Neighbourly ride — it only took 14 years 

Timing matters. So does luck. But nothing matters more than having the right program, built on the right foundations, that genuinely meets a community need.

Before Neighbourly Ride existed, there was our startup, Bunchrides—a cycling community platform with the mission of “changing lives through cycling.” Today, Bunchrides quietly powers Neighbourly Ride, providing the technology and infrastructure behind every ride, registration, and volunteer connection.
 

March 2012 - Bunchrides

 Circa 2014

We started building the web application, with significant investment in group rides route mapping and data allocation. Then in 2014 and 2015 we created our first iOS and Android apps, as many people asked, “Do you have an app?” After exhausting all our funds in early 2015, we had an app that, in retrospect, was not ready for market and no way to finish building what we had started.

One of Australia’s largest cycling clubs was so supportive they commissioned an internal report of more than 20 pages covering personas, requirements and the gap between what we had and what they needed. At the time, we were told this report would cost between 10,000 to 20,000 AUD, but it was kindly put together by passionate club members.

At the time we had blue sky, no competitors but lacked the financial resources to finish what we started.
 

10 years of persistence

Tour Down Under - 2015

For more than 10 years, we tried everything to make our cycling platform - Bunchrides, work.

• 500+ proposals were sent, with two organisations receiving 10 over a decade.
• 20,000+  promo cards were handed out, leading to thousands of conversations and registrations.
• Speaking to over 200 cycling groups and clubs and onboarding 75+

Back in 2012 - 2015 we had unique features that enabled us to onboard many cycling groups who were considering Facebook groups, but we were missing core and basic functionality, such as inviting people to your group and sharing pages. It was like dragging an anchor behind a boat. The more we marketed, the deeper the anchor embedded into the sea floor.

Local marketing was heavily focused on popular cycling destinations and at the iconic Tour Down Under, affectionately known as “schoolies for cyclists”, as well as Mordialloc at the end of Melbourne’s famous Beach Road, which more than a decade ago saw bike numbers reach around 10,000 riders each weekend.

One well known cyclist said to me, “Word on the street is you’re flogging a dead horse.” It was one of a dozen times someone said this to me, directly or indirectly.

We were not alone in staying true to your belief

Anne Hidalgo - Mayor of Paris

• Anne Hidalgo, Mayor of Paris, with a bold vision for public health and climate.
• Madam C J Walker, overcoming major barriers.
• Concord, 1.3 billion dollars over 16 years.
• The Queen’s Gambit, 30 years to reach the screen.
• ASML, Advanced Semiconductor Materials Lithography, taking 40 years to develop.
• Springfield Queensland,  Bob Sharpless and Maha Sinnathamby, taking more than 25 years.
• Squid Game, pitched by Hwang Dong hyuk from 2009 and released in 2021.
• Subway Co-founder Peter Buck, taking 15 years to return a profit.
• QR codes, taking 26 years to take off.
• Waterside Hotel - King St Melbourne - took 8 years
• David Bowie - 11 years & 9 bands

Our achillies heel - too much functionality

Home page - circa 2015

Ironically, what we thought was our greatest strength became our Achilles’ heel. We tried to do too much and people commonly saying 'I don't get what Bunchrides is".

Over the years, Bunchrides evolved into a powerful platform with deep functionality:

• Finding and joining groups, rides and riders, still unique in being map based.
• Allocating ride activity data to a specific group ride route you rode with - still unique
• Ride organisation and scheduling, before this became mainstream.
• Group, ride and individual communication, WhatsApp style.
• Messaging, one to one and one to many, similar to Messenger and WhatsApp.
• Team and ride feeds aggregating into a home feed, even LinkedIn did not have in 2012.
• Team administration and management.
• Ride activity documentation and data.
• Sub groups.
• Document management.

