Why I am riding

I am a retired City of Dover police officer, and am currently a Federal Police Officer with the Department of Defense.  I am a native of Kent County, Delaware and have lived here all my life.

On or about May 6, 2011, I am beginning a cross country bicycle ride, from Yorktown, Virginia to Astoria, Oregon   I will be following the Transamerican bike route.  This totals 4246 miles of riding.

This has been a personal goal of mine for several years.  In 2007, I  was able to accomplish another goal when I completed a through hike (from Georgia to Maine) of the Appalachian Trail.  I complete this 2,175 mile hike in 4 months 8 days.  During this hike, I kept a web page,  www.trailjournals.com/jeffking, that my friends, families and others could visit to keep tabs on my progress, see pictures, and leave notes of encouragement.  People have checked into that website over 29,000 times at this point.  Feel free to check in and you can get a good idea of what that adventure entailed.

During my time on that trail, I spent alot of time thinking about my brother, who died of cancer in 2003.  I realized, had I had the forethought to do so, that I could have used that hike to raise awareness and funds for cancer research.   In 2010, I lost my mother to cancer.  This really made me start to get serious, not only about my ride, but also about the possibility of using my ride to raise money.

I am partnering with Livestrong, Lance Armstrongs cancer awareness organization, and this will provide a central site for donations to be made, through my ride, for cancer research.

Therefore, the purpose of  this website,www.jeffridesforcancer.blogspot.com  is to ask for your support and words of encouragement.  It will  allow you to monitor my progress as I bike across the US.  It also allows for you to easily donate to Livestrong by clicking  the "Benefiting Livestrong" banner at the top of the website.  The bike ride itself will incur costs, such as campgrounds, motels, food, equipment and transportation back to Delaware.  If you would like to help me personally defray these costs, you can do so by clicking the "support me" tab on the left column of the website. Check back to this site often to keep up with me via my blog posts and photos, as I start my journey across America.

Thanks to all who support me and Livestrong!
Jeff King