Keep in mind -- I'm going to ask you to help. No, this is not just a brag sheet.
Every year I ride my bike 150 miles for a cause. It's a simple cause: treating and supporting those with Multiple Sclerosis. The MS Society has been putting on bicycle rides for many years.
I ride in the Rhode Island chapter's annual ride. It's run nicel;y, out of a small state. The cyclists pay their own way -- we pay a fee, and we raise money. The chapter organizes rest stops for water and food, a stay in a summer-vacated dorm, and some entertainment.
Sure, we cyclists get a great two-day "challenge" ride (75 miles a day, two days in a row). But we give back more money than it would cost us to do such a ride on our own. We also get businesses involved. We let people see a face to a disease that isn't as well publicized as some.
By the way, Multiple Sclerosis is an auto-immune disorder. The body attacks its own nervous system. The brain tissue and the nerves all have a coating called "myelin," and this scoating is attacked. Depending on the nerve tissue attacked, its symptoms can vary fropm confusion and memory issues to problems walking to blindness to various other things.
MS can be treated, but not cured.
MS often hits people in their 30's and 40's.
OK, here's the part where I ask you to help. Yes, a pledge would be ok, but I have pledges.
What the MS Society REALLY needs is help in your area. If you are anywhere near "Little Rhody," we need you in Tiverton, Rhode Island, and/or Dartmouth, Massachusetts, and along the routes, on June 24 and 25, 2006. You can help register riders, feed and water them down, cheer them on, and so on.
It's easy -- use THIS link:
http://www.nationalmssociety.org/rir/event/event_page.asp?p=17140&e=8670
If you're NOT near Rhode ISland, there are plenty of other chapters that need your help. Click THIS link:
http://www.nationalmssociety.org/
Thanks, folks.
Gregory Lee is an attorney in Massachusetts, an occasional contributer to Gather, and occasionally a pudgy bicyclist.
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