New Route

Hi Y'all!

As everyone should know, the dates of my trip have shifted from April to September. Related to that decision, I've also revised the route.

No, the trip has not gotten shorter. In fact, it may be 100 or so miles longer. Plus, the new trip will take me through a couple of very important, large cities, as well as my home town of Madisonville, Kentucky (yes, my mom will be very happy). The only really big city to get lopped off the list is Chicago.

I don't have all of the stops mapped out, yet, but here is the basic outline:

Kansas City, MO
Columbia, MO
St. Louis, MO
Evansville, IN
Madisonville, KY
Hopkinsvile, KY
Nashville, TN
Washington, DC
Philadelphia, PA
New York, NY

More details will follow in the coming weeks.

Have a great weekend!

- sean

Sean Spence
MS Advocate
www.MissouriToManhattan.com
seanspence@earthlink.net

Telling Meredith Vieira about the reschedule

Tuesday, April 03, 2007

Ms. Meredith Vieira
NBC
30 Rockefeller Plaza
New York, NY 10112

Dear Meredith,

I know this is going to totally bum you out, but my 1500-mile bike ride to benefit MS research and treatment has been rescheduled and I won’t be visiting the show at the end of this month.

That’s right, I won’t be leaving tomorrow for my bike ride to benefit the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, riding from Kansas City to your studio. But don’t worry! The trip has just been rescheduled for September.

Training has gone well – at first I could barely ride 10 miles and now I can ride 75 without a huge problem – but one of the setbacks is that I just wasn’t going fast enough on long distances – keep in mind that I’ll need to ride about 100 miles a day, every day for about three weeks. To make that work, I need to average 10-12 mph over a ride of 50+ miles. Right now I’m just averaging about 8 mph over long distances. Ugh.

Now I’m training harder and will be ready long before the September start date. Honestly, I could probably be ready to do the ride in May or June (at the latest), but you know what effect heat can have on someone with MS. So I've decided September would be the best time to avoid most of the heat and hopefully early cold as I push north.

From now on, I’ll do my best to keep you updated on my progress. I’m sure you are very disappointed that I won’t be stopping by this month – perhaps heartbroken is the right word?!? – but rest assured that I’ll be there in September.

Take care, Meredith, and please let me know every time I can be helpful.

Sincerely,

Sean C. Spence
www.MissouriToManhattan.com

Trip Rescheduled

Well y'all, I've been avoiding saying this, but I've rescheduled my trip. Originally, the plan was to leave tomorrow. Now I will take the month of September for the trip. The reschedule is happening for a wide range of reasons -- need more training, work conflicts, etc.

My preference would be to move the trip just a month, to May, but I'm worried that parts of the route will be too hot (many of you know that heat is one of the things that triggers MS relapses/symptoms). So we've decided that September is the next best month (seeking to avoid heat, but also snow as I work my way North, as might be seen if I push it until October).

Rest assured that the trip will still happen and there will not be another reschedule. Yes, I know that if I reschedule it again, then no one will believe I'll actually do it.

But I will do it, and am still excited, but this needs to happen. So please bear with me, and thank you for understanding (particularly my friends who have contributed to the MS Society for this trip). I won't let you down.

- sean

Sean Spence
MS Advocate
www.MissouriToManhattan.com
seanspence@earthlink.net