LAKE PLACID — With each push of a pedal, the wheels turned — and Tom Monks celebrated his brother Jimmy’s life in every gear.

For five days and 350 miles, from sea level on Jones Beach, Long Island, to the highest mountain in the state, this trip marked adventure with remembrance.

Establishing a course he named the “Cloud Splitter Bike Ride” straight up Route 22, Monks covered about 75 miles a day, earning more than $6,500 — and still counting — for the Center for AIDS Research and Treatment on Long Island.

He wheeled into Lake Placid just after noon Wednesday.

It’s a novel way for a self-described “average guy” from Long Island to get to his summer place.

SUMMER RESIDENTS

The Monks clan — with nine children altogether — have maintained a summer residence at Sekon on Upper Saranac Lake for more than 40 years.

Remembering Jimmy set the pace.

“He was the best man at my wedding,” Monks, 44, said as his legs cooled off from the push through the Cascade pass.

“He loved the beach, and he loved the Adirondack Mountains, so I wanted to touch both. I could see him everywhere in the way the wind blows.”

It’s a good ride, too, he said, for a novice cyclist who started training about six months ago.

“Your senses become alive on this ride.”

STORMS AND SMILES