A New Post

Wow! Even with four contributors no one has had anything to say for almost two weeks. Aside from being glued to the Hurricane Katrina coverage on TV and commenting about it on Scott's blog, I've been focusing on getting ready for this past weekend, explained in the rest of the message below. I don't know if it really counts as a new post since I'm just going to copy an email I sent out instead of creating original, unique content, but here it is:

First, I survived. Second, thank you for sponsoring me.

This was my first time doing the MS150 bike tour, and it was a fun (although challenging) experience. If you don’t know, the MS stands for multiple sclerosis and the 150 is the number of miles we ride, although this year it was the MS176. They tweak the route each year and this time had a course that started at the Summit Technology Center campus in Lee’s Summit and ended at the Missouri State Fairgrounds in Sedalia. Ride out on Saturday and back on Sunday. They advertised it as 82 miles each way, but everyone with a cyclometer (including me) agreed that it was 88. So we ended up riding 176 miles for the weekend. For the most part—some people rode 100 miles the first day so they could get a “century” pin, some planned only to ride the first day and had transportation arranged for Saturday night, and some caught rides with the support vehicles to cut the pain short on Sunday. Leslie and I started around 7:00 a.m. and arrived around 3:30 p.m. each day, although we talked to some people who were done by noon and saw others still coming in as the sun was going down.

The support on the ride was amazing. For just over 2000 registered riders, there were around 1000 volunteers. There were people to greet us, manage traffic at every major intersection, cook, and hundreds of other tasks. They transported our luggage to Sedalia and back. I don’t think we ever went more than 10 minutes without seeing a motorcycle or support vehicle (SAG – Support And Gear) asking if we needed anything. Every 10 miles was a SAG stop with port-a-potties, semi-tankers with water, tents and mechanics from bike shops, and volunteers constantly slicing fruit, making PB&J sandwiches, and mixing Gatorade. Five meals were provided. There was a camping area, RV/camper area, dorm facilities (our option), and shuttles to hotels. There were festivities in Sedalia all evening. They did everything they could to take care of us.

Brian Busby from KMBC TV and Kelly Urich from Mix 93 radio emceed (Kelly also rode). We didn’t confirm his identity until back in Lee’s Summit, but we had lunch Saturday with Mike Hendricks from the KC Star and his wife and saw them numerous other times throughout the weekend. And we met and rode with lots of other interesting people.

All day Saturday I was wondering if this huge effort was really worth it as a fundraiser. I also had to wonder each time we tried to thank a volunteer for their support and they responded by thanking us for riding. The rally at the campgrounds answered my questions. The riders in Kansas City this year raised over $1,000,000 for the MS society. They didn’t have individual information from this year yet, but they also explained the riders with yellow numbers on their backs instead of white like the rest of us were the high fundraisers last year—one hundred and fifty some odd riders each raised over $1000—over $400,000 (52%) just by themselves. One guy brought in $55,000 alone and at least ten others were over $10,000. I decided to do this because I like to bike and it looked like a fun ride. After hearing them talk about why they raise this money, what it’s like to live with MS or love someone who does, I had a much greater appreciation for the event. Thank you for sponsoring me, because it really means something to a lot of people who are struggling with this every day. You’re helping to make a difference.

Oh, and we’re planning to do it again next year and would like to both have more company and raise more money. It’s not too early to start training and/or saving (the hotels in Sedalia are probably already booked, though).