This past weekend I participated in my 14th charity bike ride for the Multiple Sclerosis Society. I started back in 1998 when a co-worker challenged me and another co-worker to use our cycling for a greater purpose. At the time I knew two people with MS, today I know hundreds. This one simple challenge changed my outlook on cycling; I stopped doing it purely for myself and started using it to benefit others.
When I started doing the MS rides in Michigan it wasn’t because I had any connection with the MS Society. My parents had a friend with MS and my mother-in-law had a cousin with MS and that was all I knew about the disease. The start was merely an opportunity to do a group ride over a two day weekend with a few friends. The interesting thing was that as I started raising my pledge money I found that I had co-workers, neighbors, and friends whose lives had been affected by MS. I soon learned the 24 to 28 people a day are diagnosed with MS which has no cure.
As I learned more I knew this was a cause that I wanted to partner with. It didn’t hurt that the MS rides that I have done have been the best organized and executed rides I have done. I grew my Michigan team from four to fifty by the third year and gained the financial support from the company I worked for which helped to underwrite the cost of our shorts and jerseys. We were the third largest team in Michigan from 2000 to 2003 and brought over $60,000 dollars in donations to the MS Society in that 4 year span.
Since then I have worked with the MS society in Indiana and now here in Georgia. I am not the best fund raiser, but I do try to recruit new team members every year because I believe in the power of numbers. I also hold onto the words of my co-worker who first challenged me; “If you are going to ride, do it for a purpose.” That is my challenge to all of you who read this blog post. Do it by yourself, find a team to join, or build a team, but don’t just bike for yourself, bike for something greater than yourself.
commutercarl 