Pedaling for dollars on a bicycle built for two.

The ways are numberless to raise money for worthy causes, but those based on difficult, or even seemingly impossible, feats are often among the most effective. Like walking across the country, or camping out on a tall flagpole for 30 days and nights, or eating a dozen pies in one sitting.

Ray Lovell, an El Camino College professor, isn’t planning anything quite that challenging to raise money to buy computers and other special equipment for disabled students.

But his idea of riding a bicycle from Torrance to San Diego is still pretty impressive--especially for people who get tuckered out just by driving down there in an air-conditioned car.

Riding Tandem Bike

Actually, he’ll be riding a tandem bike, which won’t make the feat any easier from the standpoint of physical endurance. But he thought it would be nice to have a little companionship while he’s “Biking for Bucks.” So his wife, Kathy, and a colleague, Lyn Clemons, will take turns on the rear seat. Other supporters will tag along in a van.

Lovell and company will set out on the 12-hour, pedal-pumping adventure along Pacific Coast Highway at 6 a.m. May 14--that’s a Saturday when he won’t be busy teaching disabled students how to improve their reading and writing skills with the aid of computers. He’s hoping a lot of you folks will ride with him. Figuratively, that is, by making pledges through the college’s Special Resources Center.

Last year, Lovell made the trip on a single-seater. Pledges totaled $6,500, with about half coming from TRW employees in Redondo Beach.