 

Too many markets

Bunchrides proposal - 2012

 Bunchrides Tourism proposal 2014

Bunchrides Corporate proposal 2024

At the same time, we were trying to serve too many areas:

• Sustainability
• Mental and physical health
• Leisure & recreation (Lycra/Enthusiast)
• Transport
• Environment
• Urban planning
• Community development
• Tourism
• Corporates

 

The idea that changed everything

Neighbourly Ride proposal - April  2017

In 2017, a friend said, “I know this might sound silly, but what if you ran a program like Garage Sale Trail?” The best ideas are often called silly simply because they do not yet exist.

At that point it was just an idea. We had never run the program. But that conversation became the genesis of 'Your Neighbnourly ride' aka just Neighbourly Ride.

Early feedback was brutal. One venture capital investor told us, “You’ve got jack s***.” It hurt deeply, but he was right.

Neighbourlyride website - 2018

We launched a Your Neighbourly Ride pilot in April 2018 and secured a 120,000 AUD grant to rebuild the Bunchrides apps and create the program, which we ultimately turned down due to misaligned values. 

Proposal 2018

Once again, we self funded the program. Through our own experience, we found existing event based platforms did not meet our needs but we lacked the funds to add the necessary requirements to sucessfully run the program on Bunchrides.
 
Looking back, 120,000 AUD would not have barely touched the surface of what we required financially.

The ride was successful. We employed unique marketing concepts, all analogue in the real world, and they still serve us today. No reliance on digital or social media, other than for recognition and trust building. Then COVID hit.

 

Bunchrides 2.0 - but the market had moved on

 Mordialloc, Victoria - November 2023

With challenges comes opportunity and Covid gave us the opportunity to rebuild Bunchrides iOS and Android 2.0, we went to work in March 2022 and had a market ready product in September 2023.

In the first week we were hacked, forcing us to decommission the server. After rebuilding the server, we relaunched again in October 2023, we were back up and running.

Again, more marketing, more conversations, more “yeah, yeah, yeah.”, with the genuine intent to use try out Bucnhrides for their cycling groups and clubs.
Cyclists registered because there was still a genuine need to find a ride or riding group.

But in the intervening eight years, WhatsApp had become the default way to organise rides, share banter and manage communication for cycling clubs and social groups, our core 'go to' market.

Sports club specific apps such as TeamApp in Australia had also grown as the primary cycling club/group mamangement software, and Strava was leaning heavily into the cycling club space, rebuilding how it presented and managed communities.

A rough estimate of 44,000 hours was invested including 2004 Jira Tickets (200 Pending).
If 10,000 hours makes an expert, perhaps I became an expert in persistence or perhaps foolishness.

 

An Uber problem

Photo courtesy of Sisters of the Saddle

When your market is already using other platforms or have established players, you have to buy your way in, as Uber did, spending billions country by country, region by region, city by city, until the word Uber became synonymous with taxi.

We had one major opportunity for Bunchrides to be used to manage the training and organisation of a fundraising ride. It was potentially game changing. The Founder said, “It would be great to have one place to access information,” as they were using WhatsApp, TeamApp, Instagram, Google Docs and email.

However, having 11 types of functionality meant we had done a shallow dive in each feature. At the time we believed we were market ready but unfortunately we missed some must have key features and so we went to back to work with our development team.

By the time we built/tested/released these features, the group in need of this functionality had moved back to WhatsApp. You do not get a second chance at a first impression.

 

Hitting the brick wall

 Fitzroy Falls - Kangeroo Valley

By late December 2024, we had already navigated six “hitting the mountain” moments, but this time we ran headfirst into a concrete wall reinforced with rio and 3 meters thick.

There was no obvious path forward. Every option had been explored. Every lever had been pulled.
We had a strong platform in Bunchrides and a meaningful program in Neighbourly Ride.

With nothing left to lose, and for the first time in a long while having some clear mental bandwidth while relaxing on our holidays, we had a “why not?” moment. The worst case scenario was that we had already lost. There was nothing more to lose.

