I am back to beg for your generosity. In the next 39 days I need
YOUR help to raise more than $1,200 to support the National MS Society.
What
follows is a story about how a mitsva became personal, and a long-winded appeal
to your emotions that you will be swayed to part with your hard earned cash to
support a good cause.
If
you are already convinced or just don't feel like reading the rest of my story
(I'm not offended!), and are ready to do your good deed for the day/week/year,
get your wallet out and:
Ah,
it looks like you are still here.
Ok, here is why I ride the MS150 and why
finding a cure for MS is important to me.
Multiple
sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune disease that affects the nervous system. The
disease is progressive and increasingly debilitating. In the U.S. there are
about 400,000 people living with MS and 2.1 million worldwide. So, it is likely
that you have a friend or relative who is living with MS.
However,
prior to last year, I did not have a personal connection to MS. I love to ride my bike, and being able to combine an activity I love with a good cause is reason enough to fundraise. So, for the last 6 years I
have raised money to champion research into finding a cure for MS, education
about MS, and support for people with MS and their families. Add to this, I get to do the ride with my dad every year
(and my brother for the first time this year) and I can find no arguments
against spending one weekend in September each year riding 150 miles in large
circles to nowhere with about 2,000 of my closest riding buds in New Bern, NC
in a joint effort to promote longer, healthier lives for people with MS and
support their families.
But
last year it became a personal quest. All because my dad left the key for the
cable lock that secured our bikes to the car in Chapel Hill - about 3+ hours
from New Bern. Oops. It is, as we quickly discovered, much more difficult to
steal a bike off a cable-locked Yakima hitch rack than bike thieves would make
you believe. Or maybe my dad and I would just be hopeless bike thieves (quite
possible). Regardless we had bikes, we were in the right place, but we were
going to go nowhere quickly without some help.
 |
| avoid these bike shop employees |
If
there is one thing I have learned in my many years of being a cyclist: people
who work in bike shops are resourceful - and in legal possession of sharp
tools. So we made our way over to the expo area and I randomly picked a
mechanic who didn't look like an axe murdering psycho and explained that my dad
and I are idiots and our bikes were going to be permanently locked to our car
without the help of a nice man with access to sharp tools. (Note, just to be
safe I left out the "legal" part.)
And
this lovely person that I selected said something to the effect of "Sweet!
I love destroying stuff!" And with that, he instructed us to pull our car
around to his tent, Cycling Spoken Here (visit them in Cary, NC!!), and he
pulled out a nice, big pair of cable cutters, and voila! our bikes were free.
 |
| This is Steve |
Meet Steve. He IS Cycling Spoken Here. And he is an all-around mensch. He and his shop have been supporting the MS 150 New Bern ride for may years.
Another
thing I have learned in my many years of riding a bike, it's that saying
"thank you", especially to any bike shop employee who frees your bike
from your own stupidity, is essential. And what says 'thank you' better than a
six-pack of craft beer? Mmmm. Beer.
Except this particular non-axe murdering, not-psycho
and very lovely bike shop owner does not drink beer. Oops. Our
bad...again. (Proving once again that you really can't save us from our own
stupidity.)
 |
| beer...for lunch |
On
the other hand, starting with a mistakenly forgotten set of keys, we met a very nice new friend who saved the beer we bought for
him and gave it back to us at the lunch stop on day 1.
And, more importantly, he made my MS ride a personal cause. Finding a
cure for MS is near and dear to Steve's heart because he, too, wants to pay it
forward. Steve's mom, Rena, had MS. She passed away in 2016. Steve has generously allowed me to champion his personal cause.
So,
last year, this year and for however many more years I end up doing this ride, I
ride in honor of the memory of Rena.
 |
| Riding for Rena |
When
you donate:
0% of your donation will go to line someone's pocket.
Please
donate now. With YOUR help WE can prevent MS.
(except we were in the 97% path so it didn't really look like this at all)
(except we were in the 97% path so it didn't really look like this at all)
