My friend Tripp (or I ride because I can)

The canned MS participant page verbiage is “I ride because I can…”

When I signed up to ride MS150 I signed up because I thought it would be cool to say I rode my bike from Houston to Austin. I signed up to ride with the Tough Cookies because they have done it before, they are organized, and I’ll be trained right (if I follow the program and behave). Oh, and it is fun to wear the jersey. People like to cheer for you when you wear loud pink that has a catchy/cheeky phrase on it like “Tough Cookies don’t Crumble”.

Then it morphed as I really thought about THE CAUSE. Les’ aunt had MS. She was old when I met her. At least at the time, I thought she was old. I was impressed how her husband was so proud of her. It really didn’t occur to me that she had MS but at the same time I knew it. It was profound. Then I reflected on my time teaching at Duluth High School way back when (as in, when I still had dark brown hair) There was a special ed teacher there who was incredibly young and she needed a cane. She impressed me, too.

Then it really hit home. A couple of years ago I “re-connected” with a high school friend of mine. When we were in high school, he and his family had moved into the house next door. He was a fun guy, quick to laugh, drove a cool little car and we were good friends. We were both student trainers and both on the student council. He cracked me up when he went flying down North Peachtree Rd in his little convertible and yelled at the jogger, “RUN FASTER”! (and, yes, it was a jogger, not a runner, but none-the-less FUNNY!) He also knew when we were just in high school (that seems so long ago) that he was going to be an Episcopalian Priest. Really, when I was in high school, everything seemed so far away. But that’s what he said. And today, he is.

And he has MS.

And a wife, two kids and two dogs.

When he told me, I think it shocked me. So much that when I started reflecting on the conversation/email/chat two years later (can’t even remember which one now), I really thought that I might be imagining it.

When we ride the MS150, we "wear" a bandana signed by a MS patient. They have “signed bandanas” just in case you don’t know anyone. But I got a blank one. I’m sending it to my friend, Tripp. With a sharpie. Then I will wear it with honor and sweat all over it for two days… because I can.

MS is one of those things that happens when you are in the prime of your life. I would like to say it sneaks up on you but I really don’t know. Tripp let me know that he is moving around ok, occasional cane but swims every morning.

I got on my bike this weekend for a total of 92 miles. That is training miles. I like riding my bike. I like riding with the Tough Cookies. Suddenly, I have a purpose. No, I’m not getting weepy or sappy. But I feel honored that I didn’t get an anonymously signed bandana. I now know why I’m riding. And I’m humbled that I didn’t get an anonymously signed bandana. I kind of wish I didn’t know anyone with MS so I had to get an anonymously signed bandana.

But I ride because I can.

Help the Tough Cookie Cycling Team make a difference in the fight against Multiple Sclerosis, please donate:
http://main.nationalmssociety.org/goto/k.pearce



.