I kept putting it off but I signed the dotted line tonight! I'm riding with the most awesome team in Arkansas for the MS150!!!! Fast Girls Slow Guys!!!Sept 5th I'll ride the first day of Pedal the Peaks and if I can arrange it, which I think I can then I'll return for the Sunday ride as well.
Pedal the Peaks/MS 150 is an awesome ride and for a very good cause. I have a couple of friends at the hospital who have sisters that have this mean disease. I've heard some stories about MS and it hurts me just thinking of these ladies and what they go through. So that's all the more reason to get out there and take a couple days of pain to help them a little. Most of the time you are in a group riding but there are times when you look up and find yourself alone. That strange unsettling feeling of being somewhere that is unfamiliar. You are not real sure where you are going, how long you have or how much it's going to really hurt. That my friends is a very very small taste of what these girls go through when dx'd. I remember a coworker talking about when her sis first was dx'd with MS and how everything just spun. She said it was like waking up in a cave without a light. They didn't know anything about it but the MS Society helped them through.
The end of the first day has a climb up the backside of Petit Jean Mountain. It's not a hard mountain to climb as far as the grade but when it's at the end of your day and it can sometimes be really warm well, simply put, it hurts. But as you climb you get into this mental fix that you can do it. One foot, the other foot, one foot, the other foot. Slowly cranking the pedals until you get to the peak. Your mind sometimes goes into the "Why?" mode. Why am I blessed to be riding? Why can't there be a cure? Why does it have to hurt these ladies? In the 2 years I've ridden this, sadly those answers never come. So come on out and ride with us and make a difference! Help us to help them in a very small way... FIGHT MS!
One of my favorite things to do is leaving messages when there is a ride or a run. I enjoy going really early out to the mountain before daylight and leave a few text messages on the road. Since I'm riding rather than standing on the side of the road cheering riders, it's a way to cheer them in spirit. I found a way to make the chalk "stick" to the road. Hey, if you do it enough you learn tricks from graffiti artist. Time to go to Toys-r-us and buy some mega sidewalk chalk.
If there is a MS150 ride anywhere near you, please start a team or join a team!
http://www.nationalmssociety.org/get-involved/events/bike-ms/index.aspx
Life is good... when you help others!
2 comments:
Yeah, GEO...Go FGSG Go!!!
Okay, you know I just have to leave a comment. Thank you for all you do, Geo! The chalk "texts" at the end of that ride are just what you need to give you that extra push you need at the end of the ride. They may read things like "Having MS Hurts Worse" or perhaps "R.I. is a Do Do Head, her stink killed the trees" (looking around to see all the blasted trees are DEAD!). Whatever it takes to get you up that mountain whether it's the realization that you are healthy enough to be just riding your bike or a good laugh. We love you, Geo! Keep on keepin' on, buddy!
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