The Tri-State Trek raises money and brings attention to the work ALS TDI is doing to find an effective treatment for a horrific disease.
The Trek began in 2003, when 16 cyclists pedaled from Boston to New York and raised about $30k for ALS research. The event has since grown
to 260 riders, raising over 2.64 million dollars. People ride to see changes in medical science, and the spectators who cheer them on with
cowbells let them know they're not alone on their bikes.
We Need More Cowbell!
In 2005, in an effort to bolster spectator support, Interns for the Trek passed out cowbells in White Plains, NY, (the Trek's former finish line)
as part of a community outreach project. In 2006, the event officially launched its 'More Cowbell!' campaign; a knock-off on the pop-culture catch
phrase originally delivered by Christopher Walken in a quasi-famous Saturday Night Live skit. Cowbells have been used in cycling since the early
1900s, when European's would cheer riders racing through the Pyrenees or up the Italian Alps.
For the cyclists, volunteers, and countless spectators and supporters, "More Cowbell!" is about more noise and more support for an orphaned disease
and its patients that will not stand silent.
About the ALS Therapy Development Institute (ALS TDI)
The mission of the ALS Therapy Development Institute (ALS TDI) is to develop effective therapeutics that stop ALS as soon as possible. Focused on
meeting this urgent medical need, ALS TDI executes a robust discovery program, as well as a multi-pronged approach to validate potential therapeutics;
including small molecules, protein biologics, gene therapies and cell-based constructs. Built by and for today's patients, the Institute's unique,
industrial-scale platform allows for the development and testing of dozens of potential therapeutics each year.
A federally registered 501(c)3, ALS TDI was the world's first nonprofit biotechnology company, and is currently the world's largest ALS research
facility. Based in a state-of–the-art research facility in Cambridge, MA, a team of about 30 professional scientists, researchers and technicians
focus on the single goal of curing ALS. For more information please visit www.als.net.
About ALS
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, Lou Gehrig's disease) is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that leads to paralysis, due to the death
of motor neurons in the spinal cord and brain. There is no known cause, cure, or effective treatment for the disease. Patients become trapped in
their bodies, unable to speak, eat, or breathe on their own. Most succumb to respiratory failure within three to five years of diagnosis.
Approximately 5,000 US citizens are diagnosed with ALS each year, and another 5,000 die, leaving only about 30,000 patients in the United States
today and an estimated 400,000 worldwide at any one time.