History

HISTORY OF THE CYCLEPATHS January, 2010

What’s In A Name?

     While the individual original Cyclepaths team members first rode together in the1990 MS 150 bike tour, they did not appear as an official team until1993, when the Cyclepaths won the Best Team Name Award. While the primary purpose of the Cyclepaths has been to raise money for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, the team members have always enjoyed the friendships and the opportunity to have great training ride companions, while whipping themselves into shape.

Captain Dave and Bob Bryant

     Our recently retired long-time team captain and one of the original team members, Dave Holmes, completed his twentieth MS bike tour at age 70 in 2009. Dave once boasted that he purchased his last road bike with his first Social Security check. Judge Robert W. (“Bob”) Bryant, Jr. is another original team member who continues to ride with the Cyclepaths. Bob has ridden in seventeen MS bike tours in support of his brother, Larry, who passed away from complications related to MS in 2008. Bob’s brother was the inspiration for the Selma Cyclepaths.

Eastern North Carolina MS Chapter Bike Tours

     From 1989 through 1997, the bike tours for the Eastern North Carolina Chapter of the National MS Society were called “Break Loose to the Neuse.” The riders started and finished in Greenville, North Carolina with an overnight at Camp Sea Gull, the YMCA camp near Oriental. The tour was known as “Beach or Bust” from 1998 through 2000 when the riders pedaled from Clayton to Emerald Isle, with an overnight in Kinston. Riders and bikes were bused and trucked back to Clayton. Since 2001, the tour has been held in New Bern with consecutive day loops originating and finishing on the New Bern waterfront.

Cyclepaths as MS Fund Raisers

     1998. The MS Society does not have team fund raising records prior to 1998. We know that the Cyclepaths had 7 riders in 1998 and raised $4,265, which was good for a sixth place team finish.

     1999. No records could be found for 1999.

     2000. We do not know how many cyclists rode with the Cyclepaths in 2000 but we finished second to the MS FITS and raised $8,897. There were 520 cyclists in the Tour that year and they raised a total of $318,000.

2001. Although we only came in seventh in 2001, our eight team members raised $11,267 of the $370,000 raised by the Tour. There were 620 in the 2001 tour.

2002. This was the year when the Cyclepaths received a wake-up call. After years in which we had a second place finish, fielded as many as 8 cyclists and raised as much as $11,267, in 2002 we had only 3 riders and raised only $5,710. The good news is that we thought we only had 2 riders until a third showed up at the Saturday morning starting line. The Tour raised $482,262 from 658 riders that year.

     2003. This was the break-out year for the Selma Cyclepaths. After making a concerted effort to get organized, we registered 64 riders and raised an astounding $57,001. While we came in second to a much larger GSK team, we only missed first place by $3,168. The Tour raised $665,000 from 916 cyclists that year.

     2004. We increased our rider numbers to 75 but again, we could only manage a second place finish with $87,861. Team GSK beat us by $6,179. For the first time, the MS Tour broke the thousand-cyclists mark with 1,288 riders. The Tour raised $925,000 in 2004.

     2005. In 2005, the MS Tour went gold and so did we. The 1,325 cyclists raised $1,050,213 led by the first team to ever raise more than $100,000 in a single year, the Selma Cyclepaths. The 98 cyclists riding with the Selma Cyclepaths had their first first-place finish, raising a whopping $118,547.

2006. One hundred cyclists raised $110,440, for yet another first place finish. Team GSK raised $11,330 less than the Paths. The Tour’s 1,522 cyclists raised $1,148,766 that year.

     2007. The Cyclepaths registered the highest number of cyclists to date with 102. Those Cyclepaths raised $108,261.57, putting us in the yellow jersey for yet another year. We beat Team GSK by $20,902. The 2007 Tour raised $1,445,546 with 1,851 riders.

     2008. With 79 Cyclepaths in 2008, we raised $100,033, finishing in first place, just over $18,500 ahead of Team Hibernian. The 2008 Tour raised $1,507,363 from 2,034 riders.

     2009. Seventy-seven Cyclepaths raised $104,160 in 2009 after trailing Team CBC almost the entire season. We secured our fifth consecutive first place finish by a margin of $9,324.

Cyclepaths MS Bike Tour Summary

     Since the Eastern North Carolina MS Bike Tour began in 1988 and our riders joined the Tour in 1990, the Cyclepaths have registered as few as 3 riders and as many as 102. We have raised as little as $4,265 and as much as $110,440 in a single year. We have had 3 second place finishes and 5 consecutive first place finishes (2005-2009). Each year in which we have finished in first place, we have raised over $100,000 and no other team has ever raised $100,000 in a single season in the history of the MS Bike Tour of the Eastern North Carolina Chapter. The MS Society does not have records for 9 of the years in which a Cyclepath rode in the MS Bike Tour, including those 3 years when our riders rode without an official team name. In the 11 years for which there are records, the Selma Cyclepaths have raised a total of $716,444 in support of MS research and programs.