Bike MS Charity Event This Weekend

Bike MS, the largest fundraiser for the Rhode Island Chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, is this weekend and we are on track to have 1,000 cyclists biking 150 miles in one weekend to raise a record-setting $835,000.

Last year, 1,000 cyclists set a record by raising $805,000 to help Rhode Islanders with MS and fund MS research. It’s not too late to register and start training so you can join our motivated cyclists biking from Narragansett to New London, CT, and back over two days.

Bike MS will be held Saturday and Sunday, leaving from . They relax at the New London finish line at Connecticut College with a cookout, plenty of Harpoon Ale, live entertainment, and a full dinner.

The next day, they get up early and cycle a different route from Connecticut College back to Narragansett. With 150 miles under their belts, they relax with a BBQ.

If this is the physical challenge you’ve been craving, we encourage you to register. Bike MS is a commitment and dedicated cyclists make the event successful. For details and to register or donate, visit here. Sponsors include WPRI-TV 12, Fidelity Investments and Harpoon Brewery.

Since its inception 24 years ago, participation in Bike MS has grow as bikers share their stories and others want to be part of an experience that is not only unique but exciting and fun. Some of the participants bike for a family member or loved one who has MS. Others have been touched by the disease in some way and are inspired to help.

About Multiple Sclerosis

Multiple sclerosis, an unpredictable, often disabling disease of the central nervous system, interrupts the flow of information within the brain, and between the brain and body. Symptoms range from numbness and tingling to blindness and paralysis.

The progress, severity and specific symptoms of MS in any one person cannot yet be predicted, but advances in research and treatment are moving us closer to a world free of MS.

Most people with MS are diagnosed between the ages of 20 and 50, with at least two to three times more women than men being diagnosed with the disease. MS affects more than 400,000 people in the U.S. and more than 2.1 million worldwide.

About the National Multiple Sclerosis Society

MS stops people from moving. The National MS Society exists to make sure it doesn’t. The Society addresses the challenges of each person affected by MS by funding cutting-edge research, driving change through advocacy, facilitating professional education, collaborating with MS organizations around the world and providing programs and services designed to help people with MS and their families move their lives forward.

In 2009 alone, through its national office and 50-state network of chapters, the Society devoted more than $132 million to programs that enhanced more than one million lives. To move us closer to a world free of MS, the Society also invested nearly $36 million to support 375 research projects around the world.

The Society is dedicated to achieving a world free of MS. Join the movement at nationalMSsociety.org. Early and ongoing treatment with an FDA-approved therapy can make a difference for people with multiple sclerosis.

Learn about your options by talking to your health care professional and contacting the National MS Society at nationalMSsociety.org or (800) FIGHT-MS (344-4867).

Release courtesy of Bike MS Rhode Island.