500 miles, 500 miles...

I have not ridden my bike much this year

     Two years ago I rode 600 miles, last year I rode 300 miles......and this year I have not hat the 100 mile barrier yet.
     Two years ago we lived close to the bike path and I would ride for an hour several times a week.  Living out in the country, I don't always want to toss the bike on the car and drive to the path, so I don't ride as much.
      Funny thing, I ride from my house to Shangri La and back, and it is less than riding the bike path!  Seems to me it should be more, but I think the bike path curves and twists a lot.
     Today I did ride 15 miles (actually it was 14.3) for the MS Ride Illinois Tour de Farm.  I may go back tomorrow, depending on temperature, weather and if my body hurts a lot.  I plan to ride into town one day a week every week, getting a rest and coffee at Cypress House.  I have not done any distance rides in a few years.
     But the MS ride is a huge fund raiser, over $1.5 million this year!  There were literally a thousand riders....my number was 1981..... and most rode with teams.
      I opted for the 15 because I am not in the best of shape, but neither were a lot of the other riders!
     I did not read the fine print on the pre-registration forms.....this is a fund raiser.  Riders have to raise $300 in order to register for the ride.  I did not know that.  So there I am, standing at the registration table, forms filled out, name and data entered in the computer, ride packet issued in my name in hand, and the nice lady says, "Are you going to pay today or are you filling out a promise to pay letter?
     I thought that was strange for a $10 entry fee, and so I said, "Oh, I'll pay now.  How much is it?"
     Let me just say, Jackie nearly shit when I got home.  She was a little irritated.  No, she was a lot irritated.  I think our vacation account just went down $310.
     But I am fine with that.  MS is truly an insidious illness.  No known cause, no known cure.  The only way to answer those two questions is to do research and conduct studies.  That costs money.
     It breaks my heart to see her increasingly struggle to walk and maintain balance.   It angers me, causes me to question my belief, worries me.....and depresses me.
     We know so many people who have MS.  Many of them are much worse off than Jackie, and for that I do count my blessings.  But there are a lot of MS patients, mostly women, which scares a dad with two daughters.
     Environmental?  A virus?  The water?  The air?
    Research will someday find an answer.  And that's why I would have written a check for even more today, and not regretted in one minute.
     Huh....this post took a strange turn.
     But then again, so did our lives.