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Welcome to the Team Page of
Team Basso |
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Team Basso Statistics |
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| Team Fundraising Goal: |
$25,000.00 |
| Total Raised: |
$7,177.00 |
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| Recruitment Goal: |
10 |
| Members Recruited: |
8 |
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Join Our Team
THOUSANDS OF MS VICTIMS NEED YOUR HELP NOW!!!
Dear All,
This fall Team Basso is riding over 100 miles in the 25th annual MS 150 Bay to Bay Bike Tour, a fundraiser for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, and we need your help. On October 13 & 14th, 2007 over 2000 cyclists will raise over two million dollars and ride together along Southern California’s coast to bring the dream of conquering MS closer to reality. The money raised from this event will fund continuing research to discover the cause and cure for multiple sclerosis. Equally important, it will help pay for a multitude of support services, critical to those whose lives has been touched by MS.
We are riding for friends, family and thousands of others. To illustrate their hope, I would like to share a letter that a dear friend -- AFINA GIBBS wrote when informed of the ride to FIND A CURE! It reads as follows -----
Why ride for MS? Because you can…
I have always loved bike riding. I was born in Holland, a country known for bikes. My fondest memories of growing up in southern California were of riding bikes with my dad on Saturdays to the local junior high school tennis courts where he taught me to play tennis, riding my bike to the high school pool to practice for my swim meets or just taking a leisurely ride to the 7-Eleven for a slushied ice drink. I still remember how cool it felt to pedal and not hold the handlebars. Silly to think of now, but I loved my bikes. First it was a blue Huffy and then, in junior high, I got my green Raleigh.
High school didn’t find me on a bike too often, nor did college. But weekends home, my dad and I would grab a bike and take off for an hour or so and I’d give him the update. After college, it was a bike ride on which he asked me if I truly loved the guy I was dating. Indeed I did. That was all he needed to hear. Dave and I were engaged a month later and I knew my dad approved.
Dave and I bought bikes after we moved up the Bay Area and had our two small daughters. We outfitted the bikes each with a child seat. We would ride for hours with our two little “helmet head’s” on beautiful local bike trails in the East Bay or take trips to Santa Cruz, Lake Tahoe or Yosemite. It wasn’t long before we were loading four bikes of varying sizes to the back of our suburban. As the years passed, we were able to take longer trails and some of our most memorable family moments were with our bikes.
Then in the Fall of 2000, we took our high school daughters to Yosemite for a weekend. The cooler breezes blew through the autumn leaves and broke the silence from the lack of the sounds of water falling on the valley floor. I told Dave at the end of the day that the bike ride had been a peak lifetime experience for me. The grandeur of Yosemite, the colors, the breezes and being with our daughters made for a perfect bike ride. What I didn’t say, however, was that I knew it had been my last bike ride.
After dealing with multiple sclerosis at that point for seventeen years, I knew it was accelerating in it’s progression and my right leg had been barely able to keep up. My lack of balance that day had scared me many times. Hopping off the bike had required Dave to ride ahead, get off his bike and hold my bike steady while I found the strength to lift my leg over and off the bike. All lovingly helped by my family, but a real cue to me that it was becoming dangerous to continue doing one of the activities I loved most.
I have never forgotten that day. And, I have never been on my bike since. In the last six years, I have also lost the ability to drive a car, walk without the assistance of a cane, walker or the arm of a friend. A wheelchair and a scooter clutter the garage, but my bike still hangs upside down from the ceiling. I won’t get rid of it. I pray I will ride again.
I am grateful to all of you for riding for those of us who have MS and can only hope to ride again. By supporting the National MS Society that hope remains a real possibility!
Afina
Therefore, please join us in the fight to HELP and find a cure ASAP. Thank you for your support and donations in advance.
Warmest regards,
Team Basso
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