Mark Ballock, President of the San Ramon Arts Foundation, recently decided to celebrate his 50^th birthday in a unique fashion: cycling along the Pacific coastline from Seattle to San Ramon in a span of 15 days, covering 1100 miles in the process.

 

Ballock’s cycling trip began on June 22 as he rode his bike to the Martinez train station, where he boarded Amtrak to Seattle. On the way back, he celebrated the Fourth of July in Crescent City and crossed the Golden Gate Bridge on the 14^th day of the trip.

 

Dubbed the Adventure Ride for the Arts, Ballock hopes to raise $50,000 at the end of the ride in support of the arts and the San Ramon Art Foundation.  He has requested that all donations either have a 5 or a 0 in it, keeping in line with the theme of his 50^th birthday. He will be turning to this wise age in August. - Joseph Natividad