Riding in BikeMS rides across the country

Joshua: 00:00

Enough talk about Gran Fondos and how I did or did not succeed. Let's talk about some fun riding that I did last year - mainly the Bike MS ride in Tennessee. The Bike to Jack and Back, to be specific.

Hey there, I'm just another John Q. Public on a bike - a Joshua Q. Cyclist, if you will. I'm one of who knows how many out there who love to ride their bike, try to go fast, and want to challenge themselves on the bike.

t that I have had since about: 2008

Now unlike cancer, where there are several organizations for cancer research and supporting people with different types of cancer, the MS Society is the only organization for the population of people living with MS. This one organization is the front line in the efforts to provide help to people but it's also the main funder for research into the treatment, medication, and everything else for MS. So the Bike MS events are some of the biggest sources of income for the organization in order to fund that research and provide that support and generally try to make life a little better for those living with MS. So the money that I help raise goes to help make the world a little better place for the MS community. Having a more direct impact on the community with my efforts is important to me.

Each year, my goal is to raise not just the minimum amount needed to do the ride, but to meet the donation requirements to receive a bike MS jersey for that specific ride. Yeah, I can hear some of you going, "Oh, you're just wanting that extra money to get free swag to show off." And you know what? I can't argue with that. There are Bike MS rides across the country for most of the year but there's only one a year that I can participate in. Well, I can participate in as many as I want but I'm only going to pester my friends and online community for donations for one ride a year. I know there are limitations to what people can do. I don't want my raising awareness for the cause to be limited to just one weekend a year. So thanks to his supportive generous friends, I've been able to amass a collection of Bike MS jerseys and pretty much every time I go for any kind of bike ride, I wear one of those jerseys. only am I wearing a jersey that's screaming Bike MS or wear t-shirts, I also have either bought or painted bikes that are blue and orange, the colors of Bike MS, so that every time I'm out on the bike, I am a rolling billboard for the organization and the cause. Hell, even my road shoes are blue and orange. I have fully embraced the color scheme in my cycling life and my glasses life. When I'm out on the bike, be it commuting, going for a fun spin, or doing challenge rides, I want people to notice the colors and the cause. So yes, I'm trying to get as many jerseys as I can in the effort to always be that rolling advertisement for the MS Society.

Well, why is any of this important to me? Well, my mother and my brother are both living with MS. This organization, and in turn, this series of bike rides, is personal for me. For as long as I can remember, my mom has had MS. And for a large portion of that time, it wasn't noticeable. And if you didn't know, he'd never be able to tell. It was because of her MS that her bike had their reversed brakes, or the European style, done. Remember I talked about that many episodes ago. As for my brother, it's a more recent development. He was sick with COVID a few years ago, and while working with a doctor on some other medical issues, they diagnosed him with MS. We don't know exactly how long he's been with MS, because as a cook, he's always on his feet, and he just thought that some of the sensations and numbness he was experiencing was all part of the job, and just continued on thinking nothing about it. So, this ride is impactful for me. I ride four, and because of people that cannot.

I started off these by doing the Virginia Bike MS ride, and during that I was able to wrangle in some co-workers who were part of a gym group I was a member of. We did that ride for a couple years, and then things kind of dissipated. After that, I was riding in the Maryland Bike MS rides, and did several of those, the Chesapeake Challenge.

ah, that was the beginning of: 2020

The following year, I was still determined to be in Oregon and do the MS ride, and fortunately this time it was all able to come together. Now granted, that year the crowd was much smaller and the celebrations and festivities were pared down substantially. But it felt amazing to be at the start line with my parents there and helping get my mom involved as a cheerleader at the finish line. The ride was only one day that year, again keeping with things limited and safe, but it was no less meaningful. was flying across the country to spend a few days with my parents and then doing the ride, pretty much set in stone that I was going to start doing more rides in other states. I had a new goal and that was to see how many states I could do an MS ride in.

So in: 2022

Come: 2023

The second day, like most rides, had a smaller participation. But despite it being smaller compared to the previous day, it seemed more than the other rides that I've done. Was the percentage of returning riders the same as other rides? But since we were dealing with a larger pool of people, it made it look like a bigger turnout. I don't know, honestly. But it was still nice to see a crowd of excited and enthusiastic cyclists hit the road as one big group.

