IF Cycling Event to Benefit Art Museum Celebrates 10th Anniversary on Aug. 11

By The Art Museum of Eastern Idaho, IdahoStateJournal.com August 3, 2018

IDAHO FALLS — The 10th annual HeART of Idaho Century Ride is set for Aug. 11 in Idaho Falls. Cyclists of all ages and abilities from around the country will be riding through parts of Bonneville, Bingham and Jefferson counties in support of The Art Museum of Eastern Idaho’s (TAM’s) exhibits and educational programming.

This year’s benefit ride features distances of 25, 62 (100K) and two 100-mile options (the “Bone Hill 100” and the “Flat Century”). The ride is complete with fully stocked food and water zones that feature homemade cookies and ride support along the entire route. The ride begins and ends at Snake River Landing where riders will celebrate at a post-ride barbecue with live music, a beer garden, massage therapists and prize drawings. Participation fees range from $45 to $70. Registration forms are available at TAM, Bill’s Bike and Run, Idaho Mountain Trading and Dave’s Bike Shop. Online registration is available at www.theartmuseum.org/century.htm.

In celebration of the ride’s 10th anniversary, the first 250 cyclists to register will receive a free event tech T-shirt and each cyclist will receive one free raffle ticket for a chance to win a gravel bike donated by Troy and Stacy Scott. Additional raffle tickets are being sold for $5 each or six for $25. A commemorative T-shirt with four of the five pieces of artwork created by Idaho artist Bernadette Regnier will also be available for purchase.

What initially began in 2009 as an event celebrating a bicycle exhibit showcasing the collection of Idaho Falls resident, Sam Bennett, has evolved into an annual fundraising event benefiting The Art Museum’s exhibits and educational programming with over $160,000 in proceeds to date.

“We’ve been so fortunate to have such great support from so many in our community,” said Miyai Abe Griggs, executive director of TAM. “For the HeART of Idaho team, this year is bittersweet. While celebrating our 10th anniversary, we will also be saying goodbye to one of the founders of this event, Ron Bolduc, who will be moving back to the East Coast just days after this year’s event. He and Richard Napier from Idaho Mountain Trading, and the amazing team from Bill’s Bike and Run, have served tirelessly on this committee for the past ten years, providing invaluable cycling expertise for a museum staff comprised primarily of non-cycling artists.”

Griggs continued, “This year’s ride falls on the same day as the Duck Race and the Idaho Falls Youth Jam so there will be plenty of activities taking place downtown that day to keep the entire family entertained.”

The Art Museum of Eastern Idaho is a nonprofit art museum and education center. The proceeds from this annual fundraising event enables TAM to send museum-sanctioned art instructors into public elementary schools throughout eastern Idaho to teach art classes at no cost to the schools, provide educational opportunities for aspiring artists of all ages at the museum in the form of tours and classes and present special events and exhibitions of regionally, nationally and internationally acclaimed artists.