Crowdfunding for Cyclists?

I've been a cyclist for recreation and commuting for several years now (time flies when you're having fun) but I've never really heard of collecting money in order to fund your travels, rather than earning money through temporary labor or a steady job and funding trips during your free time.

I recently stumbled upon an online community of travelers that doesn't share my preconcieved notions of paying your own way through the world, and instead travels on donations from charitable others. This site, fundmytravel.com, allows average and exceptional people alike to create donation pages and solicit gifts from donors to pay for their journeys. These can range from the modest request of a college student attempting to fund a journey abroad, to people looking to pay for a bucket list-style trip of a lifetime.

In any case, it really leaves one wondering whether or not it's possible to jump on that train, and pay for the ticket with donations.

A New Cyclist asks for Advice

While browsing the web, I came across a nascent cyclist that was really more of a runner, asking a question to the cycling subreddit about an upcoming ride. Here is a transcript of the post, and the discussion that followed:

Original Post by user oliverjudge:

Dealing with long ride as a novice cyclist

I'm in an odd situation where I'll be joining some experienced cyclists on a long ride on Saturday (60km). It was supposed to be a nice small ride but got blown way out of proportion.
So here' my question. It is a flat route, I'm going to try and get out on a bike on Friday to make sure I'm still okay on one, but I'll have no idea about endurance. I'm fit (I run).
Has anyone been in a similar situation? Any tips or am I just going end up as a blob on the floor after 2 miles?

A brief listing of the comments will follow:

•  I would come up with an exit strategy.
•  I'm just piggybacking off the top comment, but don't go out planning on doing the entire ride. It's nice that people are being supportive by saying things like "wear padded shorts" and "eat enough" and "suck a wheel," because I'm sure as a non-rider, you have no idea what that means. The amount of time on a bike is what will kill you. Even if you have massive legs and great cardio, you won't average 30km/hr as a beginner...so we're figuring at least 2 hours on a bike. It's not the fitness/exercise that will get you, it's that being on a bike for long periods is painful. Even on carbon fiber custom fit bike, it starts to be painful after long periods. You develop hot spots on your feet from pedaling. Your hands fall asleep. Your elbows and core get tired. Your neck starts to hurt from the weight of your head/helmet. This isn't even considering how much an unconditioned ass will hurt spending that much time in a random saddle. It's just not a good idea. If you're interested in starting to ride, grab a friend or two who will tolerate going on short, slow rides with you until your body gets used to riding.
•  Poop your pants. It's the only way e: Trust me.
•  Exit strategy: forewarn them about an injury you have been rehabbing from and that if for some reason it acts up, you will drop back and ride home. Tell them not to worry about it and that you'll "catch up with one of you guys later on" 
• Either that or nut butter.
•  Ditto! THEY will be just as thankful for your exit strategy as YOU will! There will be no fooling experienced riders, but they will not be very happy if you bog down their pace (whatever that is!).
• Flat route, experienced cyclists.. sounds like it will turn into a hammerfest. I would go in with the disclaimer that youre only going to do a third of the ride 20km that way you can drop out without hurting yourself or bothering the group. That way you can still go but not damage yourself trying to keep up.
•  If by "novice cyclist" you mean "completely inexperienced" which is what it sounds like, then I agree with /u/oftie on finding a way out of the ride. It will ruin you. You need to work up to something like that, because cycling is a very particular activity in the stresses it places on your body. It isn't just a matter of cardiovascular endurance and muscular endurance in your major leg muscles. If you don't ride regularly, going out for several hours will leave your neck, hands/wrists/arms/shoulders, lower back, legs (particularly the small movers), and sit bones absolutely fried. If you were just trying to make it 60km on your own, you could probably do it, but you'd still be pretty messed up for a couple of days. At the likely pace your friends will be going, it's doubtful you'll be able to keep up and finish the ride, and you'll be a hurting blob. Edit: Apologies if this came off harsh, just trying to be honest about what you're likely to experience.
• Every hard ride since I started 3 months ago, on the 2nd day after I ride I'm ALWAYS sore up and down my thighs. To where I burn walking up the stairs. I'm not even that out of shape, I've been riding 30-50mi per ride. But when I push it on climbs to place top 10 on strava I flood my thighs with Lactic Acid and I need to stop doing that. It puts me out a couple days after! Good stuff though.
•  Regular muscle pain should be expected, but shouldn't disuade someone from doing a relatively short and easy ride. Flat, 40 miles, and in a group that can pull him? Should be no problem for someone in good shape even if they aren't a very experienced cyclist. Yeah, he might hurt the next day, but that's kind of an expected side effect of exercise. I'd say it depends on the pace his buddies set. If they're trying to do a 25mph+ paceline then OP is going to get smoked. If it's a social ride knowing full well they have a rather inexperienced member then it shouldn't be a problem.
• Agreed. I've gone on several rides with very serious riders, and I'm always one of the slowest. However, go in letting them know you're inexperienced, and you may be surprised how much help you may get.

• Since you say you are fit and run regularly and the ride is flat, that should take most of the cardio issues out of the equation. It's usually hills that take novices out. However, you'd be surprised, biking and running use very different muscles. So your legs will feel it a helluva lot more than normal during and after the ride. So make sure you're fitted to your bike to reduce knee pain for example. Stuff like this doesn't show up in shorter rides. Then you take a long one and your knee feels wrecked, especially if you ride "clipless" where your shoe has a cleat that locks into the pedal (I know weird that clipless means you have a cleat that clicks and locks in). Also what are you riding? An MTB or racing style bike? If on a racing style, honestly, it'll be easier than you think in terms of cardio. They are so damn efficient. A couple things I would suggest are that you start toughening up that choda right now, and/or get some shorts with some padding. That will be your #1 issue on your first long ride in a long time. No matter how in shape you are, this takes out a lot of novices on their first long ride. A seat that feels good after 15 minutes of riding can be devastating after 3 hours in the saddle which 60km could take roughly depending on the bikes (MTB vs racing) and fitness how often you guys stop, etc. The same goes for your wrists and the pads of your palms on the handle bars. Again something that feels fine for 15 min rides can feel like your wrist is about to break after 3 hours. Heck a hear a lot of complaints even about neck pain from being in that tucked position for so long and having your neck cranked upward. If you don't ride clipless you'd be surprised at how much it helps you as a ride. When I start getting tired and beat up, I like that I'm locked in, so my sloppy legs don't come off the pedals and I'm just using the big muscles, and not the little stabilizing ones that keep your foot on the pedal. But if you've never ridden with clipless before, it might be a stretch to get comfortable with them in time. Doable, but a stretch. Lastly, your lower back, upper glutes will likely get sore/strained from the tucked position, especially if you do a lot of seated hill climbing, or in a racing bike in a tucked position. Most people that don't ride regularly don't have the flexibility in their lower back and upper glutes to do this without soreness. So I'm assuming you guys are gonna make at least 1 stop at some point. Take that time to stretch out your lower back. Otherwise, just take an extra break or two and you'll be fine. Maybe take pain killer and anti-inflammatory pre-ride? That helps with soreness and swelling as well. I know people that do a caffeine/ephedrine stack, as a pain killer anti-inflammatory pre-ride routine.