2012 Bike MS Kick-Off Ride! 4/28/2012

The Gateway Area Chapter of the National MS Society is holding their 2012 Bike MS Kick-Off Ride in 5 weeks! Join members of United by Design to get the cycling season off on the right pedal and get a taste of Bike MS. The ride will include rest stops, SAG support, music food & beer! Below are the details.

Date: Saturday, April 28, 2012
Route Options: 21 miles or 34 miles
Registration: 9 a.m.
Start: 10 a.m.
Fees: $10 online before 4/28, $15 day of
Location: Granada Cyclery
4798 North Service Road
St. Peters, MO 63376

Click Here to register!
If you have any questions or would like more information about United by Design, please contact Tom Bahr (tom.bahr@thelawrencegroup.com).

We hope you can join us and look forward to riding with you!

UBD Running Shirt!

United By Design Running has a new running shirt design! Thanks to our talented team member, Troy Guzman, the UBD Running group will have a great performance shirt to wear when training and during the 2012 GO! St. Louis Half Marathon on April 15th, 2012, that many of the group members will be running in.

If you would like to purchase a shirt and support UBD, the cost is $22. All orders are due by Friday, March 23rd, 2012. For sizing, please visit these links below.

Men's Sizing
Women's Sizing

If you would like to purchase a shirt or would like more information about United by Design Running or Biking, please contact Tom Bahr (tom.bahr@thelawrencegroup.com).

MS Awareness Week 2012!

This week (3/12/12 - 3/16/12) is MS Awareness week!

Register for the 2012 Bike MS: Express Scripts Gateway Getaway Ride before 3/18/2012 for only $15 using the discount code "MSAW"! Now is a better time than any to sign up for the ride. Click here to go to our team page and register.

The team that registers the most people this week wins a 10'x10' tent. The team that raises the most money wins a $100 pizza party. Don't wait any longer to register!

If you have any questions or would like more information about United by Design, please contact Tom Bahr (tom.bahr@thelawrencegroup.com).

We hope you can join us and look forward to riding with you!

United By Design Running

United By Design Running will be another great way for the design community, and friends of the design community, to come together just as we have done with for the Bike MS charity ride. We will be doing group runs twice a week and then at least three races between now and April; the Kirkwood Turkey Trot, the St. Patrick's Day Run, and St. Louis Go Races. Feel free to share this with all of your runner friends!


Team Training

We will be meeting up every Sunday morning for a 9 am start time for Team Training Runs. Much like the training rides, we will change up the locations, but we will get an e-mail out plenty ahead of time so you know where to meet up and if there is a time change. Starting out we will meet in Tower Grove Park at the intersection of Central Cross Dr & Southwest Ave Dr. There will be a few mileage options for all skill levels. We plan on having water on hand after every run.


We will also be meeting one weekday evening at 6:00 pm for a group run. Please e-mail me what day works best for you - Tuesday or Wednesday by 11/3. Which ever night gets the most votes wins. Our week night runs will meet at Francis Park at the intersection of Nottingham & Donovan Ave. It will be dark at this time of night, but it is a safe well lit one mile loop. We will have route options that go outside of the park, but the surrounding areas are safe as well.

Our weekday runs will typically be shorter routes than Sundays and we will vary the training with speed workouts, stretching sessions, etc.

Our first official team meet up with be either Tuesday the 8th or Wednesday the 9th at 5:30. I will let you know for sure when I have all of the votes back. We will then meet the following Sunday.


Team Races

Our first team race will be the Kirkwood/Webster Turkey Run on Thanksgiving Morning (11/24). It has a 3 mile & 6 mile option. If you are a new runner and think that it is to far to run, it is a walker friendly race and I encourage you to walk it at the very least. It is fun and inspiring to be apart of a race. It will be a great motivation for your training! http://www.kirkwoodmo.org/content/City-Departments/2339/turkey-day-run.aspx

Our second race will be the St. Patrick's Day run March 17th. It is a five mile race that goes through downtown. People dress up for the holiday and last year there were 13,000 runners. http://www.irishparade.org/site/run/


Our third race will be Go St. Louis April 15th. There is a 5K option, a marathon rely, a 1/2 marathon, and a full marathon. There is already a group interested in running the 1/2, so our group runs will have routes that follow the a training schedule to complete it come race day. http://www.gostlouis.org/marathon-weekend.html

We may add more races after the Go - we will know more as the season gets going.



The Details

United By Design Running will work a little differently than United By Design BikeMS. When you join the team you will get a long sleeve UbD running shirt, entry fee paid into the Turkey Run with registration taken care of, and water at the team training runs. To cover these costs, we are asking $50 to join the team. If you cannot run in the Turkey Day run, the amount ($17.50) will be applied to either the St. Patrick Run or Go St. Louis. Let me know if you have any questions on this part as I know it is different than our BikeMS team.

We will be working to get sponsors who can put their logo on our jerseys & website to help cover more costs, like race fees, team dinners & happy hours. I am also looking into getting a gym at a local community center or church to reserve for our weeknight workouts in case of bad weather which will be a team cost if we pursue that option. If you have a company who would be interested in sponsoring us, please let me know so I may reach out to them.


The Deadline

We will need to know by Nov. 14th if you would like to join the team for the deadline of the Turkey Day run. We will be putting in the running shirt order in on the 15th so we have them before race day. If we have more runners added to the team after that deadline, we will put in a second order as needed. Checks can be made out to me, Jessica Bahr, and sent to my address below. Money will be due Nov. 20th and you will not get your jersey unless you have paid. If you order a jersey, but then decide not to join and we cannot give your jersey to someone else, you will be responsible for the amount to cover the jersey.

I will not keep sending out mass e-mails after this one, only if you reply will you get e-mails on UbD running. If you were forwarded this e-mail, please contact me so I can add you to my list.

