For us, bicycles are recreational equipment, but for some people a bicycle can mean survival. A bicycle can make all the difference in a persons life. It can be the difference between having a job or not, going to school or not, seeing a doctor or not…
Wheels4Life is a non-profit organization that provides bikes for people in developing countries in need of transportation to get to work or to school, including health care workers. Wheels4life was founded by extreme biking legend and former Mountain Bike World Champion Hans Rey.
Hans has been a professional athlete for 20 years, and he still travels the world promoting biking. He has been competing and demonstrating his talents in 60 countries, in recent years he been filming documentaries with his ‘Hans Rey Adventure Team’, combining his extreme biking skills with different cultures, always in search of something historical or mysterious. We went to London in early 2007 to meet Hans, months before the start of Ride Earth.
We have been given the opportunity to work as Wheels4Life ambassadors. We will be on the lookout for opportunities to make a positive difference to the lives of people living in difficult circumstances by buying locally-supplied bicycles and donating them to those who need them the most. This may be teachers, healthcare workers or families with no way of transporting their goods to market.
Wheels4Life is Hans’s way of giving something back to the people he has met on his journeys; Hans remains grateful for the opportunities and career he had through the sport. We look forward to giving something back on our journey, through Wheels4Life.
