The 2007 MS Bike Tour

When news broke early last week that tropical depression Gabrielle would likely be heading for the North Carolina coast sometime on the weekend, I was curious how things would play out. Fortunately, the weather was a non-issue. The weather was very pleasant in the moring. It was warm during the afternoon, but not unbearably so. I don’t know how the rains that came on Sunday affected the tour.

Four members of the Fellowship of the Spoked Ring rode in the tour on Saturday (Mark, Jeff, April, & Gregg). Our fifth member, Kevin, had to miss the ride because of a death in the family. There was a great turn-out for the tour; they said that this was the largest group ever with approximately 1800 riders. Almost $700,000 had been pledged prior to the tour; they hoped the final tally would be over one million dollars. The park in New Bern where the ride began was packed with cyclists. The enthusiasm was contagious. The top rider and top team began at 8:30 am. They employed a staggered start, so Jeff and I didn’t get out of the park until after 8:45 am. April and Gregg started after our group left. It was impressive to see the large pack of riders heading out of New Bern and snaking across the bridge.

I still haven’t figured exactly where we rode. I saw lots of geography in Eastern NC that I likely would never have seen. We traversed five counties on some major roads and many back roads. I saw lots of corn, soybeans, cotton, tobacco, and rural homesteads. Not as much road kill as I anticipated.

The rest stops were great and lunch was quite good. The route is significantly flatter than the one I’m used to riding in Kansas, so I felt stronger and rode the century in under 7 hours, my fastest time ever. With breaks, I didn’t finish until just after 5 pm; so it was a full day. I wasn’t as sore as I thought I would be on Sunday, although I wouldn’t have been at all interested in sitting on a bicycle seat.

I won’t come anywhere near my fundraising goal of $3000, but thanks to my wonderful sponsors I have raised over $1000. I’m going to be submitting a grant proposal for my research to the MS Society this fall. My good sponsors have contributed over $13000 to the MS Society over the past seven years—I think I deserve a chance to use some of those monies for my research. However, I’m not sure they’ll see it that way :-).

I had lots of time to think as I pedaled along and I came to the conclusion that riding in the tour is a spiritual experience for me. Several factors contribute to this feeling: it’s a sacrifice, completing it is an accomplishment that is very rewarding, it’s a worthy cause, people agree about the worth of the effort and support me in the endeavor, I’m part of a larger effort as many people participate, and it allows me to make a tangible contribution to help individuals with MS. It also connects me to Carmel in ways that are hard to articulate. I’m very grateful that I have the physical ability to participate and hope I am able to do so for many more years. I hope to get an earlier start next year on both the training and the fundraising. I also have good intentions of contributing more to the blog over the coming year. This year’s tour was one of the best; I’m already looking forward to next year’s ride!