Jump to: 2024

This ride, like Delaware and Florida, is a ride out to a point, stay the night, and then ride back the next day. Like Delaware, at the end of the ride, we need to hop on a shuttle bus to get to our respective hotels. I got to the start point, pinned down the numbers, and waited for my turn to cross the start line and hit the high happy road. All I can say about the route was that it was a beautiful journey through the Tennessee countryside. As is the case with pretty much any other MS ride, we were out of the way from busy locations, and our course sent us down back roads and very rural areas that get lost to all but the local people. For those areas where we did have to worry about traffic and intersections, we not only had the assistance of local law enforcement, but there was also a motorcycle club that was patrolling the course, keeping an eye out for the riders. I will admit, the first time I saw a small pack of motorcyclists go past, I didn't really think anything of it. But they did keep a very wide berth from us riders and just kind of kept going down the road. It was only when I got to an intersection that I saw they were blocking any oncoming traffic until we had safely rolled through. They were even blocking it when it was just one person, like if it was just me coming through. After I would leave the intersection, they sometimes hopped back on to get to the next junction point. And sometimes they'd hang back just to make sure it was clear for any riders that were behind. This is a level of attention to the roads and traffic that I hadn't really experienced before and I gotta say it, added another layer of comfort and confidence to the ride as a whole. I mean, I'm used to having police at some of the intersections, but this was pretty much at every intersection.

The Tennessee MS ride is two days of 70 miles each day, so there wasn't a century day, but that also means each day ends a little earlier than what I'm used to. Rolling up to the finish line at the Jack Daniels Distillery, which was the finish line for the day, I had more time to relax and take in the afternoon. parked and checked in my bike and grabbed some lunch before heading to the shuttle buses to get to my hotel. A quick drop off at the hotel and I was able to get cleaned up and take a nap before it was time to board the bus again to go back to the distillery for dinner. And this was something I wasn't expecting.

See, I'm used to being fed at the end of the ride, but I'm not used to also being provided dinner after the fact. And this dinner was catered by Jack Daniels. It was damn good too. So I went to it. I wasn't expecting there to be a big crowd because people always peel off and go home or find other things to do. So I figured those of us there for dinner were kind of the stragglers and the visitors. What was I wrong about that? Aside from dinner, there were presentations, conversations, information sharing, musicians, you name it. This wasn't just a dinner of a bunch of cyclists riding for a cause. This was a community gathering. And while I was an outsider to the location and the people, I was a part of the bigger BikeMS family and felt like I belonged there. This was way more than just a getaway for the weekend cycling orphans grouping. This was a community celebration for what we were doing and why. Usually arriving at the end point, when all the other riders would scatter to their group pop-up canopies, we go from being one collective powerhouse on the road to a gathering of small teams. There's nothing wrong with that per se, but it does leave the individual riders kind of on their own. But this Tennessee ride, we were all one large group from beginning to end. As a solo rider, I gotta say it felt great to feel more involved in that community. Dinner and entertainment done, it was time to head back to the hotels for some sleep and do the reverse route on Sunday.

And not to sound like a broken record or repeating myself, but the second day was pretty much like the first day. Beautiful weather, amazing roadside support from the MC helping out, well-stocked rest stops, and a lot of great people out on their bikes having conversations and meeting each other and just having a good time. I linked up with a couple different groups and we had some mini-pelotons going down the road and giving each other a little draft to tuck in and get a break from the wind. Arriving at the finish line, there were celebrations. People who had finished earlier were out and cheering on the incoming writers. I never really got the mindset from others of "Okay, I'm done. Let's jet." I mean, I'm sure there were those who had that approach, but there were even more who were all about hanging out and being part of the crowd until it was time for the crowd to eventually, eventually scatter to the wind.

I’ve ridden in bike MS rides across the country and I plan on doing even more to experience what more states have to offer with their bike MS rides. But I have to say that the Tennessee ride was an amazing experience from start to end. Sure, there are elements that are just like some of the other locations, but there are also some aspects that I think some places could kind of take a lesson from. Again, no MS ride has been bad and they have each had elements that I have loved and I would recommend any of the locations that I've done to someone looking to give it a go. I would say though that Tennessee would be an amazing introduction to the bike MS world and community as a whole.

Here we are now,: 2025