This might be the ultimate, unsanctioned, impromptu charity ride. This Saturday, July 28, for the second year running, Liquigas-Cannondale racer Ted King and 2009 U.S. Cyclocross National Champ Tim Johnson will undertake a low-key fundraiser ride. The event will raise money for the Colorado Red Cross in the wake of the wildfires that have ravaged the state. Just as last year, the pair will be riding with their friend and amateur racer Ryan Kelly, who's along, according to King, “because he asked.”
I like . In case you don't know him, he's one of two American riders who race for Italian Pro Tour team . (The other is King's good friend and National Road Race Champion Timmy Duggan.) And while King's a great, young rider of his own accord, I especially like that he has a vision for cycling beyond just sport. In response to a stroke suffered by his father, King launched an “” range of products and now sponsors a successful fundraiser ride, the , to benefit the New Hampshire-based non-profit that has helped with his dad's recovery. Regarding the decision to dedicate this year's Vermont ride to Colorado, King explains, “We are all intricately linked to the cycling world and inevitably we have friends, colleagues, sponsors, and family in Colorado.”
Unlike last year's event, which was named the “200 on 100” because it took in 200 miles on the north-south Vermont Route 100, this year's ride is from west to east and will only cross the eponymous highway. So King (with trademark irony) opted for a new name: “The 200 Not on 100.” The trio is soliciting support by selling “” t-shirts—the slogan is a holdover from last year's ride when a shell-shocked Kelly commented that he felt liked he'd “been run over by a dump truck of awesome.”
And for those in the vicinity, King's put out the invitation to stop by and ride a few miles. has ride details, and the guys will be tweeting locations and updates from the road at #200NotOn100. But, he warns, just come prepared to get a little bit run over.
—Aaron Gulley