June 3 - Rosanne Jones

Fortunately, and let me emphasize my delight, we were awoken to the “chirping” of a train that for some unknown reason had to announce its presence to a sleepy town of only 424 people, Mineral VA. We were camping outside a fire station; they had shown us southern hospitality. As we set off in the morning, the fog was still lingering, we bid good-bye to the town, and its people (who were just beginning to stir); I thought to myself, “How lucky am I to have experienced the charms of this sweet community, which probably does not even have its name on a map.

We were all a bit stiff from the day before ( due to a wrong turn…many of us had biked approximately 90 miles), but as the sun sneaked out from behind the clouds, our muscles began to loosen and our legs began to find their rhythm. Our goal or destination for the day would be to reach Charlottesville, VA, the home of the fighting cavaliers. Thankfully, our mileage for the day would be around 65 miles; and we needed this shorter day because tomorrow’s ride will be full of hard climbs that may at times seem un-ending. After a two stops to rest, eat and load up on water, we finally chugged into Charlottesville and even passed the Thomas Jefferson famous Monticello. We knew we were near our destination when the hills began to increase drastically in elevation. There are two Charlottesville natives on our teams, Caleb and Ben– the King brothers, and they knew the hot-spot to chow-down. We had delicious bagel-sandwiches from Bodo’s Bagels (apparently this store ships in there water from the Big Apple–NYC).

After fueling our tanks, we toured UVA on our bikes and then set off for the James Q. Miller clinic. This is the Multiple Sclerosis (MS) clinic that much of the funds we raised from our wonderful sponsors will be donated to support the salary of a physician’s assistant. While we were riding into the parking lot of this clinic, my heart warmed and even melted, as some of the patients and staff were lined up with ballons, cheering us on. We migrated inside in the nick of time, alas, a huge thunderstorm was preparing to let its voice be heard. My highlight of our tour of this clinic was hearing the personal testimony of a MS patient at this clinic. I cannot recall her name, but her face still lingers in my mind as I type her words. I hope I can do justice to her speech. She began by telling us how envious she was of our position: embracing our freedom, willing to tackle the challenge and more than anything, being physically-gifted to be able to pedal 4,000 miles. She told us that before 2002, when she was diagnosed with MS, she would have liked to embark on a trip like ours, except she would not have a cause to support. The MS cause would have never crossed her mind. But, all changed in 2002. Her life and her family’s life has been emotionally affected by this unpredictable and at times debilitating disease. I began to feel the “warm fuzzies” when she spoke about the MS clinic and how it has changed her life. This woman and her husband had been living in northern VA when she received the news, and not long after, they decided to move to Charlottesville for the sole purpose of being close to the James Q. Miller clinic. We learned that this clinic is the only MS specific clinic in the state of Virginia and West Virginian that has the ability to provide a wide-spectrum of care: physicians, physician’s assistants, nurses, physical therapists, social workers and other health care providers are all working together to provide the MS patients the best care at hand. She seemed to light up when talking about this clinic, and her warmth was contagious, because I felt her fire. I felt a renewed sense of motivation to continue cycling day after day after day, because I knew that if our funds only were able to impact one person’s life, like this sweet woman, that would be enough. That would be enough to inspire me for the rest of the summer. With that said, I would like to send a huge thank you to all of our sponsors.

I am sitting now in a cozy, chair, typing away in the warmth of a kitchen. The King family our being our hosts for the evening and they are quite the hosts; we were welcomed to a beautiful home with a feast for dinner. I hope we rest up well tonight. We have a long day of climbing tomorrow!