Meet Jeff Davidson, second in our get-to-know-the-riders series. The 2017 PA-to-DC ride will take place May 19-24.

I’m excited to be a first-time rider for PA IPL! I arrive with some trepidation as a semi-trained cyclist, resolved to get better mile-by-mile with the great PA IPL team.

I bike for IPL because I believe that we can care for our world better and more joyfully. Caring for the planet also cares for its people, animals and plants. I bike to support PA Interfaith Power & Light, to pay close attention to our environment, to continue learning more of the science, and to help make a change in myself and our community.

I arrive as a longtime member of Faith United Church of Christ in State College which is also adding Pastor Bret Meyers and Caroline Brock to the peloton. This church fellowship is a positive force in the lives of its members and the community – open to all – serving the community with faith and joy.

I mostly arrive as a husband of Janet Swim a former and current cyclist. I arrive to the work of PA IPL and the ride as a Boilermaker and engineer from Purdue, a Gopher and MBAer from the University of Minnesota and more recently as a leader of an advanced technology business. I have also been a bit of a community organizer – helping found a few organizations and efforts mostly associated with the Life Sciences. Communities can achieve great things by working together. I also bike as a father of Christopher and Cassidy Davidson, and a son of Clayton and Alice Davidson, previously nomadic, but now of Asheville, NC.

Faith UCC is a PA IPL member congregation.