A sea of bicyclists will return on Saturday for the MS 150 that takes riders on a two-day, 150 mile ride from Proctor to White Bear Lake in an effort to raise funds and awareness for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.
Riders will start their day on Saturday in Proctor, traveling the Willard Munger State Trail to their overnight stop at Grand Casino Hinckley. Sunday's route takes riders from Hinckley to the finish line in White Bear Lake.
Nearly 2,000 riders are expected for the MS 150, which is returning to full capacity for the first time since the Covid-19 pandemic began.
"These are cyclists of all levels and it's a wonderful milestone for us," said Kathleen O'Donnell, the Upper Midwest Chapter President for the National MS Society.
The MS 150 is part of the Bike MS program, which began in Minnesota back in 1980.
Today, it's the biggest fundraiser for the National MS Society.
"Funds that we raise go to support breakthrough research and to help people impacted by MS to live there best lives," O'Donnell added.
This year's fundraising goal is $2 million and comes at a critical time for MS research, according to O'Donnell.
"The National MS Society is needing international consensus on pathways to cures," she said. "We're really closer than we ever have been before to finding cures for MS. We say cures because MS is a varied disease and it impacts people in different ways."
Isolation caused by the Covid-19 pandemic took its toll when it comes to people who live with MS. Fortunately, the National MS Society successfully pivoted and developed several virtual resources and programs.
O'Donnell says many of the programs developed during the pandemic are sticking around, especially since they saw participation numbers increase.
"We have a public policy conference every year that people would attend and we opened it up virtually and had four-times the participants," she said. "People have not bee able to do their support groups in-person over the pandemic, which has been hard. We've had online support groups, but there's nothing like being together in-person."
Programs like the MS Navigator program remain popular for the National MS Society. Navigators provide road maps and solutions to help individuals disclose if they have MS, provide financial assistance, or they even help family members of people with MS find ways to show their support.
"Really, once they talk with you and get to know you, the help figure out if you want to be part of a local support group," O'Donnell said. "We do policy and advocacy work. I encourage people to sign-up to be part of our activist network to find out how we're lifting up voices of people with MS."