Cycling along with Primeau will be Mark Young and Brian Young, Primeau's partners with Rebox, a Montreal-based company that specializes in reusing boxes rather than recycling them.
"Both my partners are Jewish … one lives in Montreal and has strong ties to the Montreal Jewish community, and the other one has strong ties to the Toronto Jewish community," Primeau said. "The ride is a way for them to give back to [Israel], to help raise awareness and proceeds to help their veterans. I want to support them in their endeavor."
Primeau said the goal for him and the Youngs is to use their trip to raise between $10,000 and $20,000 for Beit Halochem.
This will be Primeau's first trip to Israel, but he's no stranger to traveling. The center played 909 NHL games with the Detroit Red Wings, Hartford Whalers, Carolina Hurricanes and Philadelphia Flyers, retiring Sept. 14, 2006.
Now he and his wife, Lisa, split time between their home in New Jersey and traveling to visit their children, including son Cayden, a Montreal Canadiens goalie prospect who is going into his sophomore season at Northeastern University. Keith and Lisa spent time in Kamloops, British Columbia, over the summer watching Cayden play for the United States at the World Junior Summer Showcase.
Having been retired for 12 years, Primeau said that he is happy as long as he is staying active. How he'll handle five days of riding 30-60 miles remains to be seen. Primeau said he has been doing daily rides of 5-15 miles to prepare.
He is also focused on his journey rather than the times of his rides.
"It's not a competitive ride," he said. "It's not like I have to be at the front of the pack or there's time restrictions to complete it. I'm going for more of the scenic route of my bike ride. I don't plan on looking down at my watch to see how long it's taking me."