The Champeen

Everyone has their own reason for signing up for the Ms Tour. I would imagine that their reasons have a lot to do with MS.  I think of my friend Heather who has had MS for pretty much the whole of the thirty years I've known her.

After checking in and making our way to our room, the elevator door opened to reveal two middle-aged women who at the sight of us remarked "We remember you from last year!".  I gave them a baleful look and for the life of me could not place them.  I worried that perhaps I had been rude to them or offended them last year in some way as we rode up to our respective rooms.

It wasn't until breakfast the next day when we saw the two women dining that we realized that when we met them last year, they were accompanying their husbands who were doing the MS Mountain Tour for the first time.  While scarfing down breakfast we swapped tales of last year's debacle and marvelled at the prospect of sunny and warm temperatures this year.

I was amazed to discover that one of the men, John, had travelled all the way from Huntsville, Ontario to complete the 8 kilometers that he couldn't finish last year.  He had run out of gas at the last rest stop and was here this weekend to finish the tour.  That is not to say that John was simply going to travel to the last rest stop and pedal from there.  From the look of determination on his face, I could tell that this was a man with a mission.  This man was going all the way.

And to add icing to the cake, John had raised $2,000.00 for the cause.