This past weekend, amid threats of rain, Team Screens 'N' Spokes took to the road to continue the fight against Multiple Sclerosis. For the past five years the team has ridden in the annual Bike MS City to Shore ride, 75 miles (or 100 if you're crazy like that) to the Jersey Shore and back.
This year, roughly 5,000 riders participated in the ride, almost 30 of them road in fancy kits designed by S'N'S artist Bobby Dixon. Thus far the team has raised almost $36,000 towards our goal of $50,000. Over $9,000 of that has come from the herculean fundraising efforts of teammate Herold Klein. Herold, a violinist in the Philadelphia Orchestra by day, has been training hard for both the City to Shore ride, and the upcoming MS Great 8 ride. His training was featured in an article in the Philadelphia Inquirer on August 30:
Meanwhile, at subterranean health club at the Hotel Conrad, violinist Herold Klein - a 40-year veteran of the orchestra - was on a stationary bicycle turned up to top speed. He planned to stay that way for an hour, preparing for two multiple-sclerosis-related charity bicycle rides, the big one being October's MS Great 8. Covering eight states in eight days, and roughly 75 miles a day, it has been part of his life since 2007 - in part because of his love of bicycling, in part because of his commitment to the MS charities.
Normally he rents a road bike, often with cellist Derek Barnes, but such things sometimes aren't available, even in major European cities. "I think we got the only two road bikes in Vienna," he said. And just as Jantsch has studied different running techniques, retooling her own and finding exactly the right shoe to accommodate it, Klein, 66, is used to his bicycle back home, whose materials, weight, and size are as closely tailored to his needs as his instrument.
Still, he brought his own pedals on tour, and swears by the psychological benefits that he says come with any two-wheeled vehicle. "There's something about getting on a bike and just riding and riding and riding . . . that if you have a stressful problem to solve, you can do it," he said.
I can personally attest to Herold's training paying off. He helped set the pace for me for the final 15 miles of the ride on Sunday.
We can't thank the fabulous riders on our team, and all of our supporters and donators enough for helping us make a difference in the fight against MS.