Bicyclists are invited to hit the paved trails in and around Fort Dodge this weekend in a special ride that will raise money to be invested in those trails.

The 2024 edition of the Prairie Rivers Trail Ride will get rolling at 10 a.m. Saturday. Bicyclists can register that morning.

The ride will begin at River Hops Brewing, 1014 Central Ave. It will go over about 30 miles of paved trails in Fort Dodge and Webster County.

The motto of the Prairie Rivers Trail Ride is, “Giving back and honoring our community one bike ride at a time.”

The first ride was held in 2019 in honor of Josh Doyle, who died of a rare heart condition called aortic dissection. The ride raised $7,000 to purchase seven automatic external defibrillators.

In 2020, the ride was held in honor of the late Rev. Al Henderson, who was pastor of St. Paul Lutheran Church. It generated $8,000 for Serving Our Servants, a group Henderson founded to support local law enforcement officers, firefighters and emergency medical personnel.

The following year, the ride was held in honor of the late Steve Springer, a member of the Fort Dodge Community School District Board of Education. It raised $13,000 for Dodger athletics.

In 2022, bicyclists hit the trails in honor of the late Tim Flaherty, who was the director of the Hy-Vee store in Fort Dodge. It raised $10,000. His family requested that the money be divided between the Beacon of Hope and The Lotus Community Project.

Last year, the ride was held in honor of Connie Johnson, a cancer survivor. It generated $12,000 for a therapy gym at the Norma Schmoker Cancer Center at UnityPoint Health — Trinity Regional Medical Center.