I'm riding in support of Multiple Sclerosis in Waves to Wine 2015.... in a way

With a well-deserved beer and my
Waves to Wine jersey and kit
at the end of the ride

I've been riding my bike for MS, or intending to, every year since 2003, and this year is no exception. While I did have this on my schedule and the ride is happening this weekend and September 26 and 27th, I had business plans that took me on a different route. I'm spending the weekend in Minsk in Eastern Europe, and am just finishing this on Monday morning.

People have accused me of being long-winded when talking about MS.  I’ll be concise this time.

• While I had intended to ride and had trained for it, I traveled instead, flying out on Sunday, the 20th. I did do a ride in the 100+ heat last weekend, September 19, before I left for fundraising: I am still serious about supporting the cause.  You can see the map below. It was one of the tougher rides I have done, due to the heat and the fact that I supported myself rather than having a team of volunteers; I appreciated their work all the more.  I took two “time outs” at a Subway and Starbucks to cool down and hydrate, with a few quarts of water each time. But I finished the ride.  I greatly enjoyed a few parts, such as the trip in the hills east of Gilroy, back by Gilroy Hot Springs. I rode for an hour back there without another vehicle on the highway, and stopped to hear the woodpeckers and the breeze in the trees: quite beautiful. I also had a flat tire about 1/4 mile away from home. Of all the times it could have happened, this was the "best."
• Close to three thousand people are riding on the 26th and 27th.They hope to raise $2.8 million dollars to support local and national multiple sclerosis programs and research. They need your support, so you can support MS and me by contributing at their website, http://main.nationalmssociety.org/goto/CharlesMyers2015. 
• If you have donated to MS already, thank you.  If not, you can still make contributions to the ride and cause through the middle of October.
• I’ll be riding again next year. And I'm not planning any trips to eastern Europe during that time.

I did do fundraising this year by postcard, custom printing the message and address with the software I wrote 39 years ago, Pager.  If you’re one of my email-only people, I did not do a custom email for you, but you can see a generic version of the postcard, both front and back, below.

Here are a few pictures for the ride

The 101 mile route, to Gilroy and back. It was about 4000 feet vertical

The 2014 thank you note, used for 2015. It was custom-published with software I wrote back in Chicago.

Thank you all for your continuing support.