Bike Month has been awesome this year! We’ve joined forces with Ride for Reading and delivered books on bikes, we helped kids to get to school on bikes for Ride to School Day, we fixed bikes for kids to ride to school in our new Re-Cycle Tullahoma project, we rode with millions of cyclists around the world in the Ride of Silence, and we promoted Ride to Work Week. We have one more unique event you will not want to miss…the 2014 Retro Ride, Saturday, May 24, 8 am, Celtic Cup Coffee House, 106 N. Anderson, Tullahoma, TN

So, clean the cobwebs off that vintage bike you have in the corner of your garage or just ride the bike you like to ride now, and join the Highland Rim Bicycle Club as we take a nice social tour to Woods Reservoir beginning and ending at The Celtic Cup. Even get your “joe” before the ride as well as your lunch afterward at a 22% discount for all participants. The ride will be 22 miles long, a very social pace of 9-12 mph average.

Thanks to Chris Calatrello for organizing this event.

This article originally appeared in the Motlow State Community College News

Motlow Employee Participates in MS Event with More Purpose than Others

LYNCHBURG — November 8, 2011

Stephen Ray’s first day of work as a watchkeeper for Motlow College was in the fall of 2007. It happened to be the day of the ‘MS Ride to Jack and Back’ event. Ray said, “Before that day I had never heard of the bicycling event and I really did not know what ‘MS’ was.” He added, “Actually I was a little nervous about so many visitors on campus while I was supposed to be learning my new job.” Two years later he would realize the irony of his first day and he would learn firsthand about MS (multiple sclerosis).

The next fall he and his fiancée, Rose, were planning their wedding. Stephen, who normally weighed in the 180 pound range, had been an athlete all of his life. Growing up in Manchester, he played football and baseball and had always managed to stay in shape. He began noticing his muscle tone was fading and he was losing weight. Feeling very tired, he attributed his physical changes to stress. He and Rose continued with their wedding plans. By the time they married in January of 2009, Stephen’s weight had fallen to 119 pounds. He knew something was wrong.

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At the beginning of the year, I laid out two new goals for myself.  In my first year of riding (2010), I rode 4,000 miles and did 4 century rides.  This year, I simply wanted to ride 6,000 miles and do 6 centuries.  To date, I have only 4,100 miles and it looks like the best I will do will be somewhere around 5,000. Besides that, I have only completed 2 of my 6 planned centuries. 

When I started to reflect on what has caused me to miss my goals, I soon began to realize that missing them has brought me to a closer realization of what is important in life and has helped foster stronger relationships with those I care about.  Some of my fonder memories that resulted from chasing and missing my goals include:

Helping bring a new cyclist into the sport and riding his first century with him on a cool Summer morning.  One week later, my friend and I rode alongside each other with tears in our eyes as he had just discovered the day before that he had cancer.  Continue reading →