Bikers raise $3K in fight against Alzheimer’s

A couple dozen bikers raised about $3,000 on Saturday during the fifth annual Alzheimer’s Ride for a Cure.

Arriving at the Sheriff’s Posse facility on Witty Lane, the route had not yet been released, and the bikers gathered in a small group to hear the directions of where they’d be headed.

First, they were going to Princeton, where they’d hang a left and work their way over to Land Between the Lakes for a stop at the welcome center on the Woodlands Trace National Scenic Byway, commonly referred to as just “The Trace.”

After that, they were going to go to Grand Rivers, Linton and then come back for lunch.

The ride began five years ago, started for Jimmie Stallons, who died Nov. 30, 2007, after battling Alzheimer’s. His grandchildren then decided they wanted to do something to raise money to find a cure to this disease and came up with the idea for the benefit ride.

All the money they raise goes to the Sanders-Brown Center on Aging in Lexington.

Before the riders took off Saturday, Linda Van Eldik, director of the center, made sure she was there to ride out with the group.

“Hopefully, we will come up with a cure for this disease soon,” said before they took off at 10 a.m. under an unforgiving sun.

Later, Van Eldik explained that the center’s primary focus is research. They do a lot of testing for new medications, along with other beneficial treatments, such as exercises with origami.

She said a cure is desperately needed and added that the center is working hard to find it. They couldn’t do it without donations like riders’, she added.

When all the bikers had come back, they ate hot dogs for lunch and played a few games on the backs of their motorcycles.

Reach Meredith Willse at 270-887-3262 or mwillse@kentuckynewera.com.