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Saints to Sinners ready to ride from Salt Lake City to Las Vegas

In the morning glow on Saturday, a procession of exhausted cyclists will finish a long pilgrimage in the streets of Henderson.

When they finally reach The Westin at Lake Las Vegas, some cyclists will have pedaled 522 miles. Others may have split the workload.

Either way, they will have just finished the eighth annual Saints to Sinners bike relay, a race from Salt Lake City to Las Vegas that takes place this Friday and Saturday.

“It can be as hard or as easy as you want it to be,” Race Director Steven Tew said. “Once you start, you don’t stop until you finish up in Las Vegas.”

This year’s race will feature 45 relays with five or 10 members, four solo participants and two duos. The race starts early Friday, and Tew said most teams finish by at least noon on Saturday, with the winning men’s solo time in 2014 clocking in at one day, 10 hours, 39 minutes and 18 seconds.

The event begins at the South Jordan Health Center at the University of Utah and weaves through highways, parks and even a forest as participants ride all night to get to Nevada. The race is split into 30 legs of various lengths to give teams an easy way to divide the workload.

Tew started the event with his wife after his father-in-law, Ronald Frandsen, was diagnosed with ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. Frandsen was an active outdoorsman and hiker, and so Tew created an event that would get people active and generate money and awareness for a disease that causes muscles to shrink.

“This was a way to say we’re going to use our bodies and we’re going to fight back,” Tew said.

Tew said most participants have a connection to someone with ALS, or maybe even have it themselves. For years, husband-and-wife duo Creighton and Lisa Rider of Salt Lake City have participated.

The two own a tandem bike, and Creighton, who has ALS, sits in front and helps pedal. Lisa controls the bike from behind and keeps it balanced. Together they pedal more than 500 miles.

Starting Friday, they get to do it again.

“It brings tears to everyone’s eyes every single year,” Tew said. “We started this for Ronald, but we’ve met people like Creighton and Lisa, and that’s the reason why we keep it going.”

Recreation notebook appears Wednesdays. Contact Ben Gotz at bgotz@reviewjournal.com. Follow@BenSGotz on Twitter.

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