Bike MS: Round Up Ride 2009 (3/28-3/29, Florence, Arizona)

Well, this is a ways away yet (March 28-29, 2009), but I'm already registered to do this ride with my boyfriend. His mom was diagnosed with MS a few years ago, and like many of you, I'm sure, I know others who are dealing with this disease and some who have lost the battle far too early in life.

As it stands right now, I don't think either of us (at least, not me!), being relatively new to cycling more than a couple of miles at a stretch, are going to be prepared to do the whole 150-mile, two-day event. They have a few different routes to choose from; my plan as of today is to do 70 miles (35 each day), but we'll see how training goes this winter! :D I know 35 miles a day is a drop in the bucket to many of you seasoned riders, but this is going to be a huge achievement for me.

Obviously this is a personal cause for both me and my boyfriend, and a first charity ride for each of us, to boot! I'm looking forward to getting in better health and raising some money for a worthy cause! The fundraising minimum is $250, but I'm aiming big and going for $500. This has absolutely nothing to do with getting a sweet jersey as a prize. ;P

I had to psych myself up to post the link to my page... something about posting my real name and picture together on a public forum where I was previously "anonymous" gives me the willies, but I suppose if someone was going to steal my identity, this probably wouldn't be a terribly likely avenue... right? :( I at least removed the fundraising 'honor roll' from my page to protect the identities of my donors from being broadcast around the interwebs.

my participant page

Is anyone else doing this ride? I'd love to hear from you if you are! And if anyone is interested in my journey from being a sedentary, bikes-are-for-transportation-only nerdy grad student to a cycling maven, I can post updates on my training here. :o

ETA: here's the general link to the ride... can't believe I forgot to include this in the first place. Whoops! http://bikeaza.nationalmssociety.org/

I'm signed up and will be doing the 100 mile on Saturday. I did it last year and the support was excellent, the riders were all super nice and I survived! If you haven't done alot of biking you should do their training rides, it will definitely help. Hope to see you there!
Cathy

I'd love to do their training rides, but they're pretty much all in the Phoenix area and I live in Tucson! There's one coming up in Tucson next weekend, though, and my boyfriend and I are planning on it. :) We've been doing a lot of riding on our own around town (20-ish miles at a time--we're still only planning on doing 35 each day so I think we're probably set!) but neither of us has ridden in a group situation before so we're really looking forward to it.

I've reached my $250 fundraising minimum, by the way! Hooray! I was hoping to raise $500, but in this economy, I feel fortunate to have met the $250 requirement.

Just a quick post to say that for training this weekend my boyfriend and I did a 20-ish hilly ride on Saturday and a 42-mile ride yesterday, mostly flat with a couple good climbs right in the middle, and I feel great today (aside from a little sunburn). I've been getting generous donations from family members and old friends alike and I'm so excited for this weekend. I think we're definitely ready to tackle the 35mi on Saturday and the 50mi on Sunday. :D

Well, I've had donations coming in from all sorts of unexpected sources, and while I'm not quite there yet, it looks like the proceeds of a "casual friday" fundraiser at my boyfriend's dad's firm will push me over my $500 goal! I'm so excited. I'm off to my last class of the week, and then we're leaving for Florence to camp tonight and get ready for tomorrow. Wish us luck!

Cato, if you or anyone else is so inclined to try to spot me, I'll be on my trek hybrid, my boyfriend will be on his 'cross bike, and I think our one friend who was a roadie once upon a time now rides a beach cruiser, so I'll be part of a bit of a motley crew riding out there. ;)

Thanks badger and all participating in this. I lost a wonderful Aunt, to a very severe case of MS a few years ago, and used to do the "walk" before I moved. It's great to see people getting out to participate, and I hope you have lots of fun!