More than 400 cyclists from all over the Bay Area took part in the 15th Tour de Menlo bicycle ride Saturday that raises funds for need-based college scholarships and the Almanac’s Holiday Fund.
The ride is sponsored by the Rotary Club of Menlo Park Foundation which awards $125,000 in scholarships to students who cannot afford to go to college on their own.
This years scholars were students at Eastside College Prep, Menlo-Atherton, and Sacred Heart Prep. In almost all cases the students will be the first in their family to attend college.
This year’s bike ride featured three routes—35, 46 and 65 miles, with various amounts of hill-climbing. The longer ride went to Belmont and returned to the Portola Valley Fire Station rest stop, and then on to Los Altos and the Madrone park site in Stevens Canyon. The shorter routes also traversed Los Altos and turned around at the Madrone park rest stop.
Ride chairman Tom Gibboney, who co-founded the ride in 2004 with Dick Givens, said he was happy with the turnout, which was up nearly 50 riders from last year.
