Whether to support seven non-profits, or just to enjoy a day in the beautiful Shenandoah Valley, bike riders of all ages will be gathering Saturday at Eastern Mennonite High School to participate in the 18th annual Bike Shenandoah. WMRA’s Kara Lofton reports.
Participants are given the option of choosing between one of five rides ranging in distance from 5 to 100 miles. The registration fee of $50 (or $10 for the five-mile family ride) covers SAG support, rest stops, tune-ups, lunch, and a donation to the charities that the ride benefits.
STEVE CARPENTER: One of the best ways to know us is from our tag line, which is Bike Shenandoah Cycle for Service: It’s not a race, it’s a ride.
That was Steve Carpenter, the Bike Shenandoah board chair. The organizations benefited include the community resource center Our Community Place; Bridge of Hope, which seeks to end family homelessness; and New Bridges Immigrant Resource Center.
While many of the riders participate in order to support one or more of the non-profits, others come to enjoy a well-run event in the beautiful Shenandoah Valley.
CARPENTER: We’ve had a couple riders from Washington, D.C. that came out here and absolutely loved it. It was their first time in the Shenandoah Valley and it was just breathtaking beauty, the ride through the hills. These were riders that were doing the longer ride, the 100-mile ride, so I think it’s a great ride to come to even if you are just going to ride.