What is the Koppenberg 24? Nestled in the Vlaamse Ardennen is the famous cobbled climb of the Koppenberg. Spanning 550m (just over a third of a mile) and rising 78 meters (256ft) giving the climb an average gradient of 11% with a max of 22% at its steepest! This climb will be the centerpiece of our 24 hour climb-a-thon fundraiser for young cyclists coming to Belgium. Gregg Germer, co-owner of The ChainStay, will attempt to ride the Koppenberg for 24 hours straight, from noon on June 23rd to noon on the 24th.

Why is Gregg doing such a crazy ride? He’s riding to help raise funds to help support young riders coming to The ChainStay and the amount of support he and Holly can give to the riders who come and stay at the house. Gregg’s take on the situation is; “There is only so much financial burden we want to put on riders who come to stay at the house. In order to do more we are looking to help close the gap between what we can currently provide and what we would like to provide young riders through this fundraiser. By doing the Koppenberg 24 we can help provide more support to help make all the difference to young racers coming over to Europe.”

How can you help? All you need to do is pledge a commitment (from 10 euros cents each ascent or a set pledge) to the Koppenberg 24 for each ascent Gregg completes. Each pledge helps us bridge that gap between what we want to do and what we can do. See below for our pledge options.

How many times will Gregg ride the Koppenberg? Who knows! He’s looking to ride around 100 ascents of the climb over 24 hours, an average of just over 4 times an hour, every hour! Maybe he will crack at 50, maybe he will make it to 150 … we won’t know until June 24th!

What we will do with money pledged:

• Purchase training wheel-sets for the house to help save weight for riders flying oversea’s, possibly even avoiding growing airline baggage fees!
• Purchase items for an arrival box, complete with tools, tubes, cell phone and other various bits, for riders to borrow when they arrive, further saving them weight and space when flying.
• Provide guests with a set amount of chain lube, bike washing cleaner and chain degreaser based upon their length of stay, further saving them the cost of buying these items.
• Supplying of house kit for riders. Renner Custom has agreed to match Euro for Euro any pledges made to the Koppenberg 24 for the purchasing of team clothing for riders.

Want to make a pledge? So you would like to help young racers coming to Belgium? Great!

You can help out two different ways. You can either pledge a set amount to the cause using the button below:

You can also do a Per-Climb Donation based on the number of times up the Koppenberg. You can pledge any amount over 10 euros cents per lap. Just send us an e-mail at info@thechainstay.com and we will note your pledge amount and e-mail. We will then contact you on the 25th of June about the amount of your pledge.

Thank you so much for your support. If you can’t help out financially, that’s cool, but you can still help out by becoming a fan The ChainStay on Facebook or following us on Twitter. Be sure to share this fundraiser with your friends and get them to like and follow us if you can!

Come back often in the lead up to June 23rd for lots of exciting news and reports on the Koppenberg 24!

– Gregg and Holly Germer, Co-owners – The ChainStay –