150 Miles on a Bike? Are You Crazy?

Everyone has a strong passion about something, right? For some, their passion can be as shallow as designer clothes and purses. Or it can be as selfless as helping stop world hunger. My passion has only just developed in the past three years, sadly because my dad was diagnosed with MS. For the first 24 years of my life, I knew nothing about MS and honestly I didn't really have a need to know anything about MS. But I remember the day like it was yesterday. It was Christmas and my parents set us kids down because they had something to tell us. My dad, unable to stop his tears, told us he had been diagnosed with MS. The rest of the story from that night will remain unwritten, as that's something between my family and me.

From that time, my family has learned a lot about MS, its side affects, what it means for my father, his painful shots he takes three times a week, his inability to do things like he used to do, etc. We started doing the MS Walk in Denver, and this year we participated in the MS Walk in Kearney, my hometown. My parents are amazing people. My dad has never complained about his diagnosis. He takes his shots and tries to live his life as normal as possible. My mom is the rock, always there to help my dad. She's a nurse, both physically and emotionally. They stay active, and while dad can't physically last as long as he used to, he still rides his bike, goes on walks, hikes, camps, plays with his grandsons and (his most favorite thing) plays on his 4Wheeler.

My passion was put to the test in February. I received an email from my company stating that they were forming a team to ride in the MS150. This is a two day bike ride covering 150 miles of northern Colorado. I received the email and forwarded it to my good friend, Kari, whose sister has MS. I said, "This is crazy. Can you imagine riding 150 miles on a bike? Too bad it's not shorter because this would be fun to do." She wrote back and said, "Let's do it." I wrote back and said, "I can't ride 150 miles on my bike in two days." She wrote back and said, "Sure we can. If we train together and ride together, we can totally do this. What an amazing accomplishment. Your dad and my sister would be so proud to have us riding in honor of them." I wrote back and said, "Let me think about it."

So that's what I did. I thought long and hard about it. I told my brother and brother-in-law about it, hoping they would want to ride with us. My brother really wanted to ride but couldn't afford to buy a bike for the ride. My brother-in-law told me I was crazy. He said, "150 miles?! Do you realize what that means?" I said, "I totally understand the implications of what that means. I understand that 150 miles is not an easy task. But I also understand the cause." I emailed Kari the next day and said, "OK, let's do it."

So our training began. We started off doing spin classes. Once the weather was nice enough, we started riding outside. Our first long ride was 30 miles and I thought I was going to die. But then 30 miles turned into 40 miles and before we knew it, we were riding close to 80-100 miles per weekend. We usually rode from 7am-2pm on Saturday's, which was about 65 miles. Sunday mornings, we would get up before church and ride 30-40 miles. It was no easy task. People were amazed at us riding 150 miles in two days, but they seemed to forget about the miles we rode before even getting to that point.

Finally, riding day was upon us. This is what we had been training for. The morning was a rush of excitement. My parents had driven to CO to see us off and greet us at the finish line, so they helped us unload our bikes at 5:45am in Westminster. They helped us load our luggage on to the FedEx truck and dad was our official photographer. Our Enterprise Team left Kari and me before we were even ready to go, so we were hurrying to get on the road. At 6:40am, we were finally going through the start lane.

As we passed through the gates, there was a woman in her 40s with advanced MS. She was in a wheelchair and had a breathing tube in her throat. She was positioned right in the middle of the road, where every single biker had to pass in order to start the course. She was the only person there, and as each biker passed her, you couldn't help but remember why we were all riding. As Kari and I passed her, she mouthed the words, "Thank you," to us. It was life changing. Kari and I burst into sobs at that point. Here we were, about to ride 150 miles for our passion, and we had to remember that we weren't doing this for us or for our glory. We were doing this for my father and her sister and everyone else we know and love who has MS. As we were sobbing, we prayed as we began our journey. We asked God to protect us, to guide us, to give us energy and strength to finish our ride. We asked Him to be with Amanda and my dad, to bless them, to give them strength and energy to finish their journey, which will be a lifelong journey. We were riding for two days, they were suffering for a lifetime.

It took us about five minutes to get control of our emotions, and that wasn't the first time we were overcome with emotions during our journey. There were times I cried as we went up long, steep hills due to the physical pain I was enduring. There were times I cried on long, flat parts because I was thinking about what I was doing for my dad. There were times I cried because I didn't know if I was going to make it to the end. Giving up was NEVER an option for Kari and me. That's why we made such a great team; we were in this together to the very, very end. But there were definitely sections of this course that made us focus on the cause to get us to the end. Oh how sweet that finish line was, not only because it was the end of our long ride, but because our family members and dearest friends were there waiting for us. We had barely crossed the finish line when I was so overcome with emotion that I was shaking and trying not to sob. Kari said, "Let it out, Shi, let it out." And I saw my parents coming toward me, my dad trying to hold back his tears, and we all lost it. Kari's parents came toward her, and her mother was crying. Kari started crying. We were all hugging. Our dear friends, Katie, Abby and Sonya were there taking pictures and crying. My sister, brother-in-law and nephew were all there. My brother, sister-in-law and two nephews had been there throughout the journey. Kari's sister, Amanda, had been a presence to us during our ride. We had more support than we could ever imagine and it meant the world to us to have everyone there.

Even as I write this blog, I am overcome with emotion. I know this is long, but I hope you can feel my passion as you read. It's sad that my dad had to be diagnosed with MS for me to gain a passion for something. With your help, I was able to raise almost $1500 to contribute to the MS Society. With that money, they will hopefully one day find a cure for MS. And what a sweet day that will be when my parents can set us kids down because they have something to tell us. I can picture us now, all crying with tears of joy because my dad can say, "I am cured of MS because of family and friends who were willing to donate money to help find a cure." Every time my family walks in the MS Walk or everytime someone rides in the MS150 or everytime someone contributes money to find a cure, we are that much closer to having a world free of MS.

Team Kari and Shiloh is set to ride again next year. Our team is growing. It's gone from two people with a passion to several people who have that same passion. Oh how fire spreads.