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WHAT'S IN A NAME? The original Selma Cyclepaths team members first rode together in the second year of the annual Eastern North Carolina MS Bike Tour in 1990. They did not appear as an official team until 1993, when they won the Best Team Name Award. The Selma Cyclepaths have raised a lot of money for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. In addition, team members enjoy building friendships, and April-to-September team training rides. Each training ride is fully supported by volunteer Support and Gear vehicles (SAG vehicles) and is meticulously charted in map and cue sheet formats, posted on the team website and on ride with GPS in advance of each ride. The Founders and the Senior Selma Cyclepaths Captain Emeritus and team founder, Dave Holmes, first rode in the Tour in 1990. Ken Williams rode with Captain Dave in those early years before the Selma Cyclepaths were a named team. Judge Bob Bryant, is another early team member who continues to ride with the Selma Cyclepaths. Bob has ridden in 29 Tours, first in support of and now in memory of his brother Larry, who passed away from complications related to MS in 2008. Larry was the inspiration for the team. Dave, Bob, Ken Williams, Tom Andrews and Lynn Burleson have ridden in twenty plus North Carolina BikeMS Events. Tom Andrews joined the team in 2005 and has ridden in 24 Events. He has been the top individual fundraiser for BikeMS on three occasions. Through the 2021 Tour, Tom has raised a jaw-dropping $286,419! By having three separate routes of three separate distances for each training ride, Selma Cyclepaths of all ages and abilities are able to find riding companions of comparable abilities. While we are a team, we are not a racing team (not that some of the stronger riders can’t hold their own with the speedsters of Bike MS). Cyclepath Leadership and Riders The Cyclepaths have been fortunate to have had great team captains over the years. Captain Dave Holmes founded the team and led it through its first decade. Captain Dave did everything for the team during those years, including mapping the training routes long before the availability of GPS. Bob Bryant, Lynn Burleson, Gaines Weaver, Jenny Bradley, Cole Warren, Cindy Chastang, Adrian Buie, and now Janet Ruby and Lisa Phillips as Co-Captains. It was under Lynn’s Captainship in 2003 when the team exploded from 3 to 64 riders and from $5,700 to $57,000 in contributions in a single year. Two years later, the team raised over $100,000. Many team members have stepped up to handle specific duties during a season such as the scheduling of the SAG wagon drivers and the actual driving of the SAG wagons for training rides. Cyclepath Tommy Fitzgerald, owner of the Grocery Bag in Clayton, has been very generous in allowing us to store our coolers and fill them with ice from the back of his store. Sadly, Tommy passed away in late 2020; Donna, his wife, is continuing the Grocery Bag support to this day. Becky Flowers has been a generous supporter by allowing us to start our training rides on Flowers Plantation property through 2022. Richard Hibbits has been handling the route master duties for a number of years and carefully maps out the three routes for each of the Saturday morning training rides from April until the Tour in September. Richard and his Cyclepath wife Ford have hosted the annual summer potluck Cyclepaths dinner for many years, giving the Cyclepaths the opportunity to socialize off the bike and to meet non-cyclist significant others. North Carolina BikeMS events The first annual MS Bike Tour, for what was then the Eastern North Carolina Chapter, was held in 1989. Most of the early tours prior to 1998 were called “Break Loose to the Neuse,” with riders starting and finishing in Greenville, North Carolina, spending one night at Camp Sea Gull, 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 stay 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 ending on the New Bern waterfront. Prior to 2012, there were three North Carolina Chapters of the National MS Society. The Mid-Atlantic Chapter covered South Carolina and western North Carolina and hosted fourteen Walk MS events and the Breakaway to the Beach Bike Tour. The Central North Carolina Chapter covered the central part of North Carolina and hosted six Walk MS events and the Tour to Tanglewood bike event. The Eastern North Carolina Chapter hosted five Walk MS events and the Historic New Bern Bike Tour. By 2014, all of these Chapters had merged into the Greater Carolinas Chapter. The 2021 BikeMS New Bern ride The BikeMS ride is the largest MS Bike Tour in the Southeastern United States and is now the tenth largest in the country. In 2021, coming off the cancelled 2020-1 events, the BikeMS rides raised over $1,100,000. In 2022, the BikeMS ride hopes to raise at least $1.4 million. 2021 Cyclepaths In 2021, the Cyclepaths registered 42 riders and raised over $64,000, 5th highest of all teams. 22 of the Cyclepaths achieved Club-K status by raising at least $1,000 each. 9 of those Cyclepaths became 100 Club members. Fundraising and Participation History of the Cyclepaths Since becoming an official team in 1993, the Cyclepaths have registered as few as three riders and as many as one hundred twenty in a single year. Cyclepaths fundraising totals have been as little as $1,520 and as much as $134,452. The Cyclepaths have had three sixth-place finishes, three fifth-place finishes, one fourth-place finish, two third-place finishes, four second-place finishes and nine first-place finishes! In 2012, the Selma Cyclepaths became the first team in the history of the North Carolina MS bike tours to raise over $1 million. In 2014, the team received the Circle of Distinction award as the first North or South Carolina MS bike team to cross the $1 million contribution threshold. In 2020, the team received the Spirit of the Ride award for leading the effort to host a ride event in New Bern, during the regularly scheduled Tour dates, despite the event cancellation due to COVID-19. In 2022, Team Captain Adrian Buie was awarded the Team Captain of the Year award. Going into the 2023 Tour, the Selma Cyclepaths have raised over $1,962,000 in support of MS research and programs. As of early August, the team has now crossed the $2,000,000 threshold!!! Many thanks to all those that have contributed to our efforts over the years. |
Our founding fathers (and son)
2014 Cyclepaths in New Bern
One of our many friends for whom we ride
Party Central
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