http://www.pioneerplanet.com/yhoo/mtc_docs/89404.htm
Published: Sunday, July 22, 2001
Every summer, the people who join
TRAM, The Ride Across Minnesota, flirt with disaster.
Last year, we rode on the edge of
the tornado that devastated Granite Falls, in winds that made our knees
shriek. The year before that, we rode through heat so shriveling only the
Culligan man stood between us and mummification.
This year, those who will start the
334-mile ride from Breckenridge to Pine City on Monday may be in for another
week of charbroiled bicycling. But no matter what happens, the 1,200 people
on the MS Society's 12th annual TRAM eventually will ride off into the
sunset, back to their regular lives. And the 7,500 people in Minnesota
who have multiple sclerosis still will have it.
"The year it was so hot, I wanted
to quit a couple of times,'' says 10-time rider Judith Cavanaugh, 59, of
St. Paul's Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet. "But then I thought, "My
friends can't quit MS, so I can't quit either.' ''
Despite the trials -- only a plague
of locusts, so far, has failed to afflict TRAM -- most riders can't stay
away, returning year after year to this rolling oasis of civility and good
will. For one matchless week, the ugliness of the outside world is kept
at bay as we pedal through the lovely countryside, watching clouds skitter
across blue skies and striking up new acquaintances.
Molly Lynn of St. Paul is the kind
of person we meet. She's a Pilates trainer at the Sweatshop and teaches
strength training to old people. She's 83 herself, but it's emphysema that's
the challenge.
"When I was diagnosed back in 1970-something,
I said, "Well, I'm going to see what I can do about this,' '' says Lynn.
"So I enrolled in an aerobics class, and I almost fell over in the first
five minutes, but I kept going, and the rest is history.'' Besides TRAM,
she also bicycled across the nation when she was 77.
People on TRAM love to hear about
triumphs over impossible odds. It gives us hope that, someday, we can conquer
an impossible disease. Multiple sclerosis has no cure and no known cause;
by randomly damaging the insulation around nerves, it disrupts messages
sent and received by the brain. Its effects are unpredictable and often
seem malicious, taking away the vision of a photographer, the coordination
of an athlete, the short-term memory of a young mother. Three-quarters
of those affected are women, most diagnosed between the ages of 20 and
40.
Sonja Ramsey's oldest sister died
of MS complications; her remaining sister not only has MS, but diabetes
and cancer as well.
"We do laugh about it,'' says Ramsey,
a six-time TRAM rider from Marine on St. Croix. "She has three major diseases,
but she says if she could get rid of only one, it would be MS. It's really
important to her that something be done about it.''
That's why 1,200 of us are riding
across Minnesota this week, hoping to raise more than $850,000, as well
as awareness of a disease that befuddles even the experts.
Of course, we also expect to have
a great time. From Breckenridge, we'll ride up from the pancake-flat beet
fields of the Red River Valley, which has the nation's highest incidence
of MS. In Detroit Lakes, we'll cool off at the mile-long city beach, then
head for Wadena's Sunnybrook Park. We'll ride around Gull Lake, one of
the most prestigious addresses in Minnesota. We'll latch onto the Paul
Bunyan State Trail and, passing the 26-foot winking giant at the Paul Bunyan
Amusement Center, swoop into Brainerd. We'll go on to Milaca, a logging
outpost on the Rum River, and end in Pine City, where paddling Frenchmen
preceded us by 300 years.
Come heat or high winds, we'll do
it, all 334 miles of it. Disaster? Just a few aches and pains; we laugh
at it. We know what real disaster is; we can see it at work on our friends
and family. If only we could laugh at that.
Beth Gauper, who is riding on TRAM
for the fourth time, can be reached at bgauper@pioneer press.com or (651)
228-5425.
BETH GAUPER