Last year I participated in the inaugural Will Bike 4 Food ride, put on by the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts.  The Food Bank obviously considered that event a success, as they’re doing it again this year (it did raise more than $35,000 for their efforts in 2011).  I’m going to be riding in the event again this year.

I’ll be doing 100 miles again, and while I now know that’s an attainable goal, because I have more experience with long rides I’m challenging myself to finish the ride in significantly less time.  It took me over 10-and-a-half hours last September.  I’m now shooting for riding the 100 miles in 9 hours or less.  With more experience and a lighter bike, I think I can do it.  The route will be different, perhaps with fewer hills, and perhaps with more – that remains to be seen (it does go up into Vermont, which is neat).

I also want to offer an extra incentive to get donations – a partial matching grant, if you will.  I’ve set a goal of $1000 in donations to collect (last year donations to my ride totaled around $800).  If we can reach that $1000 goal, I will kick in an additional $500 of my own money – so the Food Bank will get a total of $1500 from my ride.

You can visit my fundraising page to give online, and find out more about the event.  If you prefer to give offline, contact me to make arrangements.  I’m also happy to answer any questions about the ride – you can e-mail me or post here in the comments.

The ride is in 3 weeks, and should be a blast.