A Bold New Event To Help Off-Track Students Rolls Through Town

SEATTLE, July 31, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- "Many people have ridden their bikes across the country," said REAL Ride founder Cris Rothfuss. "What makes the REAL Ride unique is how and why we are doing this. To start, we avoid pavement whenever possible, riding on dirt trails and gravel paths; it is gritty and demanding and 2,000 miles longer than most trips across the country - but, that's intentional."

Five schools, dedicated to helping these students find their way back to education, have partnered with the REAL Ride.

In Seattle, where the ride begins, Principal Kaaren Andrews said, "Interagency Academy is honored to partner with The Real Ride.  Many Americans don't understand the struggles that our students face every day. The Real Ride is bringing our students' stories to life."

Each rider carries handwritten aspirations from the students; the goal is to reinforce and remind people that the consequences of poverty and lack exposure to education are not unique to any region.

Rider Perri Mertens has dedicated her first 500 miles to Sierra Carpenter, who wrote, "I am beautiful, blessed, brave, resilient, strong, powerful and my dreams are real." "This encompasses everything I need to believe in to complete this ride," Perri said.

All the riders have put their professional and personal lives on hold to ride from Seattle to Boston, live in a tent, and eat a lot of Cliff Bars. The REAL Ride is an extreme event at full-volume and they will have to leave it "all out on the trail" to make it home.

Learn more - follow their progress:
www.therealride.org  

Local Information:
DATE:Tuesday, August 1
TIME:9:00am
PLACE: Interagency Academy 3528 S. Ferdinand St., Seattle, WA
WHAT: REAL Ride kicks off in Seattle, WA

The Team:
Cris Rothfuss, ED, Harvard's Institute for Quantitative Social Science 
Erin Abrahams, veterinarian at MSPCA
Dan St. Croix, visual display artist 
Perri Mertens, digital marketing manager
Jay Vasconcellos, owner of Solstice Skateboard

Additional Photos Available

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SOURCE The REAL Ride