All About the Challenge! February 2019

One of my priorities when I took over as executive director of the National 24 Hour Challenge in October 2017 was to increase communication with riders and volunteers on a year-round basis. Over the past year and a half, I have been sending out separate e-newsletters to riders and volunteers every couple of weeks. Now, I am pleased to announce All About the Challenge! All About the Challenge is our new e-newsletter that will go out to riders and volunteers once a month in January, February, March, April, May, June, July, November, and December. Please be sure to share any questions, comments, or suggestions and I look forward to having you join us for the 37th Annual National 24 Hour Challenge on June 15-16, 2019!

Gary Goscenski, Executive Director
National24Hour@gmail.com

We look forward to having you join us for the 2019 National 24 Hour Challenge. Once you have signed up at www.BikeReg.com/national-24-hour-challenge you will receive a confirmation email from our registrar Michael Burden. Confirmation emails are sent within two weeks and most often they are sent on weekends. Sometimes the confirmation emails get caught in spam filters. If two weeks have gone by since you registered and you have not yet received your confirmation email, check your spam folder, and if it is not there, then send us an email at registration@n24hc.bike and we’ll track it down. You will also find your name added to our registered rider list typically within two weeks of registering.

The National 24 Hour Challenge is unlike any other ride! Over the past 36 years, over 5,500 people have ridden the challenge, many of them more than once!

As you think about accepting the challenge, be sure to check out the following:

1. Download our 2019 Registration Packet. It has everything you need to know to register for the 2019 National 24 Hour Challenge.
2. Check out the rider interviews to learn about other rider’s experiences at the National 24 Hour Challenge.
3. Download the Tips for New Riders information which will give you helpful information about training, nutrition, crew, equipment, clothing, the ride, and even rest.
4. Check out our Facebook page to learn more about the ride, and especially check out the videos. If you want the full experience, watch the 2016 Official National 24 Hour Challenge video (note: there are five parts to the video). If you have questions and put them in a comment to a post, you will typically get a pretty quick response from a rider or one of our volunteers.

Do bicyclists procrastinate? According to the Society of the Chronically Challenged, bicyclists are no more likely to procrastinate than people filing their taxes. Here are five reasons you should register now:

1. When you register and pay the money, you are all in – skin in the game – in it to win it. Once you register, you know you have got to do this and you will be committed to training and making the effort to achieve your personal best.
2. If you want a Neutral Support Crew. This year, we are offering a neutral support crew option for riders who are unable to bring a support crew to the National 24 Hour Challenge. NOTE: We only have four neutral support spots remaining – so if you are interested register soon! Be sure to check out all the details on page 5 of the 2019 Registration Information packet.
3. Save money. Our registration fees go up on April 1st, so registering now gets you into the National 24 Hour Challenge at our lowest entry fee.

Attention returning riders! This year, if you have ridden the National 24 Hour Challenge before, and you recruit a first-time rider to come to the National 24 Hour Challenge, you will get free merchandise and the rider you recruit will get a reduced entry fee. Check out all the details on page 5 of the 2019 Registration Information packet. NOTE: The Ambassador program ends on March 31, 2019, so be sure to recruit your rider and register today!

This year, we are enhancing our online scoring website and will be including a dedicated page on the website for each rider, like the sample below:

If you would like to submit a picture of yourself, we will include it on your rider profile webpage. If you have already emailed your picture – thank you! For those riders who want to include their picture on their rider webpage, please email us your picture to registration@n24hc.bike. 

The response to our online scoring was overwhelmingly positive last year and we are committed to make it even better this year! Take a close look at the sample screen picture above – we have added personal info, rider standing by age category and gender, the event time and time remaining, buttons connecting to the category and gender results, and the number of checkpoints completed.

Are we missing something important? Email any comments or suggestions you have for making our online scoring even better this year to National24Hour@gmail.com.

Over 150 volunteers are the lifeblood of the National 24 Hour Challenge! If you have not signed up yet, please do so today at: www.tinyurl.com/N24HCVolunteer

Please consider volunteering early so that you get the position you want, and so that we can see what positions we will need to work on filling.

If you have questions or want more information about volunteering, email Judy your volunteer director or call (616) 538-0132.

As a quick “thank you” here is a sneak peak at the back of the 2019 volunteer t-shirt – sign up today to get yours!

Thanks to Gregory Lorencz for converting our GPX files into Strava routes for all three loops! If you use Strava, check out the routes on our maps and rules page.

Email us at: National24Hour@gmail.com or call (616) 953-0234.

Look for our next issue of All About the Challenge on March 15th

(And sign up now! www.BikeReg.com/national-24-hour-challenge)