Yesterday I finished the 2 days ride of 170 miles on my bicycle, in behalf of the National Society for Multiple Sclerosis. 

The journey started about a year and a half ago, when my nephew Yoni gave me his old race bike… what a great nephew.  He moved to a newer model after wining the second place in the Israeli championship for seniors (over 30… or something like that).

Then I started looking for a worthy cause for a worthy ride… MS was an easy choice… The longest ride, very organized and a great cause. I knew of people with the disease and learned that practically anyone can get it… enough reasons to get on the bike and start pedaling and fundraising.

I recruited my friend and grad-school classmate, Steve Rigo, I even bought him a cool Bianchi bike on the street, for $85 (he probably doubled that in tuneups, tires and etc.)

and trained a little… and we rode. It was tough. The bikes was not fitted well to my size…  the back hurt and I was out of shape. It was raining, it was cold, I had a flat tire about one mile from the end point… pretty bad… but we finished it.  I raised $950 or so. Steve raised a lot more - around $1,300.

So we decided to take another shot at it.

This year I took it seriously. I trained for about two months, I did my own tune ups, bought great new tires (Continental Gatorskin), new break pads, new cables, new handlebar ribbon… the good stuff. I even started using a road computer- Sigma (which were kind enough to ship me overnight a replacement unit after my original one broke during the last week of my training). 

I raised $1,700, Steve did a little less, and we rode. The ride was great this time. Very nice weather on the first day, some rain on the second day, but all good…

The best part of this entire event, other than the mediative quality of road biking, is the people. Great people, some of them doing it for years, I’d guess that the average age is 40, men and women doing something to support a loved one, as a social event or just for the sport. Great volunteers and the people who live with MS and take the time and effort to welcome the riders and thank them at every rest stop.

See you next year.