The 2014 Bike4Alz riders are making their way across Kentucky this week and will stop at WKU this weekend for a fund-raising event.
Drake Riley, son of Coach Tim Riley and his wife Pam, is one of the drivers for the group. He is the grandson of retired Chandlers/Logan County teacher Doug Riley and his wife, Auburn native Jean Drake Riley, all of Bowling Green.
The Bike4Alz riders are traveling across the United States this summer. The WKU students will be making their way across Kentucky June 25-July 8 with a fund-raising event June 29 at WKU.
The WKU students started their cross country bike ride on May 24 in San Diego, Calif., with a goal to raise $100,000 for the BrightFocus Foundation for Alzheimer’s research.
They arrived in Paducah on Wednesday (Drake’s parents were there to greet them) and will travel across Kentucky through July 8. Along the way, the riders have rest days and special events planned in Bowling Green, Elizabethtown and Louisville.
The group is scheduled to arrive this afternoon (Friday) at the Fiji fraternity house on College Street. The Bike4Alz special event in Bowling Green will be held from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday at the Big Red statue in Alumni Plaza adjacent to WKU’s Augenstein Alumni Center.
Participants in the 2014 trip are: Drew Tingle of Franklin; Taylor Ruby of Somerset; Parker Kuhn and Seth Haga, both of Lexington; Seth Bland of Whitesville; Ryne McMullen and Robert Lucas, both of Mount Washington; Wade Weatherholt of Cloverport; driver Brent Stephens of Winchester; driver Nate Blankenship and Drake Riley, both of Bowling Green; and Luke Sparks of Crestwood.
While they’re in Kentucky, the riders will attend the July 5 wedding of Dylan Ward, who participated in the 2012 Bike4Alz ride.
The 2014 Bike4Alz trip schedule is available online at http://www.bike4alz.org/daytoday/.
The upcoming route/schedule across Kentucky is:
June 27: Hopkinsville to Bowling Green, 63.81 miles
June 28: Rest day in Bowling Green.
June 29: Event day in Bowling Green.
June 30: Bowling Green to Elizabethtown, 72.17 miles.
July 1: Event day in Elizabethtown.
July 2: Elizabethtown to Louisville, 39.86 miles.
July 3: Rest day/event day in Louisville.
July 4: Drive to Bowling Green.
July 5: 2012 Bike4Alz rider Dylan Ward’s wedding in Bowling Green.
July 6: Louisville to Lexington, 69.23 miles.
July 7: Lexington to Morehead, 65.85 miles.
July 8: Morehead to Huntington, W.Va., 65.85 miles.
The WKU students are traveling more than 3,000 miles across nine states with the ride scheduled to end July 18 in Washington, D.C.
More details about the trip, including rider blogs and how to support the group, are available at the Bike4Alz website at http://www.bike4alz.org. Follow the group on Twitter@Bike4Alz or on Facebook.