Never Surrender works to fund the fight against ALS through VIP events such as the Blackwoods Blizzard Tour and the Kolar Toyota ALS Fishing tournament. Last year, another event was added to the lineup: the Tomassoni Tour- Cycle for ALS.

“This third event is basically in honor of Senator David Tomassoni and the fight of ALS that he had and the impact that he had on the community raising $25 million for ALS,” said Tomassomi Tour Finance Director Travis Klingeisen. “It’s a super impactful, beautiful ride on the Mesabi Trail up in northern Minnesota, which is just great people, a lot of fun for a great cause. The proceeds go 100% towards ALS patients, their families fighting the terrible disease. Ultimately at the end of the day we’re trying to give every dollar back that we possibly can to the fight and the cause.” 

Todd Lauer has had ALS for ten years. Lauer says he had the idea for this sort of event when his doctor challenged him to do something for ALS. 

“She’s got these little blue eyes, and they– she just looks right through you. When she looked at me and she said, what are you going to do, Todd? Well, then the wheels kind of started to turn. My wife said, you know, a bike ride would be a great ALS fundraiser,” said Lauer. “We thought about it and thought about it, and the timing just wasn’t quite right. Well, then when David Tomassoni got sick and he had done so much for our area and for the range, it just kind of fit in. The trail wouldn’t be there without him.”

The event raised $150,000 dollars in its first year. That was the largest first-year fundraising Never Surrender has seen in its history. This year, the goal is to double that and raise $300,000 for ALS patients fighting the disease. 

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In addition to raising money to fight ALS and enjoying a scenic bike ride, participants get to stay at the Fortune Bay Resort Casino. Ski Hut sponsors the tour and organizes the bike repair and check-in. 

“This is something I’ve never been a part of before where your hotel is covered, every meal is covered, every piece of maintenance or equipment you could ever need on your bike is taken care of,” said Ski Hut Co-Owner Dave Neustel. “The trail is beautiful, all of the travel to and from the trailhead is taken care of and then the people that are involved are some of the best people I’ve ever met and it’s just a really fun weekend, and on top of that it’s for an extremely good cause.”

The Tomassoni Tour will be September 19-21 this year. The full ride is 120 total miles, and the half is 60 total miles. There is still time to sign up, but there is a $1,000 fundraising minimum.

“There’s different ways of fundraising, you know, there’s ways that Never Surrender as an organization gives the riders ways of fundraising. For example, selling calendars, there’s different raffles that we also give to each participant to be able to raise the funds. People have their Venmo set up where they can have friends Venmo them or if they’re in other organizations just asking for a donation to the cause,” explained Klingeisen. 

More information on how to sign up for the event can be found at this link.