WIDE-OPEN SPACES LURED TOUR

Popular bicycle event to fight MS to begin in Florence

It will be the first time Florence has hosted the event, which is regularly recognized as the best multi-day bicycle tour in Arizona. The 22nd annual ride is venturing out of its long-standing base of Phoenix for what organizers hope will offer participants more con venience, variety and wide open spaces.

It's also a whole new kind of exposure for Florence as the town continues to try to revitalize its core business district.

"It's an excellent opportunity for the town of Florence. ... It's something I think the community can get excited about," commented John Coomer. Coomer, business manager of Main Street Family Practice in Florence, has made most of the rides since he was president of the MS Society for Arizona and Southern Nevada in the mid-1990s.

The usual route from Phoenix to Parker, while a good time, was figuratively speaking, something of an uphill climb. "That's an expensive route to maintain," including busing cyclists back to Phoenix, Coomer said.



After last year's ride, he suggested Florence, the town where he attended high school and where he works today.

The start, finish and overnight celebration will all take place at Florence's Heritage Park. Entertainment is being planned for Saturday and Sunday. The ride has a goal of raising $1 million to support research and local programs for more the than 8,000 Arizonans living with multiple sclerosis.

Jess Knudson, assistant to the Florence town manager, said it's an exciting opportunity for the town, despite the jitters of not knowing what to expect out of a first-year event. "In the first year of doing this, there are a lot of logistics, a lot of details, to figure out."

Coomer predicted it will be just the first of several good years of the ride based in Florence.

"This could be the beginning of something good to help Florence grow its image, and help people in the Valley recognize it's not that far."

Cyclists will be able to choose from different routes - as little as 35 miles, or a total of 150 miles over two days - in which they'll see a lot of western Pinal County.

One of their options will be a figure-eight route that travels through Florence, Coolidge, Casa Grande, Sacaton and Queen Creek. As usual, Bike MS will be fully supported with rest stops, medical personnel, and support and gear vehicles to help along the way, according to the state MS chapter, which organizes the event.

"This is a very organized ride," Coomer said. The actual ride routes won't be closed to the public, although intersections may be closed when needed. The routes will be clearly marked with lots of signs to let motorists know what's going on.

Participants will be pedaling $10,000 state-of-the art cycles, "all the way down to kids riding Huffys," Coomer said. There will also be tandems, recumbent bikes, trikes and hand cycles. "It's not a race," he said.

Knudson said it's a shame that Florence's new Holiday Inn Express won't be open until a month after the ride. "It's too bad ... they'd be booked," he said.

Supplementing the few overnight accommodations Florence does offer will be overnight camping at Heritage Park. Cyclists can also opt to stay in a hotel, rent an RV, or even drive home to sleep between the two days of cycling.

Main Street Mashers

The event is open to single riders but encourages teams. Each rider on a team typically raises more money than a rider working alone, Coomer said. A minimum fundraising goal of $250 per rider is required.

"I'd like to Challenge people to take this event on and train for at least the 35-mile ride on Saturday," Coomer said.

Teams are also good at raising awareness about the disease. Coomer's team, known in the past as Team Desert Springs, rides for a Florence woman battling MS.

"We don't raise money directly for her, but she's one of our motivations. We can tell her story. It helps us recruit riders."

Since the ride has moved to Florence this year, "She's excited ... she's going to come out and spend some time with the team." From the doctor's office where Coomer works, "one of our patients with MS wants to ride with us." The doctor, Dario Lizarraga, is also on the team.

Coomer's team has been known in the past as Team Desert Springs, after Lizarraga's former side business. The new name this year will be the Main Street Mashers ("masher" is slang for recreational cyclist).

The Mashers have nine members now, but Coomer expects their ranks will grow to about 20 by the time of the ride.

Any group of four or more people can form a team by visiting http://bikeaza.nationalMSsociety.org. Volunteers are also needed for various duties, such as serving refreshments to riders at rest stops.

Multiple sclerosis

Multiple sclerosis interrupts the flow of information from the brain to the body and stops people from moving. Every hour in the United States, someone is newly diagnosed with MS, an unpredictable, often disabling disease of the central nervous system.

"It strikes men and women in the prime of their lives. Everyone who has the disease has different systems," Coomer said. "... A lot of people whose symptoms aren't obvious don't share that they have MS."

Symptoms range from numbness and tingling to blindness and paralysis. The progress, severity and specific symptoms of MS in any one person cannot yet be predicted, but advances in research and treatment are moving us closer to a world free of MS, according to the National MS Society.

"There is no cure; they treat symptoms," Coomer said.

MS affects more than 400,000 people in the U.S., and 2.5 million worldwide. Most are diagnosed between the ages of 20 and 50; more than twice as many are women as men.

The National MS Society works to help each person address the challenges of living with MS through its network of 50 state chapters. The society funds research, provides more services to people with MS, offers more professional education and further more advocacy efforts than any other MS organization in the world. The society is dedicated to achieving a world free of MS.

"The mission is 'To end the devastating effects of MS,'" Coomer said.


At a glance

The 22nd annual Bike MS: Round Up Ride, organized by the Arizona chapter of the National MS Society, will be held March 29-30 in Florence. There is a $75 registration fee and a minimum of $250 in pledges required from each participant. For more information, to register or volunteer, visit http://bikeaza.nationalMSsociety.org or call 800-344-4867.

Learn more about the National MS Society at nationalmssociety.org.

taken from zwire.com

Below, Members of Team Desert Springs celebrate the end of a long ride to fight MS last year at Parker Dam. At left are John Coomer and Dr. Dario Lizarraga.

FLORENCE - Perhaps 1,000 cyclists - plus a similar number of friends, family, supporters and volunteers - will come to Florence for the annual Bike MS to fight multiple sclerosis on the last weekend in March.