Charity cycles: Limestone Child Advocacy Center hosts third annual motorcycle ride

Apr. 16—"It had been raining all week, but we were very lucky to have beautiful weather this year," Christina Bowsher with the Limestone Child Advocacy Center said about the weather for the third annual Child Abuse Prevention Charity Ride.

The event has been a bit different each year as LCAC determines the best pattern to fulfill a longtime vision.

"It's been an idea of the executive director for a really long time, and I said 'OK,'" said Bowsher.

There were 28 riders to register and support the center's cause this year, which is double the first year.

"We're just trying to grow it as much as possible," said Bowsher.

Her goal for next year is to have 50 riders, hopefully from both this year's sponsor Redstone H.O.G. as well as other riders.

Deno Mackin, chapter president of Redstone H.O.G., organized the route and led the ride from Harley Davidson in Madison to LCAC's office in downtown Athens.

Before leaving Harley Davidson, the Iron Order motorcycle club presented a check for what makes up the majority of the currently $1,200 funds raised. The rest of the proceeds came from registration fees of the riders.

Being the third year of the event, LCAC is still trying to figure out which weekend and events work best together for its ride. The first year, the ride took place on the same weekend as one of Athens' car shows; last year the center tested having a kids' festival at the end of the ride.

"It's a learning process, trying to figure out what works," Bowsher said.

This year, the ride was moved to the second weekend of April to line up with an event already planned at the Harley Davidson location.

"We were going to do the ride on the first weekend of April, but my contact at Harley Davidson said, 'We have an event the following weekend if you want to join in with that.' I think it helped for the riders to have something to do once they got back," said Bowsher.

For those interested in riding in next year's event, LCAC wants to invite all riders to register and join in early April.

"You don't have to be part of a motorcycle group. It's also not restricted to having a motorcycle; we also had some motor bikes last year, and this year we had some of those three wheel bikes at the end," Bowsher said.

Follow Limestone Child Advocacy Center on Facebook and @lcac on Instagram to learn more about child abuse prevention and for details about next year's ride.

"We hope we get more people out next year to help raise awareness for child abuse prevention," Bowsher said.