An ex-Google investor is aiming to raise $1 million by getting tech workers to ditch their laptops and cycle hundreds of miles

On March 30, 2012, a Google employee named Eze Vidra asked his Twitter followers if anyone fancied cycling from Paris to London with him. He invited them to sign up through a Google Form and 55 people expressed an interest within 24 hours.

Jump forward to 2016, and Vidra is again looking for riders (sign up here) for the fifth "TechBikers" Paris to London ride - a 300 kilometre journey that takes three days to complete.

Vidra founded TechBikers with Benjamin Southworth, former Tech City UK deputy CEO, Mark Jennings, founder of Shake, and Abraham Choi, founder of Decision Analytics.

Vidra told Business Insider that the non-profit is hoping to raise £50,000 off the back of the 2016 Paris to London ride for a charity called Room to Read, which helps children get access to education around the world. The four previous Paris to London rides resulted in TechBikers raising over $400,000 (£274,000) for the charity.

Thinking about organizing a Campus/Tech community cycle ride from Paris to Shoreditch this summer, wanna get involved? http://t.co/KnXDkCXN

- Eze Vidra (@ediggs) March 30, 2012

Vidra hopes to have raised $1 million (£687,000) through TechBikers by the end of 2016. In a bid to do this, he's looking to organise five rides this year including one from Napa Valley to San Francisco and another from Vienna to Budapest.

Here's a look back at some of the previous rides between Paris and London: