SPANISH FORT, Ala. — It began as a $1,000 bet Fred Kelley was sure he’d lose.

Eight years later, organizers of “Peddlin’ for a Cure” hope to cruise in the lobby of Pemiere Cinemas in the Eastern Shore Centre April 22 and collect the funds needed to push the cyclists’ collective take above $1 million.

“For me, there is no finish line until there’s a cure,” said Kelley, whose annual fundraising ride has collected more than $800,000 for Relay for Life.

Kelley, who hosts a morning radio show in Monroeville, was so moved in 2004 by the local Relay chairwoman’s on-air testimony that he challengedhis listeners in the 20 minutes remaining on the show to donate $1,000.

If they did, he said he’d ride a bicycle from Monroeville up onto the deck of the USS Alabama in Mobile.

“I figured we’d raise a couple hundred dollars for a good cause. I wouldn’t actually have to follow through and ride, and everybody’d be happy,” said Kelley, who himself suffers heart trouble and had only recently lost 100 pounds.

The phone didn’t ring, but not for the reason he thought.

Response was actually so strong it jammed the phone lines, so people began driving to the square in the center of town to make their donations in person. In 20 minutes, they raised $5,000.

“It was such a stupid thing to promise, but I did make the promise, so I bought an $89 Huffy (bicycle), and that’s how Peddlin’ got its start,” he said, noting the total coincidence that the random date he chose for the ride fell on Good Friday. “I’m proof positive that Tylenol and coffee in the right proportions will put you on the deck of the Battleship.”

More importantly, when he and the small group of cyclists who rode along arrived on the World War II-era ship, “half the town of Monroeville” was waiting to announce $33,000 had been raised in only one week.

The following year, Kelley pledged to ride to Montgomery, right up to the Capital building, and shake then-Gov. Bob Riley’s hand. When he arrived, Riley announced $67,000 had been raised.

“I’ve just kept going and going,” said Kelly, noting at least $100,000 has been raised each year since.

The 2011 trek will carry peddlers through Huxford, Lottie, Rabun and Bay Minette before arriving at the finish line in Spanish Fort.

This year, a series of seemingly random coincidences set Kelley’s sights on the Eastern Shore  Centre where Premiere Cinemas Director Will Sanders not only offered to allow the cyclists to ride right into the multi-plex’s lobby and enjoy a reception in their honor but arranged for a special fundraising treat of his own.

In honor of the Monroeville connection, Sanders will show “To Kill a Mockingbird” for which courtroom scenes were actually filmed in the Alabama town’s courthouse, Peddlin’ for a Cure’s 2011 starting line.

Tickets for the special 6 p.m. screening are $5 each with all proceeds benefitting the American Cancer Society and Relay for Life. The one-hour event actually kicks off with advance ticket sales tonight at 5 p.m. in the theater lobby with “Celebrity Night at the Movies,” featuring local media personalities and some of the participating Peddlin’ cyclists.

“We will have bike riders signing autographs and giving out free children's bike helmets as long as they last courtesy of Wal-Mart,” Kelley said.