Tom Ridgeway is back in the saddle again, cycling cross-country for a cause.
The 45-year-old Lancaster, Pennsylvania, cyclist has been involved in long-range bicycling fund-raisers and awareness-raising events since 1993. That's the year he began circling the US in a 13,000-mile bike ride to raise awareness about AIDS. In 1997 he delivered by bicycle several panels for an AIDS quilt in San Francisco, above.
Right now he's scheduled to be wrapping up an approximately 2,000-mile bike tour from Lancaster to Tucson, Arizona. He left home on Oct. 24 with the goal of riding 200 miles a day; winds and mountains have thwarted his progress, however. According to an entry on his Dream Rides website from somewhere in Illinois:
“Not making the 200-mile mark each day because 25-plus mph winds are kicking his butt.”
He was later interviewed by the Neosho (MO) Daily News. Ridgeway also filed an email from the road saying all was well, but windy. A veteran of numerous long bike tours, Ridgeway said the middle section is the most difficult, but he doesn't doubt his purpose:
“They say being in the middle of anything is always the most difficult place to be. In the beginning your destination and purpose is clear and at the end you have the tangible sense that you have accomplished something. But it's in the middle that you find yourself questioning your every action.
“I've reached the middle and I realize my actions will speak louder than words. Let them speak.”
The purpose is to raise funds and awareness for the Ann Meyers Memorial Fund (an air quality education scholarship) and The AIDS Memorial Fund (AIDS education scholarship in memory of Mike Hartranft and Randy Herr). A pledge form is available at his website.
When he's done, he'll return to Pennsylvania where he's involved in several annual Dream Ride cycling fund-raisers. The events have raised over $450,000 since 1995. The Dream Rides website lists the bike rides for the summer of 2006.
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