Pieman Completes Ride to Benefit
Multiple
Sclerosis
For those of you who supported my recent ride
from Cleveland to Sandusky, and back, I want to
thank you again for your generous support.
The
ride raised money to help fund research to end
Multiple Sclerosis, and it helped fund support
for people suffering from this disease.
MS
erodes people's bodies until they ultimately succumb,
and the process usually takes many years. It
is a slow decline made all the more devastating
because of its inevitability.
The money you
donated as sponsorship of my ride helps pay for,
among other things, wheelchairs, ramps to people's
houses, specialized walkers, physical therapy,
and internal remodeling to help people stay at
home as the disease progresses and increasingly
debilitates them. |
My
group and I covered the distance somewhat quickly and
uneventfully, plenty of others did not. For example,
on the ride out to Sandusky, which I'll describe below,
we met a guy named Andy, who was riding for 25 year-old
brother-in-law, who had just been diagnosed in January.
Andy was a triathlete from Columbus who easily kept
our pace, and he was clearly moved when he told me
about his brother-in-law, whom he had known for over
a decade and thought of as a brother. Another
rider scared me to my toes. On Saturday, as I
came around a greasy corner about 35 miles into the
77 mile ride (it rained most of the time) I saw a rider
in front of me veer off the road and flip over his
handlebars. I rolled up as he sat up, blood on
his elbows and knees. He was a young guy, and
looked fairly fit, but the combination of the rain
and the distance must have started taking a toll on
his body. Several of us urged him to take a seat
in a support vehicle, but he insisted on riding. I
saw him later in Sandusky as he finished the first
half of his ride. He was bloodied and bruised,
but determined. I saw him the next day out on
the road back to Cleveland, bandages on both knees
and stiff as a marionette, but riding.
The ride out to Sandusky, as the pictures below attest,
was wet, and bit longer than advertised, 77 instead
of 75. I rode with Craig Ihms, Ken Visocky-O'Grady,
and Jayson Simeon, who are all in the picture. In
the shot of just me, you can just see Andy's helmet
behind me. I never learned his last name. We
started at about 8.00 or so on Saturday and the rain
started falling almost immediately. After about
25 miles (that's one banana into the ride for me),
the hard stuff started coming down and it lasted for
another ten miles. It rained off and on for the
next forty five miles so we drove the pace pretty hard,
stopped once for water and a Hostess Cupcake (who could
resist), and finished by about 11.15 to 11.30. The
next day was clearer but windier, and we battled a
headwind nearly the entire day. On Sunday, the
route took us about 85 miles and, even with the win,
we covered it in about three hours fifty minutes. We
averaged about 20 to 21 mph on both days and hit tops
speeds of about 40 a couple of times. The route
was fairly flat in both directions--for you afficionados
out there, I was never out of my big ring.
The group I rode with, pictured below after the second
day--from left Jayson, me (yes, I have arm warmers
on--it was kind of chilly), Craig, and Ken--rode really
well. Although I think they felt the miles on
Sunday, they gritted their teeth and finished strong. I
certainly wouldn't have made the ride without them. And
I certainly wouldn't have made the ride without your
support. So, again, thanks for your donations,
and I hope you are all well.
Pieman
PS, I apologize for the writing on some of the photos.
From left to right: Jayson Simeon, Pieman, Craig Ihms,
and Ken Visocky-O'Grady
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