When I woke up last Saturday at 5:30 a.m. to ride in the MS150, the annual two-day 150-mile bike ride in the DFW area that the Multiple Sclerosis Society sponsors, I heard the loud crack of thunder followed by pouring rain.
I was almost sure the organizers would cancel the ride -- and part of me was glad. I am not a morning person, and I wasn’t really looking forward to a grueling bike ride, even though I was only riding the first day for about 50 miles. The other part of me was disappointed because my friend and Snack Chat guest blogger, Dwight Riskey, and I had been training for the event, riding 90 miles a week for the last two weeks. I was looking forward to the camaraderie of riding with him and the other people I've gotten to know in the Cheesy Riders, the bicycle team of Frito-Lay employees and their families and friends.
Luckily, the storm passed quickly and the MS150 started on time at 7:30 a.m. in Frisco, Texas. Thanks to the rain, the air was crisp and cool. It was a thrill to be in the crowd, riding with 3,000 other bikers -- a new record for the event.
Before we started riding, I caught up with Jennifer Johnson, an engineer in Frito-Lay's Business Innovation group, who has done a spectacular job as the Cheesy Riders’ team captain for the last two years. She told me that this year, the Cheesy Riders recruited 172 participants for the MS150 event and have raised, to date, more than $110,000.
The participants included riders who work at Frito-Lay/PepsiCo, their family members and friends, as well as volunteers from Frito-Lay's EnAble employee network, a group that champions inclusion for people with different abilities and their caregivers and sponsored a rest stop on the ride course.
Jennifer told me the Cheesy Riders are branching out from their start at Frito-Lay headquarters in Plano, Texas, and now have active chapters at Frito-Lay/PepsiCo sites in Chicago and Portland, Ore. The teams bike to support Livestrong, an organization that works to fight cancer, and Wish 100, which raises money for the Make a Wish Foundation, in addition to riding for the MS Society.
At the lunch stop on Day 1 of the ride, I snapped the picture at left of Jennifer and Dwight. I thought their run-in was particularly appropriate because Dwight founded the Cheesy Riders in 2002, when he worked as a Chief Marketing Officer at Frito-Lay. Since that humble start (we only had 40 riders back then), the Cheesy Riders have raised, cumulatively, close to $1 million to fight MS. This means a lot to the Cheesy Riders and to Dwight on a very personal level, because he has MS.
While Dwight and I only rode to the lunch stop, Dwight’s two sons, Steven and Keith (pictured below), completed the entire ride to support their dad. They told us riding the rest of Day 1 was pretty easy, going with the wind, but Day 2 was extremely difficult since they were riding into the wind. Of course Dwight and his wife, Cindy, were at the finish line in Fort Worth to congratulate their sons on completing the 150-mile ride.
Last year, I was sidelined from the MS150 due to kidney stones. So, this year was particularly sweet since I got to ride, catch up with the other Cheesy Riders and raise money for a great cause. Now that the ride is over, I’m already looking forward to next year –- rain or shine!
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