For nine years, a growing number of riders have been doing something crazy – riding their bikes from Phoenix all the way to Rocky Point, Mexico.

What began as a one-time idea dreamed up by longtime 1MISSION supporters Ian and Erin Long has had a ripple effect no one could have imagined.

“When we started it, we didn’t expect it to be an annual thing,” Ian says. “We just thought it was going to be a one-and-done thing. But that’s what I love best about the story.”

At over 200 miles, the ride itself is an audacious challenge for riders to take on. They train for months to prepare for the mental and physical exhaustion of the ride. Needless to say, crossing that finish line in Rocky Point is a major accomplishment.

Bikes Fight Poverty riders roll into 1MISSION’s basecamp in Puerto Peñasco, Mexico, after pedaling over 200 miles.

But if you ask them, these riders will tell you they do it for an even bigger reason: to raise money to put more families in houses.

And the impact continues to grow. This February we had our biggest and most successful ride ever, with 113 riders raising a whopping $170,000 – with 100% of those funds going directly to projects and programs in the field. That means 28 new houses funded this year alone, bringing the all-time total of houses funded by Bikes Fight Poverty to a whopping 118!

It gets even better. In March, several groups of BFP riders and volunteers – along with dozens of family members and friends – returned to Rocky Point to build the houses they had helped fund. Through the process of building side by side, they got to know the families who have earned these houses by serving their community.

“The only reason I got through the ride was because of this family down here – when it got really hard, that’s the only thing that kept me going,” says Jesselyn Bries, 18, who has participated in multiple rides. “And then to come back here and be able to build with them, it means a lot.”

The next Bikes Fight Poverty ride is scheduled for February 9-10, 2019. It’s the tenth anniversary ride, so you better believe we’ve got some exciting stuff planned. Trust us, you won’t want to miss out. Save the date!

Registration opens in August, so watch for that announcement at the end of the summer!