On Friday, September 6, 175 riders, including three Cisconians, set off on a daunting challenge: to ride 450 kilometers in four days from Colt’s Brussels office to their office in Düsseldorf. The trek would be great, but the purpose much greater. 
The purpose? Raising awareness and fundraising for charities supporting educational initiatives focused mainly on digital inclusion, building digital skills and technologies for good, and promoting STEM education. This year there was a special focus on disadvantaged and vulnerable groups, a transition that reflects Colt’s core values of diversity, inclusion, and true equity.
Since the first Colt Bike Ride in 2012, Colt has raised an amazing 1.2 million euros in eight rides for charities globally.
As a former Accedian employee (acquired by Cisco in September 2023, Accedian Skylight is now known as Cisco Provider Connectivity Assurance), I had heard about the Colt Bike Ride as Accedian, like Cisco, had been a long-time sponsor of the event pre-pandemic. When the opportunity arose to take an open spot on the ride, I absolutely jumped on it, despite being a relative amateur when it comes to long-distance cycling.
Long story short, I survived. More importantly, the 2024 edition of the Colt Bike Ride has been a massive success. The team surpassed their 100,000 euro goal for donations, but there’s still time to support these very deserving charities! Navigate here to learn more about them and donate.
Innovative partnership, exemplary company values
When it comes to pushing technology boundaries, Colt has an illustrious history of being an innovator and early adopter of new Cisco tech for their digital infrastructure. As a result of their appetite for staying on the leading edge, they have successfully accomplished staggering milestones such as 97% reduction in energy use on parts of their network through the use of Routed Optical Networking and a 25% churn reduction with the implementation of end-customer portals with transparent visibility into real-time service levels.
When you look at Colt as an organization, governed by values like “we always find a better way” and “we know people matter”, you can see that their innovation doesn’t stop with their leading network. The Colt Bike Ride is an example of Colt’s values being put into action.
When CEO Keri Gilder brought back the Colt Bike Ride this year, she wanted the event to reflect those values. The 2024 Bike Ride was particularly special this year as adjustments were made to make the ride inclusive for neurodiverse people and people with physical accessibility challenges. The ride was led by three hand cyclists: all are active members of DAN, Colt’s Disability Accessibility Network, and each of them faces their own accessibility challenges. Tackling more than 100 kilometers (62 miles) a day on the grueling multi-terrain route saw them challenging perceptions and their own abilities at the same time.
So long, and thanks for all the eggs
In its first return since the global pandemic, the general consensus across all participants, the riders, and support crew, was that the Colt Bike Ride is back bigger and better, and more inclusive, than ever.
I would be remiss in not mentioning and thanking the wonderful, 50-strong support crew and team who spent the last ten months planning each and every detail of the event. As a marketer and someone who has been a part of many events throughout my career, it was a marvel to behold. Congratulations.
The ride was a testament to the power of teamwork, and what a team I was lucky enough to be on. Thank you to Team 8, Team Cisco, and all the other teams who shouted “Allez Allez!” and other words of encouragement as we rode by. To take part was truly a privilege.
Here’s Colt Bike Ride 2024 by the numbers:
- 450 kilometers—actually, it was closer to 470 according to my Garmin watch and the detours and wrong turns my team took!
- 4,466 vertical meters—that’s halfway up Mount Everest!
- 26 hours, 55 minutes, 25 seconds spent in the saddle.
- Approximately 972 boiled eggs (rough estimate).
- 11 new friends on the fantastic Team 8!
- Over 100,000 euros raised so far, and there is still time to give!
If you would like to learn more about the Colt Bike Ride and the 22 deserving charities that Colt has selected to support as part of this initiative, please go here.
