Our History

Our History

The Annual Ben Eckenhoff Memorial Bike Ride is held each year in memory of Ben Eckenhoff, a longtime resident of Los Altos, who was an avid cyclist and biomedical engineer at ALZA Corporation of Palo Alto, for nearly two decades. Ben died in 1994 after a long battle with chronic lymphocytic leukemia. His friends, colleagues and family decided to honor his memory by raising funds annually to be contributed to an endowment fund set up at Stanford University to help find a cure for leukemia.

Each year this ride is held in September and retraces the routes he often rode with his colleagues from ALZA through the hills of Palo Alto, Woodside and Portola Valley. The ride is a fun ride, not a race. There is a choice of three routes; a leisurely 10, a challenging 20 or a vigorous 35 miles. Participants receive a commemorative t-shirt with logos of corporate sponsors, and a lunch, and are asked to make a $25 donation.

The organizing committee is small, but their efforts are enormous. With the generous support of many corporate sponsors and the growing number of participants each year, more than $400,000 has been raised to help find a cure for leukemia since the fund was established in 1994.