Grease the chain and check the tires – it’s time to get ready for the Fourth Annual 2009 Ride to Provide to benefit Levy Association for Retarded Citizens (LARC). The Ride is a rapidly growing bike run with plenty to recommend it. First, the Ride runs through 60 of the prettiest miles in Levy County.

Second, once kickstands come up, the boots don’t touch the ground until the file pulls up for a picnic lunch at the LARC campus in Otter Creek. This is a law-enforcement escorted ride, and all intersections are held for riders – no red lights!

Third, the Ride is free to all participants. Organizers ask – nicely – for a donation.

“I’ve always believed that when people give from the heart, they give more,” says Ride organizer Lt. Sean Mullins of Levy County Sheriff’s Office.

Fourth, the Ride is family-friendly and alcohol-free.

Last, and most important, all proceeds from the ride go to benefit LARC - “We don’t hold anything back,” Mullins says.

In just four years, Ride to Provide has become LARC’s largest fundraiser, last year garnering just over $10,000 for the organization that serves more than 40 developmentally disabled adults in Levy, Gilchrist and Dixie County. LARC provides adult day training, supported income and supported employment services, a furniture workshop, and many other services that help its clients do meaningful work. Knowing the need that LARC serves, and knowing also the way the organization’s budget is under constant assault from the economy and other forces, Mullins says he’d love to raise even more money this year.

“I know we’ve got to be realistic, given these tough economic times, but I’d love to do better than $10,000,” he said.

Since the first Ride in September 2006, the run has grown amazingly from a small group of riders to almost 300 bikes last year. This year, in fact, the Ride will be staged at the new Bronson Middle High School, instead of Williston High School, where riders met the last three years.

“We’ve outgrown Williston High School,” Mullins says.

“I’m hoping we’ll have 500 bikes this year.”

The Sept. 12 ride will go from Bronson to Otter Creek by way of several scenic county roads, leaving the high school at 10 a.m. and going down U.S. Hwy. 19 through Chiefland between 10:30 and 10:45, on its way to the LARC campus.

The file of bikes – maybe 500 of them! – will turn south on U.S. 19 from County Road 320 by Wal-Mart and pass right through the middle of Chiefland. Mullins hopes area LARC supporters who don’t ride will come out and cheer the ride as it goes by.

“What an awesome sight,” he said.

“With that many bikes, the line would stretch back a mile or more. Wouldn’t that be amazing?”

Once at the LARC campus, riders can get a picnic lunch of hot dogs and hamburgers, enjoy an auction and have an opportunity to meet the clients supported by their generosity.

“That’s one of the most popular things about the Ride – the opportunity to meet the people you’re helping,” Mullins says.

For more information, to pre-register for the Ride or to be a sponsor, call Sean Mullins at 352-528-2222 or email smullins@ridetoprovide.net, or visit www.ridetoprovide.net.