The Main Street Mashers organized in 2005 as Team Desert Springs and was based in Florence and still have strong support from this great community. The team has ranged between six to 38 riders in five years. We currently have 27 cyclists committed for 2012. Our team members come from as far south as Florence, north as Chino Valley and one from San Diego! Team members have raised more than $90,000 for MS research and should surpass $100,000 in 2012. We are proud of this accomplishment.

With the Arizona Chapter’s largest fund raising event moving to the Verde Valley with a route that goes through Cottonwood, Camp Verde and Sedona/Oak Creek this year, we hope to do our part to raise one million dollars to fund research to cure multiple sclerosis, thought to be an autoimmune disease that affects the central nervous system. An estimated 6,000 people in Arizona have MS.

The central nervous system consists of the brain, spinal cord, and the optic nerves. Surrounding and protecting the nerve fibers of the central nervous system is a fatty tissue called myelin, which helps nerve fibers conduct electrical impulses.

In MS, myelin is lost in multiple areas, leaving scar tissue called sclerosis. These damaged areas are also known as plaques or lesions. Sometimes the nerve fiber itself is damaged or broken.

Myelin not only protects nerve fibers, but makes their job possible. When myelin or the nerve fiber is destroyed or damaged, the ability of the nerves to conduct electrical impulses to and from the brain is disrupted, and this produces the various symptoms of MS.

Florence resident Gaile Buckley lives 365 days each year with multiple sclerosis. Gaile remembers the day she was diagnosed with MS…April 11, 2001. She stayed on the job as a correctional officer for less than a year after her diagnosis, when her MS advanced to a stage where she could no longer work. She now must rely on others to help her with the things she used to take for granted. Although she no longer can work or drive her car, she is a fighter. She has volunteered at the start and finish line of Bike MS for the past several years. While Bike MS was based in her home town, she increased her involvement by fund raising for the “Mashers.”

We hope you consider joining the Mashers if you are a cyclist or volunteer. In addition to rider team jerseys, fund raising assistance, fund raising incentives, Friday night carb loading meal, hand crafted beer courtesy of the Grimberg Brewing Club, information on groups to train with, and more amenities to be determined. We are trying to reorganize this year as many of the “extras” we were able to offer in the past were due to great friends in Florence. While we are trying to develop new relationships in the Verde Valley, it may take a few years.

Winners of the 2008 Team Spirit Award, we are just getting started. If you don’t ride, please volunteer and make a donation to our riders. Let’s do our part to end this devastating disease!

©2011, Main Street Mashers.
Website powered by Sigma Web Marketing | LOGIN