Cyclists gather for a spin in Punta Gorda
SUN PHOTO BY GREG MARTIN
Riders get their game faces on prior to the start of the Wheels & Wings event, organized by the Peace River Riders club, early Saturday morning in Punta Gorda.
SUN PHOTO BY GREG MARTIN
Riders get ready to embark Saturday morning from a Punta Gorda parking lot during a Wheels & Wings event .
SUN PHOTO BY GREG MARTIN
A group of riders whirs west on Riverside Drive on a leg of a 50-mile ride organized by Peace River Riders Saturday.
SUN PHOTO BY GREG MARTIN
Cort Nederveld, event organizer for Peace River Riders, right, greets John Schlitter and Jacquie Hafner of Palmetto to the Wheels & Wings event Saturday morning in Punta Gorda.
SUN PHOTO BY GREG MARTIN
A trio of bikers rides on Riverside Drive.
SUN PHOTO BY GREG MARTIN
Rocky Reed of Englewood, left, chats with Frank Bobkowski, right, prior to the Wheels & Wings ride Saturday. Both are members of the Real Bikes bike shop team.
SUN PHOTO BY GREG MARTIN
For these participants, a bicycle built for two was just the right speed, during the Peace River Riders event Saturday.
PUNTA GORDA — Some 260 of Southwest Florida’s most avid bicycle riders tore themselves away from watching the Tour de France race Saturday to do something even more special — to help turn a local group’s annual bike ride into this area’s own “Tour de Punta Gorda.”
The third annual Wheels & Wings ride, organized by the Peace River Riders club, drew triple the turnout it attracted in its first year. This year’s 260 riders included teams from as far as St. Petersburg.
