Collegiate Times

Virginia Tech bicyclists are taking it upon themselves to ride across the country in support of multiple sclerosis research and to provide companionship and services to those suffering from the disease.

Seven Virginia Tech students will participate in Bike the US for MS this summer.

Bike the US for MS will officially kick off June 1, when a total of 13 riders set off from Virginia and travel 3,981 miles to their destination in Oregon.

The group, which was born in 2007 with its first-ever bike across America trip from Seattle to Maine, seeks to volunteer and raise awareness over the entire course of the two-month trip.

Even before it officially sets off June 1, the group hopes to make an impact locally.

"We've already built a wheelchair ramp for a woman that lives in Salem," said cyclist and Tech student Amanda Clark.

Construction projects will not be the only type of service the group engages in over the course of the trip. Clark said activities could be "anything from cleaning gutters to mowing lawns, anything that they can't physically handle, including just spending time with them."

Mason Cavell, Tech student and biker, has contacted various MS organizations in an effort to identify clients that live close to the biking trail that require assistance with any sort of projects.

"I'd like to think we'd be able to do one project a week," Cavell said. "And I would like to think of a project as pretty broad, if someone needs grass cut, stuff picked up, handrail painted, and any small tasks."

Cavell said some stops have already been scheduled.

"It looks like we will definitely be doing a project in the St. Louis area, and we're trying to get in touch about doing a project in Wyoming and Idaho," Cavell said.

The group also has full contact information on its Web site, biketheusforms.org, and will be available through the trip via cell phones. It plans to make stops for Internet access. The continual connection will allow them to receive further information along the trip as to where they can help out along the way.

To help with service projects, the MS Society has agreed to award Bike the US for MS a $2,000 grant to acquire materials for any individual the bikers identify as someone in need of additional help in the form of a ramp, deck or handrail.

Bike the US for MS has raised $4,663 in donations so far. This money will go directly to the Harvard University MS Research Center where it is then utilized to further MS research.

Cavell said the "whole idea is to generate goodwill for the MS community."

"People can see exactly where we are; we're going to have Twitter and blogs, and we want people to follow us," Cavell said.

Bike the US for MS' Web site has profiles of all individual bikers, as well as their route and where it will be making stops from June 1 to Aug. 5.