On October 27 in Ankara, we were honoured to be invited by the Ambassador of France to Türkiye, Mrs Isabelle Dumont, to a reception celebrating our COP31 Bike Ride initiative. 
We started the festivities by a joint bike ride around the Eymir lake: We had the pleasure of cycling with the Ambassador of France, Mrs Isabelle Dumont, the Ambassador of Denmark, M. Ole Toft, and the Ambassador of Sweden, Mrs Ulrika Funered, along with national athletes and other cyclists from various student associations and sports academies from Ankara. 
The (very wet!) bike ride was followed by a reception at the Embassy of France.
After the opening remarks by the Ambassador, Mrs Isabelle Dumont, we introduced our citizens initiative, highlighting the strong link between the COP Bike Ride and France, while also stressing the fact that this is a fully international movement, across already more than 20 countries, just like our audience.
A few riders shared personal testimonials. The reception followed with a banner hand-over ceremony and highly symbolic signing of the relay banner by Mrs Isabelle Dumont.
And finally, a cocktail reception for riders and guests!
Among the personalities invited were:
- The Ambassadors for France, for Sweden, for Denmark, for Portugal, for Croatia and for Belgium
- The Deputy Heads of Mission for Brazil, for Italy, for Slovenia, for the Netherlands and for Romania
- The Director General at the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs
- The Deputy Director General at the Turkish Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure
- The Head of Department at the Turkish Ministry of Environment, Urbanisation and Climate Change
- The Secretary General and Deputy Secretary General of Ankara Metropolitan Municipality
- The President of the Turkish Cycling Federation
Just a few days before, on the 13th of October, the COP Bike Ride had the honour of being hosted at a reception held by Daan Huisinga, Consul-Generaal for the Netherlands at the Dutch consulate in Istanbul. 
This was a great opportunity to present our initiative and meet several guests, notably consuls or representatives from the Netherlands, Sweden, Belgium, and the UK, as well as officials from Istanbul metropolitan services.
We impressed the audience with the boldness and commitment of our endeavour and received in return a very strong support for conveying our message before and during the COP.