Jalapeño 100 returns Saturday

HARLINGEN — And, they’re off!

Another year has come and gone, and once again the Jalapeno 100 bike ride has arrived to raise money for the Boys and Girls Clubs of Harlingen.

“We are real excited,” said Ana Adame, director of operations at Bicycle World RGV, which is organizing the event for the Boys and Girls Clubs.

“Our numbers are up from last year at this same time as far as registration,” Adame said recently.

Adame believes one of the reasons for the increased numbers is the addition of something new to the bike ride.

“This year they knew that we’ve made it a little bit more prestigious for the 100 mile riders,” she said. “We have a certified 100-mile route.”

What does that mean?

“They’re going to go 50 miles first, they’re going to get this band that says ‘Jalapeno 100 Certified’ at Port Mansfield,” she said. “They are going to continue on their ride, and we’re going to have the 100 mile marker with a big banner so they can take their picture there.”

She said last year almost 200 riders registered to ride 100 miles.

Another reason for more registrants, she said, could be greater awareness of the ride and the need to plan early.

“They need to get their hotel rooms so they’re getting their registration done early,” she said. “There’s just a lot of interest in the Jalapeno because we offer those five different routes for every skill level.”

There’s another change. Last year the Jalapeno was held Feb. 24. Bicycle World RGV had planned to have it this year on the same weekend of Feb. 25. However, a difficulty arose somewhat unexpectedly.

“We found out that the Harlingen marathon, which is usually in the fall, they planned it for the same weekend,” she said. “When we heard that was already a done deal we had to change our date. We couldn’t have two big events that same day because people want to do a marathon and they want to do a 100-mile route. They can’t do them back to back.”