HE’S THE principal pedal pusher.
The 340-pound retired leader of a Crown Heights school plans to haul himself onto an old Fuji bicycle and ride in the Tour de Brooklyn to raise money for farmers markets in some of the borough’s poorest neighborhoods.
“I barely walk three blocks, let alone ride 20 miles or whatever they’re talking about,” said Solomon Long, the former principal of Public School 91.
The 10th annual Tour, run by Transportation Alternatives and sponsored by bike maker Jamis, starts and finishes in Red Hook on June 1.
Long, 60, will ride for Seeds in the Middle, a nonprofit that works to improve kids’ health and arts education.
The organization is trying to raise $30,000 to run green markets in Crown Heights and Bedford-Stuyvesant. The neighborhoods have few options for fresh food while suffering some of the worst obesity and heart disease rates in the city.
“There’s a lot of bodegas that sell processed foods,” Long said, “but there’s not a lot of places selling fresh fruits.”
Long grew up in the Albany Houses in Crown Heights, and says he kept the same diet of corner-store sandwiches and fast-food burgers his students still eat.
After he retired, in 2009, Long worked with former Daily News reporter Nancie Katz to found Seeds in the Middle, in hopes of reversing the trend.
Seeds in the Middle needs money — and volunteers figured a good way to start would be to put the big man on a bike and ask donors to guess how far he’ll ride before he huffs and puffs himself out.
“Do we think he can do 20 miles?” Katz said. “No way; but people can bet on how far he can go.”
Transportation Alternatives has also earmarked 100 of the 1,250 coveted Tour spots for Seeds in the Middle.
Katz and Long hope to sign up riders for $335, which includes a Transportation Alternatives membership, to join Long — at least at for the start.
“I don’t have a clue myself how far I’m going to go,” he said. “A mile or two, maybe, pushing three.”
Registration begins Wednesday. For information, visit seedsinthemiddle.org and transalt.org.
