Along For The Ride
12.12.2011 Several months ago, a good friend and colleague recruited Jennifer to ride on his team in the MS150 Alamo Ride To The River, a bike race going from San Antonio to New Braunfels and back to San Antonio again. Like other members of the team in hot pink and blue polka dots, she prepared diligently: by riding a cumulative four miles five days before the race. How great did she look?
I took on the role as unofficial team cheerleader which is to say that I went along the route and took pictures and said "y'all are doing great!", and then met up with the team for drinks and dinner.
There were some beautiful vistas along the way.
But the most beautiful sight was the thousands of people who donned unattractive shorts and rode miles and miles (and miles and miles) in order to raise funds to eradicate Multiple Sclerosis, a cruel and chronic, often disabling disease that attacks the central nervous system (which is made up of the brain, spinal cord, and optic nerves).
That silhouetted photo was of a woman as her husband passed by, her daughter in her arms waving. He was representing the United States armed forces.
The same team finished up, most of the team made up of disabled veterans. Who rode one hundred fifty miles. There was not a single person sitting as they crossed the finish line.
The kids had been with my mother in San Antonio, but I picked them up, just before nap time, so help me God, so we could be at the finish line together as their Matou crossed. I'm so glad we did.
It was fun being a tourist in my own hometown. Maybe next year, I'll actually ride.
Reader Comments (2)
Thank you Jennifer for riding for MS! And thank you Rachel for your support! I am coming up on my first year anniversary since my MS diagnosis (what a Christmas present last year!) and I now know my life will be a roller coaster ride for the rest of my life - and not the fun kind. I hope that the MS community will help me live long enough to see my children through their youth...and perhaps longer, with support such as yours. Thus far, is only in my brain - and I hope to keep it that way. God's peace for doing things that I can no longer do to help those of us who cannot help ourselves.
Congrats, Jennifer! I love the photos, Rachel. Brings back wonderful memories of my own MS150s.