Empress EMS — the company that answers Yonkers’s 911 medical calls — will send cyclists out from its Nepperhan Avenue station at 8 a.m. on Saturday, June 13, for the inaugural Yo-Pough-Yo Charity Bike Ride, an 80-mile route that raises money for an organization honoring EMS workers killed in the line of duty.
Riders start simultaneously from two Empress headquarters — the Yonkers station at 722 Nepperhan Ave. and the Poughkeepsie station at 10 S. White St. — and pedal toward each other along the Empire State Trail, meeting for lunch at Castle Park, 92-198 Pumphouse Road in Brewster, between noon and 1 p.m. From there, they can turn back or continue on to the opposite station.
The draw for participants is the math. Registration costs $25, and each of the ride’s three sponsors — Empress, the International Association of EMTs and Paramedics and its Local 20 — matches it, so a single sign-up sends $100 to the National EMS Memorial Service. The Service is an all-volunteer group that has spent more than 30 years honoring the medics, EMTs and paramedics who died on the job and supporting the families they left behind.
The ride is open to the public, but RSVPs are required and helmets are mandatory. Organizers are also looking for volunteers to drive two support vehicles, equipped with bike racks, for anyone who can’t finish. Riders and volunteers can sign up here. Local 20 is providing breakfast at both starting lines, and Empress is covering lunch at the park.
