks Challenge Falls Creek (VIC)

• The Route: A loop from Falls Creek through the Victorian High Country (235km)
• The Cause: Ride2School, run by the not-for-profit Bicycle Network (helping more kids ride and walk to school safely)
• The Vibe: Australia’s hardest one-day ride, with a Tour de France mountain stage written all over it.
• Learn more about the Peaks Challenge Falls Creek and register.

Peaks Challenge is widely regarded as the toughest single-day ride in Australia or New Zealand. The 235km loop packs in more than 4,000 metres of climbing and is governed by a strict 13-hour cutoff.

Riders must make it over three savage ascents: Tawonga Gap, Mount Hotham, and the climb cyclists call “The Beast”, the back of Falls Creek. That last one hits with around 200km already in the legs, and its first pinch is notorious among past riders.

Riders who fundraise become “Peaks Legends”, with the money going to Ride2School, a Bicycle Network programme that gets more kids travelling to school by bike. The group raised over $54,000 in 2026.

Bicycle Network CEO Alison McCormack has finished Peaks 13 times. She says it was the support riders showing each other that made her fall in love with the event. She first took it on in 2012 after her mother passed away and has ridden through the loss of other close family members since.

9. MACA Cancer 200 Ride for Research (WA)

• The Route: Perth to Mandurah and back (200km over 2 days)
• The Cause: Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research
• The Vibe: WA’s largest charity ride, packed with corporate energy and cutting-edge science.
• Learn more about MACA Cancer 200 and register.

This two-day event sees thousands of riders journey down the WA coast from Perth to Mandurah, camping overnight before riding back. The funds raised go directly to purchasing state-of-the-art laboratory equipment and funding clinical trials in Western Australia.

Professor Peter Leedman, the CEO of the Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research, rides every year.

“The sea of 1,500 riders at the start line, many of whom are cancer survivors or riding for loved ones, is profoundly moving,” he says about the experience.

“That ride directly funds the breakthroughs we make in targeting hard-to-treat cancers. And when we return to the labs on Monday, the energy is electric. The scientists know exactly who they are working for.”

10. The Cardiac Challenge (QLD)

• The Route: Cairns to Cooktown (333km over 3 days)
• The Cause: Far North Queensland Hospital Foundation
• The Vibe: An unforgettable tropical outback adventure up the Kuranda Range.
• Learn more about the Cardia Challenge and register.

This unique three-day ride takes cyclists from the tropical coast of Cairns, up the steep Kuranda Range, and through the rugged, red-dirt landscapes of the Cape York Peninsula to the historic town of Cooktown. It funds vital cardiac care equipment for regional hospitals.

Arthur, a 62-year-old regional Queenslander, underwent open-heart surgery in 2021. In 2023, he completed the Cardiac Challenge.

“Riding up the Kuranda Range was a milestone I never thought I’d see again,” Arthur says. “The cardiologist who helped manage my recovery was riding right next to me in the peloton. We rode into Cooktown together.”

Arthur says he’ll never forget the full-circle moment of raising money for the very cardiac equipment that saved his life, alongside the medical staff who use it.

Essential Tips for Your First Charity Bike Ride

Maybe you’re antisocial. If you don’t want to ride in an organised event with lots of other riders, you can try something different. Say, follow in the tracks of Lachy Morton. He smashed the world record by cycling 14,210 kilometres around Australia in just 30 days, 9 hours, and 59 minutes. That helped him raise $140,000 for the Indigenous Literacy Foundation.

Lachy rode as many as 600 kilometres per day and beat the prior record by more than seven days.

Training & Preparation Tips

Whatever challenge you attempt, here are three training tips to get you started. For more advice, check out CycleHub’s Australia-New Zealand Gran Fondo Guide for Beginners.

• Train for Time, Not Just Distance: If your event is an 80km ride, don’t worry about hitting 80km every weekend. Focus on building up your long ride to comfortably spend 3 to 4 hours in the saddle.
• Practice Bunch Skills: Charity rides feature dense pelotons. Practise riding with local groups beforehand to get comfortable with drafting, signalling hazards (like “hole” or “slowing”), and maintaining a predictable line.
• Nail Your Nutrition: Avoid testing new energy gels or sports drinks on the day of the event. Use your long training rides to find out what solid foods (like bananas or fruit cake) and hydration mixes work best for your stomach. For some unexpected tips on fuelling in the saddle, see Josh Kwan’s Tips for On-Bike Fuelling Without Gels

Fundraising & Organisational Tips

If you’re going to tackle one of these rides, you might like some help with the part of it that most people find harder than doing the hours of training and prep: fundraising.

Truly, hardly anyone enjoys asking friends and family for money. If the thought makes you wince, you’re normal, and you can still raise plenty.

The trick is to stop thinking of it as asking for yourself. You’re not the one being helped. You’re the bridge between people who would happily back a good cause and a charity that needs the funds. Most people want to chip in. They just need an easy way to do it and a reason to care.

Tell your ‘why’. Don’t send friends a bare link asking for money. Give them the short, honest reason for what you’re doing. Two or three sentences are plenty: “I’m riding because my aunt was diagnosed last year, and the nurses who looked after her were paid for by money like this.” If you’re riding in memory of someone, or marking a health milestone of your own, say so. People give to a person and a story, not to a logo.

Put your own money down first. Before you ask anyone else, donate to your own page. Even fifty dollars does two jobs. It shows you have skin in the game, and it gets the page off zero. Nobody wants to be the first donor staring at a blank tally, so once a few amounts are up, others follow.

Ask once, in public, and let people come to you. This is the part shy riders dread, the one-on-one hit-up, so skip it. Make a single post on whatever channel you actually use, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn or a group email; pin it; and let people find it in their own time. Phrase it so saying ‘no’ costs nothing: ‘No pressure at all, but if you’d like to chip in, the link’s below.’ By taking the pressure off, you make it easier for people to give.

Make the number small and specific. “Even ten dollars helps”, or “the price of a coffee”, lowers the bar far more than an open-ended plea. A small, concrete figure is easy to say yes to, and the small ones add up fast.

Offer milestones. Give your donors a reason to push you. “If I hit $1,000, I’ll tackle the big climb in a tutu,” or “for every $50, I’ll dedicate a kilometre of my ride to a loved one of your choice.” A bit of fun nudges people to round their amount up.

Let the bike do the asking. People sponsor the effort, so show them the effort. Share the unglamorous parts of training: the 5 am starts in the cold, the climb you’re quietly terrified of. A photo from the top of a brutal hill, or a fundraising QR code taped to your top tube, turns your ride into something people want to back rather than something you have to beg for.

Double it through work. Plenty of employers match staff donations dollar for dollar, and most riders never think to check. One short email to your HR or payroll team can quietly double everything you raise.

Thank people loudly, then close the loop. After the ride, post your result and thank your donors by name. It makes them feel good about giving, and it makes next year’s ask far easier. Generosity remembered is generosity repeated.

Hold no grudges. If someone doesn’t give, don’t hold it against them. People have all sorts of reasons for not giving, and any one of them is valid. Don’t let your eagerness to raise funds get in the way of your relationships with friends and family.