The Bucknell and Penn alumni bike riders will be riding over 3,000 miles from Santa Monica, CA to Atlantic City, NJ commencing on the morning of Sunday, September 9, 2007 and ending nineteen days later on the afternoon of September 27, 2007 in Atlantic City, NJ. The Penn riders will be riding directly to the University of Pennsylvania Campus in Philadelphia, PA on Thursday afternoon, September 27th. The Bucknell riders will be traveling by car to Bucknell's campus in Lewisburg, PA on Friday, September 28th. The Bucknell riders will be honored by Bucknell at halftime of the Bucknell-Marist football game scheduled for 6 pm September 29th.

The riders will only ride during daylight hours and must bike an average of 160 miles per day for the riding team to accomplish its goals. Each rider must commit to bike at least 30 miles per day in a relay format, and riders will be able to bike as many miles per day as they desire. The riders will climb over 102,000 of elevation during the nineteen day trip! The alumni bikers' ages vary between 22 and 75 years old, so younger riders will likely be more ambitious than older alumni riders. The four senior riders in this race have a combined age of 262 years. The most senior rider is Walter McConnell, M.D., who will be 76 years old in October 2007. For details on the route, click on Bike Route or click on Daily Schedule.

The three primary goals of the ride are:

• Raise awareness of the importance of scholarship contributions to each university, its students, and future academically qualified applicants of each university; and
• Raise at least $1 million in gifts and pledges from alumni, university supporters and friends for scholarship at both Bucknell University and University of Pennsylvania by midnight EST on Thursday, September 27, 2007.
• Pay tribute to Ed Zolla (Penn '68), who died suddenly last year. Ed was a member of Bruce and Frank's local cycling club and planned to ride in this race.

Below are the four "Races" that the riders and supports will be competing:

Race Against Time

How long does it take the riders to cover 3,000 miles? The riders will be peddling for donations over a 19 day period with a goal of raising at least $1 million for each university.

 

Race for Donors

Which university will have the most donors supporting the race? The number of donors will include alumni, friends, family, and other supporters making gifts.

Race to Raise $1 Million for Scholarship

Which university raises $1 Million first? Help your team average raising $53,000 per day for the 19 day race.

Race for Highest Total Contributions

Which university will raise the most money for scholarship?