By Jesse Wood
Feb. 2, 2015. Registration for Blood Sweat and Gears charity rides sold out quickly once again over the weekend.
Blood Sweat and Gears Ride Director Scott Nelson said that 100-mile ride sold out in 10 minutes while the 50-mile ride sold out in less than two hours. According to a breakdown of registration by state provided by Nelson, riders from 24 states in the country registered.
The states with the most registrants were North Carolina with 877; Florida with 110; South Carolina with 86; Virginia with 41; and Georgia with 39. In all, more than 1,260 riders registered for the upcoming rides.
New this year is the Hat Trick package, which includes the Blood Sweat and Gears ride starting and finishing in Valle Crucis, the Beech Mountain Metric and the Blowing Rock Fall Classic.
“We expected maybe a 100 riders would take us up on the Hat Trick offer since they commit so far in advance of the ride dates,” Nelson said. “We ended up selling 300 Hat Tricks.”
See a prior article about the creation of the Hat Trick here.
Blood Sweat and Gears, which is a charity ride event now in its 17th year, will be held June 27. Nelson said guests for this ride include Ride 2 Recovery veterans, Aaron Billings and Tyson Seitz of Watauga County Sheriff’s Office and Jay Erwin. Nelson added that George Hicapie, a 17-time finisher of the Tour de France, will participate in Blood Sweat and Gears this year, too.
“We [also] have a world-class unicyclist registered for the 50-mile ride and expects to compete it under four hours,” Nelson said.
The Beech Mountain Metric, which features the classic climb up Beech Mountain, will take place on May 16, and the Blowing Rock Fall Classic, which begins and ends in Blowing Rock and features some of the now-defunct Bridge to Bridge event, will take place on Sept. 26.
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