July 21, 2006 . . . Mike has reached way past his personal goal. He raised $2,734.00 for the Multiple Sclerosis Mid-Jersey Chapter. He is pretty happy that he raised this amount. Mike never raised this amount for this chapter before. His bike number for this tour was #66.

       Ready to hear Mike's version and the story of the MS-170 bike tour.

       May 20th . . . Mike almost did not wake up on time. Because of his alarm clock did not buzz. His mother woke him up 15 minutes after 5am. He got dressed, eat and stretch out, pack the car and his bike. Left at 6:15am. Reached the Monmouth University with no problem at all. Good timing too. Met old friends and new friends.
       I started with the tour at 8:02am. The weather was clouds and sun. The wind did not bother me till I started going south along the shore.

• Reached first rest stop at the Gazebo in Belmar, NJ at 8:51am. It rained a bit before reaching the first rest stop. Forgot to set speedometer to zero at the start line.
• Reached second rest stop at the Perk's Cafe at the Point Pleasant Beach 9:41am. Sky is mostly cloudy with a few rain drops. My max speed was 22.2 m.p.h. Getting hit with head wind.
• I past the third rest stop. Which was Centennial Park near Seaside Heights. Still head wind.
• Reached the fourth rest stop at the Washington Street School in Toms River about 11:09am. Before stopping here. I stopped on top of the Routr 37 bridge to look around and take pictures. Wind problems. Anyway, I saw my friend Leo at the rest stop.
• Made it to lunch at the Cedar Creek School in Lacey Township at 12 noon. Live music at lunch. What a treat!! Max speed before lunch was 24.8 m.p.h. Had the gears checked. Left lunch at 1:10pm.
• Made it to the fifth rest stop at the Ocean County Vocational School at 1:47pm. With sun and clouds. Still getting head wind.
• Past the water stop called Lucille's Kitchen on route 539.
• Stop at a store to buy a newspaper to read at the finish line.
• Made it to the finish line at 3:30pm. The finish line was at the Pinelands Regional High School.

       Did have some little problem with the gears as the day wore on.
       Had a BBQ and music outside. Mike met this guy that use to live in Belleville. He said he got into this MS-170 by reading a story about me in the Belleville Times 3 or 4 years ago. I went to make my calls and rest a bit. Take a shower, eat and relax for awhile. Then hang outside for awhile. Even lay down on the bench and watch the sky turn dark. When it got chilly. That was when I went inside. Heard the frog croak by a fence. Then bed after 9:30pm.

       May 21st . . . Woke up when the lights came on at 6am in the morning. Yawn!! Got dressed, pack up, eat and watch the weather.Fill up water bottle. Call mom and fill tire to right preasure. It is chilly and the sky is mixed with clouds and sun. Left at 7:30am.

• Passed rest stop one at the Lower Bank Tavern. Where a motorcycle crashed. Saw a helicopter fly by to land near the crash site.
• Reached rest stop two in Port Republic. Which is next to the Garden State Parkway. Time 8:55am. Clouds still mix sun and clouds. dst:20.94, ms:22.1, av:16.1
• Reached rest stop three at the Bally Gaming at 9:54am. Now sunny! A new rest stop! dst:31.31, av:15.8, mx: 23.0.
• Rest stop four at the Masonic Temple in Linewood, NJ at 10:42am. Sunny skies of course. A bike crash before reaching this rest stop. mx:23.0, av:15.4. After this rest stop, I did stop at a house having a garage sale. Got a CD from the nice lady at the garage sale. Did take pictures on top of the route 152 bridge.
• Here is lunch! Time was 11:58am. dst:47.23, mx:23.0, av:14.9. All head wind from here. Left lunch about 12:50pm. Sunny skies.
• Reach rest stop five at Avalon Rec Center at 2:21pm. Clouds coming in. Head wind. av:13.9, dst:64.30,
• Reached this rest stop at the Wildwood American Legion building around 3:30pm. I left just before the sag wagon came to pick anyone up. Before reaching this rest stop though. A few teens on a bicycle cut me off as I had green.
• I followed the Vitamin Shoppe team to the finish line. I did stop just short to take a picture. So I offically made it past the US Coast Guard red and white water tower in Cape May at 4:25pm.

       Had a BBQ, get ticket for the bus, set my bike up for the bus and then on the bus for 5:30pm. Did see and listen to the music from DJ Fred once more. He forgot my music that his son had.

       This tour was mostly all head wind. My speed was mainly between 13 to 16 mile an hour on both days. I do not like cycling against the wind. Wind in your face. Smile!!

       Would like to thank my mom's friends at ADP, World Wide Gear, FMBA #29, Attilio's Kitchen, Perfect Pitch Homerun Derby, Micro Stratigies, SLCA, The few members from the Belleville Council, Kevin Kennedy, a few friends at CNBC, Applegate Farm, friends at Roscommon House and the many friends. Support from Scout Troop #364 and my mother.

       If you like to learn more about this MS chapter. Please go to Mid-Jersey Chapter for more information.