The Journey Has Begun! 1650 miles to the finish line!

This will be my final pre-ride message to you. The journey to the finish line has already begun, and now all I have to do is meet up at the Start line this coming Saturday. Last Tuesday my bike began the journey to San Antonio via FedEx Ground. Today it is in Dallas, and should be delivered Tuesday. It will be reassembled and inspected, then ready to make the last 150 mile trip toward the finish.

As it stands right now I have fundraised just over $1,400. It is a far stretch from my overall goal of $5,000 for this year. For those of you who know me, this is a tough one to accept. I am very goal oriented and MS as you know is close to my heart. Training for this years ride has been the most difficult of any so far. When you ride with a group you have pace. When you ride alone, you have to find your own drive. When you ride with a group, there are people to talk with and encourage you. When you ride alone, you speak inside your head and the only one to take you that extra mile is you. When you ride with a group, you feel the spirit of the team drive you. When you ride alone, you wish there was someone there beside you. The point being, this year’s training alone has been rough, but I refuse to give up.

In the past few weeks we have all seen tremendous human survival stories. With the odds against people faced with enormous tragedy, they have found the will to overcome and begin anew. It will take time, but the pain of these tragedy’s will go away. For those with MS, the only thing that ever goes away is another day when they can live without pain. Their life gets shorter and they lose another day to enjoy being pain free and having a normal life.

Right now My focus is to raise as much money as possible before the deadline. Let’s face it, I need your help. Whatever you can afford to donate, please do. The fight against MS is just as important as the efforts we make every day to improve the lives of anyone who faces difficulties in life. So I ask, this week, please do what you can. Every small donation becomes part of the larger effort. It hurts to lose our physical possessions, but we can get them back in one form or another and the pain subsides. When we lose our ability to live a normal pain free life, all one can do is wait for the day there is a cure. For those I ride for, for all the people who suffer from MS, and for those who tomorrow will learn that they have it, please do what you can. Thank you.

Donations can be made at the following link: http://ms150.org/b2b/donate/donate.cfm?id=170999