FARMINGTON – With only yards between them, the first and second riders of the more than 1,700 cyclists peddled into Farmington shortly after 10 a.m. Friday, finishing the first leg of the American Lung Association’s annual Trek Across Maine.

“It’s not a race. It’s a social event,” said Hubbard Garber of Boston, the first rider to arrive in Farmington, followed just seconds later by Phil McSweeney of Winthrop. The pair had just met each other about a half-hour before on the road.

Garber said he left Sunday River at 6:20 a.m. and found the trip a little foggy and cool at first, but then the sun turned it into a beautiful day for a ride.

This is the fifth year Garber has participated. A consultant in the Boston area, he has a sister in Belfast, he said, the city where the trek used to end. He started making the annual event with his nephew, but this year he was on his own because his nephew couldn’t make it.

He likes the cause, the work of the American Lung Association, and Maine’s a beautiful state for a ride, so it’s easy, he said, to gear his physical activity around the trek.

Garber said he rides quite a lot, usually early in the morning. His wife and two children were his backup team but had not yet arrived by car. He wanted to finish this leg of the trek so he could spend the rest of the day with them – ideally, with a swim at the Fitness and Recreation Center at the University of Maine at Farmington, he said.

The trek continues this morning with a ride north, then loops back to Colby College in Waterville. On Sunday, the cyclists’ journey to the sea ends at the Owls Head Transportation Museum in Rockland.

The Trek Across Maine is celebrating its 23rd year of cycling and support for the American Lung Association of Maine. More than $1.1 million has been raised this year, organizer Edward Miller said Friday. The final count of riders was just under 1,750, he said. This is the largest single fundraiser in the nation for the American Lung Association. There are a lot of faithful riders and volunteers, he said.

The riders are released 100 at a time, for safety reasons, Miller said, so he speaks to each group and cautions them it isn’t just a smooth ride from mountains to sea, there’s a few hills in between.

“The hills between Weld and Wilton were pretty tough,” said Stephen Thompson of Farmington, one of the last three riders to arrive, close together, at approximately 4 p.m. Thompson said he started at 9 a.m.

“You have to pull down from within yourself,” he said, “and tell yourself, you’re going to do it.”

He didn’t train as much as usual, he said. For him, it takes riding 400 to 500 miles each spring to prepare for the event.

This is the 10th trek for Thompson, who has also served six years as a volunteer. He said he rides because of family illness associated with lung disease. One grandfather had asthma, another had emphysema, and he likes to do something good, he said, for all people who suffer from these diseases.

Thompson said he was unable to serve in the military so “This is my way of serving my country by doing something for all the people who can’t enjoy life because of lung disease.”

Besides, he said, it’s a great place to meet people as he waved to a friend from Southern Maine who has made the trek for 20 years.

“This is Maine’s biggest family reunion,” he said.