We look forward to running with you and please e-mail me at jessica@vervecolor.com if you have any questions!


Jessie Bahr

2011 Wrap up, 10/25 Happy Hour, & UbD Running

Tom and I wanted to say thank you again for making United by Design so successful this year! Can you believe it has already been a month since the BikeMS weekend? I hope you have had time to rest, recover, and maybe work on your fundraising goal! If you aren't interested in the numbers, skip down to the details of the team Happy Hour Tom and I are planning for October 25th at Llywelyn's in Webster.

 

This Friday, October 14th, is the deadline for you minimum goal of $250. Just a friendly reminder that if you do not raise that amount, you will not be able to sign up for next year's event without first paying 2011's $250.

 

At the moment, as a team we have raised just over $11,000 - good job team!

Sheila Miranda is our fundraising champion with $2,110 raised to date! Way to go Sheila!

I have tallied up all the funds we raised at the Breakfast, the Triumph Happy Hour, and all of the money left over from our sponsorships. The numbers work out so that everyone will get money towards there fundraising goal even if you could not make the Breakfast or the Happy Hour. I will be making a donation to the MS Society and they will be splitting up the funds to everyone. Here is the break down of what you will be getting towards your fundraising goal:

Just for being part of UbD: $21

If you attended the Happy Hour: $49

If you helped out with the Breakfast: $60

12 people will be getting $130 towards their goal for attending all of the UbD events! Thank you all for your time and effort to raise money for the MS Society!

Once that donation is in, we will have raised close to $14,000!!

If you are not sure how much your will get, feel free to e-mail me and I will let you know what you will be getting. I hope it can help a lot of the 19 people who have yet to raise the $250. If you need more help, please let Tom or I know as we have had people volunteer to share their portion with people who need help to raise the funds. Fundraising is a team effort!

10/25 Happy Hour

To end the 2011 season properly, Tom and I would like to plan one more Team Happy Hour. Tuesday October 25th we will all meet up at Llywelyn's in Webster starting at 5:30. We will reminisce about the 2011 season and then start talking about how great 2012 will be for UbD! Tom will be sending out an Evite shortly, but mark it on your calendars.

UbD Running

One last note - United by Design has been so successful as a Cycling Club that we are branching out into a Running Club starting November! We will be looking for 5K's, half marathons, and full marathons to run in for different charities. If you are a runner or are thinking of becoming a runner, please e-mail me back and I will add you to the list. Greg Frankenfeld briefly offered to help "coach" us into shape and I will be working with him to work out more details - so stay tuned! I will only e-mail the people interested in running though, so be sure to e-mail me back if you are interested!

See you all Tuesday October 25th!

Jessie

Last 2011 Saturday Training Ride - 9/3/2011

United by Design will be having its last Saturday morning team training ride of the 2011 Bike MS season on Saturday, September 3, 2011 (weather permitting).

We are meeting in Forest Park at the Visitors Center parking lot, South by the tennis courts, and will leave at 7:00am. We will be riding East into Downtown onto the Riverfront Trail and then across the McKinley Bridge connecting to the Madison County Transit Trails (MCT) in Madison County, IL, again. The MCT trails are fairly flat and are good for getting in some extra miles. We are going to go for 50+ miles (round trip). There are numerous other connecting trails for those who want to add or subtract mileage.

Forest Park Visitors Center
5595 Grand Avenue
St. Louis, MO 63112

If you plan on attending or have any questions, please contact Tom Bahr (tom.bahr@thelawrencegroup.com). If raining, we will not ride.

We hope you can join us and look forward to riding with you!

2011 Breakfast Fundraiser - 9/7/2011

Lawrence Group - 9/7/2011 - 8:00am to 10:00am

Lawrence Group will be holding its annual Bike MS Fund-raising Breakfast on Wednesday, September 7th, 2011, to support the riders of the United by Design Bike MS Team. The team is riding in the Bike MS: Express Scripts Gateway Getaway 2011 charity ride in Columbia, MO, on September 10th & 11th.

Come and enjoy some of your breakfast favorites prepared by United by Design team members and volunteers. You can also participate in our raffle where we will draw for fantastic prizes. All money raised will be donated to the Gateway Area Chapter of the National MS Society towards the team's fundraising goal. Feel free to bring your friends, family, and co-workers!

What:
Breakfast Fundraiser for the United by Design bike MS Team

When:
Wednesday, September 7th, 2011
8:00am - 10:00am

Where:
Lawrence Group
319 North 4th Street - 3rd Floor Atrium
Saint Louis, MO 63102
*Parking is available at the adjacent Quik Park & Mansion House garages or surrounding meters.

Cost:
$10 All-You-Can-Eat Breakfast Buffet w/ 1 Raffle Ticket*
Raffle Tickets - 3 for $5, 7 for $10*
*Cast, check or charge. Checks can be made out to the National MS Society. Credit is accepted via on-line team donation here.

RSVP:
Please RSVP by 9/2 to Tom Bahr (tom.bahr@thelawrencegroup.com)

2011 Tour de Wildwood - 8/28/2011

2011 Tour de Wildwood

Come join us the United by Design Bike MS team this Sunday morning for Trailnet's Tour de Wildwood. The ride starts and stops at Lafayette High School. The tour includes a scenic pedal through hilly West St. Louis County and has 9, 22, 36 and 45mile ride options. Helmets are required on this ride, which is recommended for experienced cyclists. The 2011 Bike MS: Express Scripts Gateway Getaway ride is coming up fast so make sure you get as much training in as you can!



Lafayette High School
17050 Clayton Road
Wildwood, MO 63011

If you have any questions, please contact Tom Bahr (tom.bahr@thelawrencegroup.com).

Looking forward to seeing you there!