ROTARY club Members have been sweating buckets in Bendigo this week for their epic fundraising bike ride.
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The 41 riders and 16 support crew from 15 clubs on the Mornington Peninsula have been staying at Big4 Caravan Park in Ascot since Sunday.
They have been riding 100 kilometres a day and will have ridden 600 kilometres by the time the event finishes on Friday.
Event organiser Ian Symons said he was very happy with how the event was progressing.
"We enjoy the challenge and it's a great social event as well," he said.
"It's pretty much taken the whole year to plan."
Proceeds will go to Life Education, Disaster Aid Australia, the Gippsland Rotary Centenary House and the Teenage Road Accident Group.
The Life Education program is well known for its popular puppet Harold the Giraffe, which is employed to educated primary school students about the importance of making healthy life choices and steering clear of drugs.
At lunchtime on Wednesday the members stopped by Redesdale Primary School, with Harold, to have a chat to the kids, and on Friday they will swing by Eppalock Primary School.
Mr Symons said that this year the group had six Rotary exchange students riding with them, including senior students from Taiwan, Switzerland, Taiwan, Finland, Austria and France.
Mr Symons said they were having fun on the ride.
When asked if the riders were enjoying Bendigo's sights, Mr Symons laughed.
“Those who can look around are," he said.
“Some of them say, ‘all I see is the wheel in front of me on the road’."
The event will conclude on Friday with a reception at Hargreaves Mall at 2.30pm, where district governor Tim Moore will announce how much they have raised.
Mr Symons predicted it will be in excess of $60,000, their target.