Welcome to the Minnesota MS150 Team Norske home page!
Jeff Hernes
We're a cycling team supporting the Noran Clinic Multiple Sclerosis 150 mile bike tour held the first weekend of June in Minnesota. This year's ride dates are June 6 Fri through 8 Sun. Friday 's activity includes travelling to Duluth via bus and camping at Proctor High School. The real fun begins Saturday with a 73 mile ride to Hinckley, most of which occurs on the Willard Munger State Trail. After spending the night in Hinckley, we complete the ride on Sunday, pedaling 75+ miles back to the sports complex in Blaine, located in the northern section of the Twin Cities.
You can help us in one or more ways!
Consider
joining our team! This event is a fundraiser, not a race. Many prospective
team members tend to forget this simple fact and continue to amaze us with
reasons they just can't do it. Nonsense! Over 2500 people participate,
ranging from a few years to scores of years in age. Some ride bikes older
than half the riders while others think a year old bike is obsolete. Some
of us ride bike all year while many start thinking about it when the weather
warms up in May, and a few even consider their training ride Saturday and
the real ride Sunday. You'll fit in!
Consider
financial support! Our required minimum fundraising set by the National
Multiple Sclerosis Society is $300 per team member. Our team
goal is $500 per person, with one member being at the $1000 level
so we receive special parking privileges at the starting point in Blaine! :-) Are you required
to come up with $500 on your own? Nope! $300? Nope! We fund raise as a
team and throw everything into the same pot. The more each individual can
raise however, the less challenge our team fundraising coordinator Warren
Kalsow has. If necessary though, he's proven he can handle raising a few extra dollars.
Consider
corporate sponsorship! We're always tickled when a corporation will
help us out with pledges or donation of items such as team jerseys.
Consider
a non-rider membership! Warren can always use help with fund raising,
whether it be to call in past favors of support to co-workers' projects,
or helping with the Memorial weekend picnic, or driving a SAG wagon on
training rides.
As mentioned, team sponsorship can be accomplished by riding with us and/or pledging financial support. For either, please see our MS150-sponsored website for links to join the team or make an e-pledge:
Jeff Hernes (1997) - captain
Melissa Hernes (2000)
Warren Kalsow (1997) - chief fund raiser
John Jones (1999)
Janet Hernes Mathistad (2007)
Joel Hernes (2007)
Sonja Hernes (2007)
We still need some for 2005 and 2006!
| 1996 | 1997 | 1998 |
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| 1996 Ride Report | 1997 Ride Report | 1998 Ride Report |
| 1999 | 2000 | 2001 |
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| 1999 Ride Report | 2000 Ride Report | 2001 Ride Report |
| 2002 | 2003 | 2004 |
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| 2002 Ride Report | 2003 Ride Report | 2004 Ride Report |
| 2005 | 2006 | 2007 |
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| 2005 Ride Report | 2006 Ride Report | 2007 Ride Report |
Back not too many years ago our
company's sole representative in the MS150 ride retired. A week before
the '96 ride, Warren and I ran into him and he got us excited about the
possibilities of continuing on the tradition. Warren turned to me and asked
if I'd ride, seeing as how I was commuting to work by bicycle as much as possible.
I thought I'd bluff him and told him I'd ride if he raised the pledges.
Six hours later that Friday I was all set with the minimum pledge of $150.
By Monday evening he'd doubled it. By Friday evening I was in Duluth, and
on Sunday afternoon I'd completed my bluff he'd called. :-)
Warren started wondering if he'd be able to do the ride in '97. I worked on him a bit, helped him with some training tips and bicycle maintenance, and with great enthusiasm he dragged his eldest two, Katie and Wesley, on board. Team Norske was born.
With some more coaxing, two more members, Kristi and Wendy, were added for the '98 ride. The team actually showed signs of functioning as a true team, with three official training rides and a fund raising picnic (at which Aid Associations for Lutherans matched up to $300 raised at the event).
Have some spare CPU cycles to donate to helping fight cancer? Check out our cancer fighting team extension at Team Norske Hi-tech Cancer Fighting Site!
