Team Laughing Dog crossing Kansas

As of Tuesday night, the 2013 Team Laughing Dog was riding through Kansas in the Race Across America, also raising money and awareness for 24 Hours for Hank.

Today is the first of four profiles on the riders, taking a closer look at Al Lemire, a 50 year-old photographer attempting his second Race Across America.

For more on the team, or to make a donation, visit www.teamlaughingdog.com.

Meet Al Lemire

• Favorite movie: Touching the Void.

• Favorite food: A good burger on the grill.

• Favorite band: Dave Mathews Band.

• Favorite book: Of Human Bondage, by W. Somerset Maughan.

• Three people, living or dead, whom you would love to have dinner with: Photographers William Henry Jackson and Edward Weston, and Dr. Martin Luther King.

• The first thing you’ll do when you cross the finish line: Kiss my girlfriend (Jennie Wood). She’s been amazingly supportive.”

• What do you love most about riding bikes: Going down hills. It’s just an adrenaline rush.

• I ride bikes because … It’s liberating. There’s something to self-propulsion.