Using leftover marketing material, we made the decision to relaunch Neighbourly Ride — not out of certainty, but out of conviction.
 

This time, something was different.

Royal Exhibition Buildings - Melbourne, July 2025

Overnight transformation

• Almost immediately, people started registering.
• No one complained about the app.
• Riders were complimentary.

Neighbourly Ride was not starting from scratch as we had figured out the nuts and bolts during 2018 - 2019.

Behind the scenes, Bunchrides was powering it, using all the functionality built over more than a decade, including the features requested for the fundraising ride,  a real blessing in disguise. But this time we had a clear purpose, a razor sharp 'why'.

The shift was simple but profound. We stopped focusing on what we were building and focused on why, while clearly and succiently communiticating our purpose.

 

What Neighbourly Ride is really about

Samantha and Maddie - forming a life long friendship

Neighbourly Ride is about people. Neighbours, local streets and communities coming together through something as simple as riding bikes and sharing a coffee.

The impact is reflected when community members describe, almost word for word, what Neighbourly Ride means to them.
 

Kate - Neighbourly Ride - Getting back on the bike + me time

 

 Christina & Grace, the social side and really great chats

 

12 months of impact

• 4 Neighbourly Ride locations, with the fourth launched last Sunday, 1st March 2026
• 2 local governments providing financial support.
• 330+ members across three locations.
• 80+  participants reporting a positive impact on their lives.
• 20 volunteers giving their time as ride leaders and cabooses.
• 90 local businesses supporting the program (now 150).

3 questions from 10 -  Neighbourly Ride Feedback Form report Feb 2025 - Feb 2026

 

The moments that matter

Last Sunday in Brunswick, ride leaders Michael and Paul led the group and after leaving the coffee shop, the group stayed chatting until 1:00pm, simply enjoying one another’s company.

87 year young

Another moment came this weekend when I caught up with Phillip, who first joined us in 2019 aged 80. He told me he had seen our posters and would be back. He just needs to shift his Sunday morning mass, which starts at 10.30 am. Phillip turns 87 this year and his goal is to keep riding until he is 90.

Another rider, who we had not seen since last year due to a tragic situation that required them to leave Australia indefinitely, joined Neighbourly Ride for one last ride to say goodbye before leaving a week later.

 Linda on the left powering up the hill near Allard Park - Brunswick

And our Neighbourly Rider of the Year, Linda, the matriarch of Neighbourly Ride Carlton is welcoming to new riders, offering a kind ear and always supporting our community.

These are just a few of the moments created in the communities we serve.

 

From survival to strength

Fabio  Ride Leader - Carlton February 2026

What began as a last attempt to save Bunchrides has become something far stronger.
While Bunchrides is in its 14th year, Neighbourly Ride feels like year one, version 2.0. 

Some days are mentally and physically overwhelming, but the belief shown by riders, volunteers, councils, businesses and community groups keeps the energy moving forward.

 

Peaks, valleys and community

We are fortunate to have dozens of people who believe in Neighbourly Ride and the impact it is having.

From our volunteer Ride leaders, Cabooses and volunteer coordinators, to our suppliers, developers, printers, hosting and IT partners, lawyers, accountants and bookkeeper, many have given their support without ever asking for anything in return. They simply want to see the vision realised.

Every business experiences peaks and valleys, when the peaks rise higher than the valleys fall, they do more than motivate you. They carry you forward and empower you to continue the journey.

It is hard to believe that in December 2024 we came within a knife’s edge of switching off the Bunchrides servers.

There are still thousands of kilometres left to ride. The destination is clear, even if the exact path may change and who knows where we will be in another 12 months.

Across the world, millions of businesses and organisations are striving to make a difference and create positive impact in the communities they serve.

We still face challenges and, like any organisation, there are no guarantees. But there is comfort in knowing you have made a difference, given everything you had and moved forward without regret.

If you truly believe, persistence eventually overcomes resistance.

neighbourlyride.com