Auburn football legend Bo Jackson took his final ride in the last Bo Bikes Bama event in Auburn Saturday morning.

With former high school and college teammates in attendance, alongside fellow Heisman winner Desmond Howard and NFL vet Melvin Gordon. Jackson led the 60 and 20-mile rides outside of Neville Arena.

Bo Bikes Bama was created following the tornadoes that hit Alabama on April 27, 2011. That following year, Jackson spent a week visiting the areas hit by the tornadoes sparking the idea to continue the event.

In 2013 Bo Bikes Bama became an annual event and they have raised 2.53 million dollars to the Alabama Governor’s Emergency Relief Fund, which has repaired 600 homes and built 68 community storm shelters.

“This foundation has built a ton of homes, and we have been able to put tornado warning systems in rural areas where there wasn’t any,” Jackson said Saturday before the 60-mile ride. “We have helped rebuild people’s lives and this is what this event is all about.”

Event director Rebecca Falls has been a part of Bo Bikes Bama since its creation in 2012. She broke down the timeline of the event and its growth over the years.

“The first one was a five-day ride across the state of Alabama as Bo wanted to take the time to visit each community that was hit by the storm in 2011,” Falls said. “The next year we biked in Cordova, Alabama since that was the hardest hitting area from the Tornado.”

“The Cordova ride had about 300-400 people and we decided that if we wanted to make this an annual thing let’s come to Auburn where Bo has most of his contacts,” Falls added.

In the 12 years Bo Bikes Bama has been in Auburn, Saturday’s ride saw the most participants from any other ride in previous years. In 2024 they had almost 800 riders sign up compared to 1,200 signing up for Saturday’s final ride.

“It has been such an honor to get to do this for the people of Alabama,” Falls added. “I grew up in Tuscaloosa so finishing the ride there that first year was really special to me.”

“I have been in cycling industry and working with Trek travel for over 20 years. I have put on and been to a lot of events but it’s just something special about Bo Bikes Bama. I don’t think we’ve had a single volunteer who’s came on as a part of our crew and hasn’t been with us ever since.”

One of those volunteers was Lauren Vance, a native of Cordova and joined when the second ride was in Cordova.

Vance elaborated on things Bo Bikes Bama did that made her continue to come out and support throughout the years.

“The community storm shelters and tornado sirens in rural areas are some of the biggest accomplishments we’ve seen through Bo Bikes Bama,” Vance said. “The families who also dealt with damages that were not covered by insurance could petition to have those funds released through Bo Bikes Bama.”

“When I worked for long-term recovery in Cordova, we had insurance gaps that saw people not getting approved for roof damages in their homes. So, that was the real reason I stuck by it because you could see the tangible things its doing for different communities.”

Falls is proud of the work Bo Bikes Bama has done and the impact its left on the entire state. Aside from the money raised over the years, she shared the thing she’ll miss the most about the event.

“I hope people remember Bo Bikes Bama as an event that brought people together,” Falls said. “It really was one of the most diverse cycling events you could ever be at. And in the cycling industry that’s pretty rare.”

Jerry Humphrey III covers Auburn sports for AL.com. You can follow him on X at @Jerryhump3 or email him at [email protected].