Tom Butterfield is setting off on the long route to Paris later this month: a 500-mile journey by bicycle, which has raised more than $100,000 for the Masterworks Museum of Bermuda Art.

“This is an idea that goes back some 25 years,” said Mr Butterfield, who founded the museum. “It started with my realisation that by doing marathons, I could democratise the donations process. To date I have pulled together about $117,000, which is as little as $20 in donations and as high as $5,000.”

His first epic bike trip was about 20 years ago. Now, at 67 and having recently recovered from back surgery, Mr Butterfield reckons this will be his last — accompanied by companions Michael Harner, Jay Nichols and Ron Roys.

“It’s going to be poignant for us,” he said. “This one is in honour of George Wardman, a long standing patron and trustee at Masterworks. He made significant contributions in time, money and wisdom.” Mr Wardman died last month at the age of 69. “We’ll be setting out on our bikes from St Rémy in the South of France, which was the home of Albert Gleizes, the cubist artist who came here to Bermuda in 1917 and painted here,” Mr Butterfield explained. “His work is found in our collection.” A founder of the revolutionary Cubist art movement, Gleizes wrote the manifesto of cubism. St Rémy houses a major collection of his works.

“We figured it would be a nice tie-in to start there, and finish in Paris — home of all great artists,” Mr Butterfield said, adding: “I’m going to do a victory lap around the Arc de Triomphe.”

The longest day’s biking will be about 100 miles, allowing for a few more relaxing rides as the team makes their way north.

All the money pledged will go directly into Masterworks programmes such as educational initiatives and summer camps, or the laborious process of setting up the museum’s regular rounds of installations.

It’s an ambitious proposal for a man who underwent a back operation in January that kept him off his bike for some time. Mr Butterfield said he’d been practising with a stationary bike.

“I have a feeling that when I get on the road, I’ll be in pretty good shape,” he said. The cycling starts on May 26.

The trip caps off years of epic 1,000-mile trips — eight in total — in which Mr Butterfield and friends raised about $1.8 million for the museum. The arduous journey comes with some concessions: the group will be out on the roads by day, but are taking hotel rooms by night.

“We’re looking for our creature comforts,” Mr Butterfield said. “Pitching a tent is not my idea of a great outing.”