Perimeter needs more El Tour riders to meet goal

November 9, 2010 • Posted by:

The staff at Perimeter Bicycling Association of America is entering the final stretch in preparation for El Tour de Tucson.

Sally Valenzuela, a Perimeter Bicycling staff member, said they set a goal of having more riders this year than last.

Last year 8,228 cyclists participated in the event —  El Tour de Tucson’s third largest. The biggest year was 2007 when 9,122 people rode.

With less than two weeks left before the ride, Valenzuela said they were more than 200 riders ahead of the same date last year.

“We are 200 ahead today,” Valenzuela said. “It might be different tomorrow. It fluctuates from day to day.”

She said there are currently over 6,000 people registered for the ride, but people often wait until the last minute to register.

“There are quite a few people, amazingly, that wait until the last minute,” Valenzuela said. “I understand things happen and they want to do things spontaneously.”

Fees go up for the last time on Nov. 12.

Are you riding in El Tour? How many times have you ridden? What distance are you doing? Do you have a time goal?

Related posts:

This year’s El Tour dedicated to four-time Olympian Tour de France at Ghini’s El Tour training program starts Wednesday Touring Los Angeles’ bike community with local riders

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nbronb
nbronb

This will be my sixth El Tour in a row. I fly in from the Chicago area and always register within the first week that it is open. Cycling has helped me become physically fit and El Tour serves as my yearly "Final Exam". I will be riding the El Tour as long as I can make the cranks go around.

Fred
Fred

El Tour is just getting too expensive. I am doing other events at a much lower cost. Don't get me wrong. It is a great ride. I just cannot afford it any longer. I think they need to look at the pricing. Maybe if they lowered the entry fees, they would get more riders and make more money for the charities and city.

MikeI
MikeI

Riding with Team-In-Training doing 109 miles. Our Tucson TNT group has about 30 riders on the team all raising money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. And lots of other TNT teams from out of state are also riding ( look for the purple & green jerseys and the crazy stuff on the helmets to guess where they are from ! ) GO TEAM !!