Feb. 2, 2009
Contact: Emily Wilson
612-335-7931
ewilson@MSsociety.org
MINNEAPOLIS — The National Multiple Sclerosis Society, Minnesota Chapter recently announced the route for this year’s Bike MS: Star Tribune TRAM Ride — or The Ride Across Minnesota — which celebrates its 20th ride in 2009. The five-day, 250-mile bike ride July 26 to 31 will go back to its roots with a border-to-border route similar to the very first ride of 1990.
Cyclists in Bike MS: Star Tribune TRAM Ride 2009 start in Ortonville, Minn., and travel through Montevideo, Minn., Redwood Falls, Minn., St. Peter, Minn., and New Prague, Minn., before crossing the finish line in Welch Village near Red Wing, Minn.
The Minnesota Chapter anticipates more than 1,000 cyclists will participate in this year’s Ride Across Minnesota and raise more than $950,000 to help fund MS research projects to find a cure and develop better treatments and programs and services for the more than 9,000 people living with the disease in Minnesota and western Wisconsin.
A registration fee and $300 minimum pledge are required to participate. To learn more, visit www.bikeMSminnesota.org or call 800-582-5296. To access the Star Tribune TRAM Ride 2009 media kit, click here.
About Bike MS
The National MS Society, Minnesota Chapter organizes three Bike MS events each year. The one-day Allianz Twin Cities Ride takes place May 9 in Maplewood, Minn., and the two-day Larkin Hoffman MS 150 Ride from Proctor to the Twin Cities takes place June 12 to 14. Bike MS is fully supported and noncompetitive. All roads and trails on the route are hand picked by the National MS Society, Minnesota Chapter. Rest stops with snacks, beverages, support vans and first aid are located every 10 to 15 miles. The Minnesota Chapter anticipates the 2009 cycling series will raise nearly $4 million.
About the multiple sclerosis
Multiple sclerosis interrupts the flow of information between the brain and 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. 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. Most people with MS are diagnosed between the ages of 20 and 50, with more than twice as many women as men being diagnosed with the disease. MS affects more than 400,000 people in the U.S., and 2.5 million worldwide.
About the National MS Society
MS stops people from moving. The National MS Society exists to make sure it doesn’t. We help each person address the challenges of living with MS through our 50 state network of chapters. We fund more MS research, provide more services to people with MS, offer 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. We are people who want to do something about MS now. The Minnesota Chapter represents an estimated 9,000 people with MS in Minnesota and western Wisconsin. Join the movement at www.nationalmssociety.org.
Studies show that early and ongoing treatment with an FDA-approved therapy can reduce future disease activity and improve quality of life for many people with multiple sclerosis. Talk to your health care professional and contact the National MS Society at www.nationalmssociety.org or 1-800-344-4867 to learn about ways to help manage multiple sclerosis and about current research that may one day reveal a cure.
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