Cycliq Ambassador Kohen Rides to Rottnest

Here at Cycliq HQ we get excited by all things bike related. So when we heard that someone had big plans to cycle across the ocean to Rottnest Island, we just had to find out more.

Yep you read that correctly, we did say ride to an island…

For those of you unfamiliar to the geographic intricacies of our hometown of Perth, Rottnest Island (or Rotto as it’s called) is located 20km west from Perth on the west coast of Australia. It’s a favourite cycling route and tourist spot and home to the friendliest marsupials you’ll ever meet.

Battling the swell, and possibly hungry sharks, Kohen has tasked himself with riding 20km across the ocean on a floating bike to raise money for charity. When asked how long this would take, he estimated a 6 hour trip.

Meet Kohen Grogan

Kohen is a young entrepreneur from Western Australia and founder of tech start-up Yappy Group. He also happens to like bikes and has a cause he’s passionate about – the global education crisis.

“Most people aren’t aware of the crisis. A quarter of a billion children worldwide don’t have the basic literacy levels to ever have a chance of getting out of poverty and approximately 121 million don’t have access to any form of education at all and I’ve got a real problem with that and am doing something about it.”
– Kohen Grogan

Aware of the sheer effort required to cycle 20km on the water, he admits the idea seems crazy, “even crazier, however, is that many children often have to travel 2.5 hours each way every day to access an education. If they are lucky enough not to be dragged into work.”

Building a School in Cambodia with the Classroom of Hope

Classroom of Hope is a charity fighting for access to education for poverty stricken regions. A firm believer in the power of education, Kohen plans to use the funds to build a school in a remote, poverty-stricken part of Cambodia north of Siem Reap. In order to maximise the potential of the new school, the plan includes building clean drinking water facilities and proper toilets and sanitation for the community, as well as a solar station for energy. It’s expected that this project will bring $1.5M in economic growth the the community and surrounding area over the next two decades.
Cycliq is proud to be supporting Kohen and Classroom of Hope and to have him as an ambassador for our Fly6 and Fly12 CE devices. Kohen can use all the help he can get; you can provide your contribution and support at bit.ly/ridetorotto.

Before the Big Day

For the past few months, Kohen has been training to improve his physical fitness for the ride – on the water and in the gym. For a final practise ride last week, he took us out to see his hydrobike – a bike mounted upon two pontoons. Naturally, we had to deck it out with Fly6 CE and Fly12 CE bike cameras.

The Big Ride

Setting out at 7am on Saturday, Kohen smashed it by arriving at Rottnest island just shy of 3.5 hours. Since this is the first time this cross has been attempted by bike, we congratulate Kohen on his KOM.

Check out this video, including footage from the Fly.

“It was definitely challenging. When I announced I was going to do it in April I had absolutely no clue how I was going to pull it off, I didn’t have the hydrobike and was incredibly unfit. Despite these obstacles I was determined to make it happen and did it,” said an exhausted but proud Kohen before finally getting his well-deserved bevvy.